Approach 2 – BruceW

The Digital Self

Abstract: In our technology driven society, there’s an enormous pressure to put all that makes you you on digital display… What interactive media can be explored to reveal the digital self in new and interesting ways?

Background: This project questions how we choose to represent ourselves online. Outside of traditional media that features products of the self (pictures, videos, status updates) what other methods of self-driven media can be explored? Here I tackle that question by using an object oriented programming language to display visual media that represents the self while maintaining New Media’s primary goals of interactivity and uniqueness. Using these embedded sketches, as the programming environment Processing calls them, I imported vector art of myself and coded the eyes to follow the users cursor. In another sketch I allow the user to sift through many different perspectives of a few different sculptures I made.

Explanation: The self portrait and sculptures are significant because they provide very accurate insights into my appearance and personality through a digital interface. The vector art displays not only my physical likeness, but also my love for digital art and caricatures. The rotating sculptures are not only show my knack for coding, but they also show my hobby for creating sculptures. (all of which are made entirely out of re-purposed and second hand materials)

Credits: I was really interested in using Processing for this project because it gives the user a lot of technical control over how a viewer interacts with each sketch. I explored a few projects on openprocessing.org to gain inspiration for my works, specifically one that featured a minions with moving eyes.

Budget:

• $30 IMRC Equipment Rental Fee
• $20/mo Adobe Illustrator
• $6.99/mo openprocessing.org License Fee
• $50 Thrift Shop Materials
• $150+ Time and Learning

Total Budget Approx.: $300