David Phillips

Concept, Code & Design

Hiya! I'm a recent ITP graduate student living in New York. I am hybrid of both designer and front end developer. I make a mean Keynote too.

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Narrative Lab Final – Agitprop Software Theatre

Posted on June 17, 2010 by admin

I enjoy using contemporary issues and spinning them on their head. Last semester, I created a mobile app to get kids to find out where their clothes were being made, which happens to be Cevate and globally based sweatshops. This time around, I wanted to explore the issue of privacy in America; to be precise, the dwindling state of privacy. My inspiration derives from:

The rise of mobile apps with geo-location and high levels of surveillance
the incredible amount of information that Google has regarding personal habits
the increasing amount of phone data offered by telecoms to the US Homeland Security is cause for great concern for any privacy advocate
Facebook’s crumbling privacy policies
In England, they are planning to allow internet users to view CCTV cameras. If they see anything suspicious, they can report it for a cash reward.(1) This is a natural progression. Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8393602.stm

This is all incredibly frightening. Thusly, it’s time for me to exploit it’s inevitability for comedic gain.

I decided to take one of my more favored books, 1984, and see how realistic I could make it. My project stars a character named Georgie O’Well(in reference to Eric Arthur Blair’s pen name) as the mascot for SnapScouts (please note the use of case), an Android project to help children take photos of suspicious activity. Once they take the photo, Georgie says “++Good! Tell us more!” and you are able to add the individual’s name and choose from a collection of activites ranging from ‘illegal immigrant’, ‘hates freedom’, and simply ‘looks suspicious’. Once the user finishes placing their information, it is then sent to a private security firm for further investigation and future crime screening.

There are other hints laced within the site. The corporation that created the application is Mintru LLC. The founders are George Parsons and Winston O’Brien, both are characters from the book.

This is where most people get the joke. But not everyone.

“How far do you go?” was the main issue during its genesis. Some people thought it should be more obvious. Some people thought there should be no allusions to 1984 whatsoever. I was initially uncomfortable without all of the references: I was in on the joke, so are you, this is why we are all laughing and we all get how absurd this is, yes? But in order for the application to have impact, it needs to be discussed. So, where do you draw the line? I attempted to find a careful balance. It was awkward, but successful, I believe and it has reached from trending topics on Twitter to classrooms in Washington.

Links

Here is the app website:

snapscouts.org

Snardfarker(right wing blog)

http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/snapscoutscrowd-sourcing-crime

Mobile Behavior

http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2010/05/06/participatory-sensing-snapscouts-app-crowdsources-crime-prevention/

LA Times Blog(thought it was real)

http://jodspeed.latimesmagazine.com/2010/05/snapscouts.html

Wired Blog

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/05/enjoy-your-participatory-panopticon-with-snapscouts/

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