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/

Download Squad

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/05/06/snapscouts-might-not-be-real-but-the-privacy-implications-are-r/

Metafilter:

http://www.metafilter.com/91744/Crowdsourcing-Crime-Prevention

and finally, Reddit:

http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/c2ngq/if_you_didnt_know_it_blackwater_xe_is_funding_a/

A final note to all:  Read or Else.

Talk Back – Careful Jack, the Characters Talk Back!

Elevator Pitch – User-generated MST3k.  Users watching a show on tv/web can text in any comments/questions they have and the characters will respond back, the best of which appear on the screen for everyone to see.

Origin – Talk Back was created out of a desire to pick up the snarky commentary on screen that was used in “Blind Date,” “Next,” and other dating shows, not to mention Pop Up Video by VH1, and expand it to television and movies to a point where you are interacting with the characters.  Our constraints included the use of only pre-taped material, so we decided administrators would read the comments texted in and respond as in the characters voice.  There was a level of excitement that came with improvising responses immediately and then showing them on screen as they arrived.  We ended up choosing a 5 minute scene from “Real Genius,” due to Robert Carlsen and I’s mutual love and the film’s insatiable quotability.

Structure – Textmarks would send the messages to a page, which was then redirected into a Google Spreadsheets, wherein, multiple admins could be logged in at the same time.  We each would speak in the voice of the character.  Each row has a Flag column.  When the flag was marked Yes, the Question and Answer were sent into a queue to be shown above and below the screen.

Success – The textmarks did transfer into Google Documents and the information was able to show up on screen.

Failures – Google Documents would not let the sheer amount of text messages to be injected into the database, so we ended up with a bottleneck with the messages, which created a delay time for the responses to show up on screen.

The Future - In Phase 2, the messages would go directly to the individual who wrote it.  Eventually, there could be the capability to respond to people in various languages.

Screen Grabs:

• Your computer texts you when it’s being stolen. Note: a more reasonable request. Your computer begins to scream out loud when A) your cellphone is further than 5 feet from it and B) is at anything beyond a 15 degree angle parallel to the floor.
• Having SMS text interlace with e-mails when needed.
• A # to text and ask if the floor is open.
• A # to text to find people’s phone numbers?
• a text message that could unlock something?