Category: Flog

Writings from this week dove directly into the topics I had encountered in my GPT hack, and illustrated several concepts I have been trying to understand, like authorship, copyrights, and the boundaries of sharing. The Lethem readings resonated most with my perspective on the issue, which is that everyone borrows from everyone. The credit of creative content to some identity is desirable primarily by those identities, for the benefits of having such credit. When the credit involves monetary benefits beyond recognition, and the society in question is structured on monetary hierarchies that dictate the survival of citizens, copyright becomes a serious issue, a need as well as a barrier. I find it significant to contextualize the copyright debate inside Western social and political structures, exploitative, misguided structures, that have defined copyright practices for the world.

I disliked the hyperfocus on Western, individualistic perspectives in Theft, when tackling both sides of the debate. If they sought only to recap the Western history of copyright policies, then it would be less disconcerting, but the discussions proposed new approaches to creative expression for the human species, rarely straying from white male or US-centric artists as the central examples in the texts, and ignoring the ways collectivist cultures approach authorship.

Not much happened this week, but the readings were quite extensive. The readings for Tuesday were very long and difficult to get through. While I found them interesting, there was a lot, and I found myself forgetting what I was reading… it became hard to focus. The reading for Thursday was much better, probably because it was comic based.

I’m excited for the next hack. The topic of remixing has been interesting, but I don’t really agree with the notion that there are no “original” ideas or words anymore. I think there is more to it, but I’m not quite sure what that is. I assume the next hack will be to remix something, but that is quite open ended. I hope there are some more specific requirements to it.

This week, we discussed concepts of creativity and unoriginality through the history and lineage of text and music. This was an exciting week for me because of my passions for music, but also because of my philosophy when regarding creativity. I believe that this “theft” that we discussed in class is a crucial and natural part of creativity and innovation. We as humans are designed for input and output, meaning that we are constantly being shaped and produced by everything we intake in life (physically, mentally, and conceptually). Thus, creativity reflects this same natural lifestyle as being creative means to use the tools and works around you as inspiration, influence, and strongholds for new ideas. For class, I specifically enjoyed the comic (the history of music reading) as it presented quite complex concepts in a digestible form. Although, a failure for this week is that I often had trouble following along with certain speech bubbles and comic panels. My brain is used to reading Japanese manga (reading everything from right to left), so I was often tripped up. Despite this, I am excited for the coming classes as we discuss more even philosophy and ideas behind creative “theft.”

In reflecting on my third hack, my “Desmos Diary” I considered three of Sacasas’ questions towards the ethics of artifacts.

Time and Experience

“3. “How will the use of this technology affect my experience of time?””

Considering how much and how long we interact with different technologies, I found myself dwelling on the intentional frustration built into my project. While creating a journaling system through graphing equations seems counterintuitive and deliberately difficult, I actually found that this friction produced an unexpected intimacy with the content. The slowed pace forced me to consider each word, each thought more carefully than I would with traditional journaling methods. There’s something different about expressing emotions through mathematical constructs—it created a reflective distance that paradoxically allowed for deeper processing. Time stretched and compressed in unusual ways; what would have been quick entries became deliberate exercises in translation and expression.

I could imagine revisiting these equation-based journal entries and experiencing them differently than traditional text. The process of decoding my own thoughts might reveal patterns and connections I hadn’t noticed during the initial writing. This time dimension—the way the technology transforms not just recorded thoughts but their later review—suggests journaling technologies aren’t just about efficiency but about shaping how we engage with our past expressions.

Assumptions and Systems

“30. What assumptions about the world does the use of this technology tacitly encourage?”

“34. Upon what systems, technical or human, does my use of this technology depend? Are these systems just?”

My software invasion project, if theoretically implemented broadly, makes significant assumptions about users’ mathematical literacy. It presupposes that everyone can understand and manipulate graphing equations and somehow translate them to written language. This reliance on specialized knowledge immediately creates barriers to entry that traditional journaling platforms don’t have.

The project depends entirely on educational systems that prioritize certain types of mathematical knowledge. It reinforces the divide between those who received particular types of education and those who didn’t, but even so, who retains these information. In this way, my “hack” accidentally reveals how technologies can reinforce existing social hierarchies and educational inequalities.

LF

This week the by far the biggest thing that I struggled with was coming up with a an idea for my Hack #3. At first, it was tough for me to think of ideas to do because there are not many forms of software that I am familiar with and that I use on a daily basis. For me, I really only use Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets and then I also use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Other than those few, I am not very well versed when it comes to forms of software. Because of this, I decided to use the one that I was the most familiar with: Google Docs.

This was only half of the battle though, as I was still unsure of what to do with Google Docs, but then I got to thinking. Whenever I use Google Docs, it is always for school, work, college applications, etc. I only ever use this software for very serious manners. Whenever I sit down and type on Google Docs, I have to form well thought out ideas and really pay attention to what I am typing, I wanted to make Google Docs have more of a different feel. To make this form of software become more fun and relaxing, I decided to turn Google Docs into a new form of social media.

At first this seemed like it would be somewhat of a daunting task as I felt like there were not many feature within Google Docs that would provide much versatility apart from just typing on a blank document, but once I got to playing around more and diving deeper into the feature of this software, I found that this was not true. I discovered that you can change the background color of a document; that way it is not just boring, plain white. The colorful background that I added helped make the software not seem so serious and professional. Next, I found that the comment section was very good for replying to posts that “users” can make on the actual main document. I knew this feature was already an existing thing, but I did not realize that multiple people could add comments to the same text over and over again. The other feature that I thought really helped add to a more fun environment to the software was the emoji reactions. I did not know this was a feature of Google Docs until I started messing around on the platform. This feature was really nice because it made it where “users” can add quick reactions to posts and comments without having to sit down and type out full responses. The comment and emoji features were crucial in the process of creating this prototype social media platform. It made it to where “users” can have the option of either typing out well thought out responses to posts, reply with a short, funny, and relatable message, or simply just quickly reply with an emoji. The features of Google Docs allow for a lot of fun aspects that really never get tapped into because I feel as though users are constantly user the platform for more professional forms of work.

36. Does using this technology require me to think more or less?

Google Sheets definitely requires you to think more in most use cases. The way I utilized it during hack #3 was fairly mindless compared to the normal workflow one might experience while using this software. While my hack used a very limited number of tools, there are many more complex options available in Google Sheets (like basic coding, mathematical formulas, and more). Most of the use cases I see for Google Sheets are fairly complex and it is used by a lot of organizations. I can imagine Sheets or Excel are used by most major companies and political organizations for things like budgets at the very least. This does make you question the nature of organizing data in this way and how it can potentially dehumanize groups of people/organizations by reducing them to just a line on a sheet that’s being allocated a certain amount of funding or things of that nature. Google Sheets has this very clinical aura that takes a lot of the soul out of what you are doing, and in a way it almost feels like it’s encouraging you to think less critically about the things you are organizing, calculating, or projecting, though that might just be my interpretation of how the UI makes me feel. 

37. What would the world be like if everyone used this technology exactly as I use it?

It would be quite funny if everyone used this technology the way I did for my hack. It’s one of the most impractical uses of Google Sheets, and considering how many alternatives there are for animation I don’t think anyone would really use it if they could only use it that way. That being said, there are people who use tools like Sheets and Excel to make artwork. While I was browsing online for inspiration I found this person, Tatsuo Horiuchi, who makes vector-style artwork in Excel. His work is way more complex than what I made and it doesn’t even look like it’s been created in a data organizing tool. I think it’s very interesting that he creates this work in Excel, and he said in an interview that the reason he does this is because he prefers the UI of Excel over other art programs. 

I did not work on much this school week, but I worked a lot over the previous weekend. My task was to put together some sort of song on After Effects, something I had not done before. However, I have had experience in the past with varying DAWs, so it did not seem like it would be too difficult. It was more fun than challenging, and I really enjoyed the process.

But it’s not something I would do again.

The process was quite time consuming, and I spent a lot of time working. Listening back to the song over and over again became repetitive, and it got to a point where it just sounded like noise, nothing intelligible or composed.

I took a break after that point, obviously, but I suppose I could call that a fail of the week. I overworked myself and did not realize it until after the fact.

Writing the artist statement wasn’t that difficult, I had many things to speak upon creating music and I hope it serves as a valid argument for the artist statement.

Beyond that, it’s been a busy week. I’ve had a midterm type of assignment due in every class and I’m quite burnt out. Excited for break, and excited for the next hack.

36. Does this technology require me to think more or less?

Logic Pro is a very powerful software with many hidden capabilities, therefore it requires me to think more. I feel like I am always discovering new features within the software, allowing me to experiment with new techniques, sounds, and ideas. Similarly, there is quite a large curve for proficiency in speaking the language of the software, the more you know about the tools and terminologies, the greater you can achieve. The only limitations are how much you know and how much you know how to do, requiring the user to think greatly. 

18. Can I imagine living without this technology? Why, or why not?

I think it would be really hard, given that Logic Pro (and other DAWs) is something that has been around ever since I’ve been around. I’m sure that it would take some getting used to, as analog recording and music production would still be available, but it’s almost like asking a teenager if they could live without their smartphone. Then again, I feel as if recording and creating music through analog means, like tape, would limit me in a way that would stimulate creativity and intention. Since tape cannot be altered or changed, and often quite expensive, being critical with production choices and practicing would become crucial, making me a better musician and creative. 

Building the Abacus presented quite a challenge that involved many fails, but overall I was very proud of the final result. I discussed in my flog last week the challenges of trying to get the beads to simulate like an abacus, and after a lot of different trials and errors, I think I was successful. I was able to have the user only click certain slots, like moving a bead, to change the abacus value.

I also had a lot of problems figuring out how to write the algorithm for the abacus beads to add five if the top level beads were up. In the end, I worked with a tutor in Data Cats to figure out the best way to write the code correctly. A process that was quite complex and long lines of code for a fairly simple output.

In reflecting on my virtual Abacus, I looked towards some of the questions Sacasas poses in the article Do Artifacts Have Ethics?

36. Does using this technology require me to think more or less?

With the abacus the process of representing a number with the beads requires more thought than simply writing it out. Although the abacus is designed to be a simple tool to represent numbers, it is unfamiliar to modern audiences. However, this is part of the point in thinking about subversive design, the tool is meant to be more challenging to reflect on how our algorithmic systems have evolved.

28. What limits does my use of this technology impose upon others?

In a similar vein, the abacus is rather inaccessible at first because it has no instructions. Most of my friends had no idea how to use the abacus and were puzzled when I showed them my version. One is required to understand the numerical system in order to use it properly.

18. Can I imagine living without this technology? Why, or why not?

Because the abacus is basically useless in relation to the many different settings and offerings of Google Sheets as a program, it would be very easy to live without this program. Even simple calculators can perform the abacus math in a faster more precise way. However, the use of the abacus in ancient civilizations throughout the world speaks to the importance of math and understanding numbers throughout time. The same mathematic principles are still the basis of our calculators and computers today, even if they completely out perform the original abacus.

9. What will the use of this technology encourage me to notice?

The first question I chose to reflect on from Michael Sacasas’ “Do Artifacts Have Ethics?” was this one. I think the past 3 hacks have had a critical component of them that I am trying to address and tie into the bigger picture.

What will the use of this technology encourage me to notice?

This question from “Do Artifacts Have Ethics?” spoke the most to me in relation to my third Hack. Taking a deeper dive into Google Docs made me realize the affordances are all geared toward academia and business. Opening my anonymous confession document feels weird. Most people have never used Google Docs as a personal or collaborative helpline in any regard to emotional content. It forces the individuals interacting with it to question a piece of software they regularly interact with. When taken out of context, it requires reflection on the specificity upon which it was created. I have never thought about how Google Docs encourage interaction in solely one subject or area of productivity. Beyond Docs, it made me question the accessibility that work-related applications have that personal-focused software lacks. Because of technological innovations, we are never separated from email or modes of work, yet we have not gotten there in terms of using technology to help increase access to personal growth applications. I think this speaks volumes to the importance we place on success in school and work. It is still taboo to consider mental health as important as physical health, and I believe that is the reason there is little to no software created geared towards this subject. The Google Suite has everything an individual could need to succeed in their job, yet it discourages this one important aspect because of the way it was created.

1. One of my biggest “failures” this week was missing class on Thursday. I had booked my Spring Break tickets for 3/6 because they were cheaper, but I didn’t take my class schedule into account. In hindsight, that was a major oversight and a bit of irresponsibility on my part. However, the silver lining is that I was able to present Hack #3 on Tuesday, which brought me some relief.
2. While working on Hack #3, I hit a lot of roadblocks. As I mentioned in my artist statement, I tend to work well under pressure, but this time I may have pushed myself too far. I left the project until the last minute, and although I had planned to use Notion, I didn’t expect to get stuck and not know how to move forward—especially when it was already 11 PM. Despite the stress, I knew I had good ideas, just not enough time to make them work perfectly. I overestimated my ability to manage it all within the timeframe. Still, I’m hopeful that I can improve my Notion skills by the end of the semester and apply them to my final Hack, aiming to make it as polished and innovative as possible.