building a network

This week in Softness, our group assignment was to build a network. Coming up with an idea was an interesting process. What makes something a network? Does it have to be more than one thing? What is the smallest network? the biggest? What about networks that grow, regenerate? How does a network help define, or redefine the space upon which it operates? side thought...The most valuable component of the information on the internet for instance is not data itself, but it's relationship and connections to other data.


We wanted to figure out how to make a network physical, networks are often built on intangible connections. Over the last few weeks at ITP, I have quickly realized that in order to understand something and learn about it, it often helps to build it and have it exist within a space that you can relate to. Even if you are doing it on a small scale, it really helps to make something that can identify with on a physical human scale. ***It is easy for an idea to stay in it's conceptual form, in your mind. However only when you make that idea real, does it address some aspect of humanity...as humanity itself is dependent on the inherent relationship between mind and body...blablablaaah

We decided to write down all of the flights we had taken, compile the data, buy a globe, put pins in all of the places (nodes), paint it white (first we labeled it with tape), then we removed the tape and connected the nodes with strings, each string represents a flight. Some cities are more densely connected than otheres
Throughout the process we talked about using conductive thread, LEDs and Sound, but then we realized that by adding these things didn't really add to the initial concept. Or provide more significant information.

The most important thing that this project made me think about was how a network helps to define or redefine a space. In this case, we chose to paint the globe white so that you are no longer looking at colours, words on a map or lines that stand for borders. The world is being transformed by new connections, overlayed with new networks, defined and redefined. You are looking at a network of connections that forms a new space, transforms the globe. It is a new way of looking at information and gathering data and a new way to see the world. literally.

An interesting comment that Liz made that stuck in my mind was when she mentioned how when she returned home to Ohio, a lot of her friends there hadn't had similar experiences to her in terms of places she had traveled. An inherent quality of a network is that you are either a part of it, or you are not. When you look at our globe, you can get a sense of whether you are a part of, or you are alienated from the network.

oh yeah...and we also thought of getting a bunch of string, tying it all together and giving every one in class an end and making everyone find the other end of their string...("you're welcome" for not doing that :) hehe).