1. slowly fade out some spacing divs so the text and images slowly float around the page and overlay each-other…what will be added will be some kind of code that allows elements to overlay each other to the point of burying and constriction…I wonder how small I could shrink everything. Like all images and text at one point.
2. an extension that replaces local location names with indigenous ones. Would be created for the news but also would adapt well to any websites about military history
3. replacing hate speech with real feelings, I statements, and non-violent expressions of interpersonal conflict
4. removing all videos of news and livestreams on Youtube and replacing it with live video feed from my ant farm
5. I STILL WANT TO ALTER MAPS!!! Want to create my own jpegs of the US with migration patterns of animals (history and contemporary)
6. replacing everyone’s name in the news with the phrase: “somebody’s child”
7. Adding audio sounds to websites of industrial processes that keep the grid functioning: sound of fossil fuel extraction, sound of cooling water flowing in pipes, sound of workers talking, sound of google workers talking, sound of security guards at work at the servers.
8. Replace all the food on different food order websites with the words “some food”

Replace upvotes with downvotes

Replace gun violence words from news sites with fluffier words

Replace Trump with Cheeto Man in Chief

Replace from names with random famous people in gmail

Replace subject line of emails with spam ish related stuff

Replace pictures of trump with dogs and cats or Putin shirtless on a horse

Replace all images on a site with memes

Replace news with conspiracy theories

My observe deals with the automatic video playing that I find on facebook and instagram. When scrolling through a feed, the videos begin silently playing. I found that even if I wasn’t pulled in by the static image at first, when it became “moving”, I suddenly became more interested in the story.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but moving pictures tell a story. As I’m scrolling, I only get a second or two in the clip before I potentially scroll past, but I found that this is just enough time to hook me. In just a second or two, the story begins to unfold.

The silent aspect of the video adds to the hook. It makes me think that I get to choose whether to hear the audio or not, but it’s actually about me not being in the know. I can see the kids giggling, I can see people talking, I can see things that need to make sound, but I’m restricted. Facebook says “no, don’t hear this” and my mind says “why not?”.

Initially I thought that the silent video was a nice feature, which surpasses the current auto-loading videos which blast their audio content without concern, but now I’m not so sure. Facebook doesn’t seem to change (or do) anything unless is 1) benefits them and 2) uses psychology against (maybe even for??) us. I’m irritated by auto-loaded videos which blast their audio, but I more than tolerate the silent auto-loaded videos. In fact, I’m more likely to watch a silent auto-load than an audible auto-load. I think facebook (also read: instagram, snapchat, etc) knows that.

This didn’t happen to me, but rather, to someone in a Facebook group as me (I asked for permission to use this photo). There’s so much to take in here, but my all time favorite is the “This is a mistake”. I wish I knew what happened when you clicked that but the wording of that is hilarious to me. OF COURSE it’s a mistake, why on Earth would I choose for them not to see my comment? It almost seem like he was blocked by the original poster but that wasn’t the case. Other people had the same problem in this group. Your only two options are to complain or to accept your fate with “OK”. The wording for the error is also interesting. “You can’t connect with this person”, keeping with Facebook’s “original” goal of connecting people. Rather than, “You can’t post a comment right now”, they have to connect it back to the original poster. “They won’t see your comment” when in the background, no one can see Jason’s comments because they aren’t even “sending”, as if this comment is being sent like a text message rather than being posted like a comment. I would expect that type of wording in the Facebook messenger app, not the normal Facebook app.

THIS WAS A MISTAKE

For my next observe I chose to do this new facebook app update I just so happened to stumble upon when I was going about my day. Recently facebook added a thing when when you watch a video and mid-way through if you swipe downward instead of going away it will be a minimized version of it in the corner of your screen. I was taken aback by this at first because I wasn’t expecting them to do this. The reason why I found this interesting however, is because Youtube has had a feature just like that where you can browse other videos while the one you are watching is minimized in the same fashion you see in the image. With the new Youtube update it has a version where the same thing happens but they changed the look of this minimized screen so it looks like where Youtube goes, facebook is a step behind them. I feel like this relates to an earlier observation I had where I said that Facebook is trying to monopolize the app industry by trying to ripoff features of others apps and I feel like this is a strong example of that again. Facebook is trying to encourage people to watch more videos on facebook by making it more “convenient” for them to watch, pause and do others things and later come back to that video. I feel likes its almost obvious at this point.

1. change the images on Washington post or NYTimes to puppies and Babies
2. change Facebook Images to just plain colors
3. change the text to gibberish or pig latin on a news site
4. change the prices on a shopping website
5. change the dates on a news site
6. change the titles on News sites to the authors name
7. change profile pictures to text
8. change the ratings on IMDB

This week I noticed the gaining popularity of a new app (which isn’t actually new and is from 2015) called Vero, which became a big thing and died all in the same week. Vero’s sudden popularity likely came from ads on facebook and instagram, as well as promotions from people saying, “it’s the new instagram.” It promised a chronological timeline with no ads and no “crazy algorithms”, as well as trying to replicate relationships in the real world like the difference between friendships and acquaintances.

Unfortunately, the app got so big overnight it just stopped working, and people trying to get on can’t do anything with it  It also will be based on a subscription fee to use it after the first million downloads. The privacy policy is also shady, stating that the content is allowed to be used by Vero however they want for as long as they want. The creator of the app also has a shady past where he didn’t pay workers, so now the app has just become a trainwreck where everyone is trying to delete it but can’t even figure out how to do that.

I didn’t download the app and I’m for sure not going to now because it just sounds like a mess, but there’s definitely a lot of stuff worth talking about when looking at what’s going on. For example, the ads being placed on instagram and facebook are already organizing a particular audience to be attracted to the app. By saying the app is “instagram but better,” it’s already causing people to interact with it in a similar manner (when the app could be used for a lot more in reality, like recommending books and stuff.) The rush to make an account was even because of the first million getting a free account thing put into place, so the desire for an account now is there.

I think all of the stuff I’ve seen is interesting, but one thing that stands out to me the most is the idea of assigning labels to the people you are interacting with on the app. The people I saw who downloaded the app were all using it as another platform to post their art, so I thought it was just like everything else where you have followers and that’s it. The fact that it organizes everything into friend, acquaintance, follower, etc… is so interesting and unique to a social media platform and I don’t know whether it would be a good function or not. The only other platform I can think of that has something similar is deviantart because you can organize people by friends or by watchers, but not to this extent.

Links: 1 | 2 | 3

For my observe this week, I chose to use my Netflix account as an example for how media influences your decisions. Netflix has an algorithm that takes what you’ve watched in the past and uses it to make a “Top Picks” for the user. Also, they make categories based on a specific show that you’ve watched and recommend related genres, in my example I used Gilmore Girls and Netflix put shows that are similar to the title and Genre in that category option. I think this was a smart implementation on Netflix’s part because it saves you time when looking for a show to watch next, because in my experience, the shows they put under top picks are actually movies/shows that I would be interested in watching.

1. change all images on buzzfeed website
2. change names of stocks on stock market website
3. change all new york time headlines to news about obamacare
4. change trump’s website information
5. change facebook’s privacy policy
6. change images on
7. change all images to nickelback on U of I’s main website
8. change headlines or information on trump’s website to offensive things he has said in the past

Many of my observes so far have been based off of Facebook posts and features, which was not intentional; I guess I have just found that Facebook as a social media website produces the most unwanted content than any other social media site, at least for me personally. From sponsored advertisements, to reminders of events that have no correlation to me, it does it all. One thing that I noticed this week during my time using Facebook was the many options it gives you when you go to write a facebook post. Other than asking me “what’s on your mind, rachel?” (as if i’d genuinely answer that, or anyone would care), it gives 12 options directly under that of things you can add to your post.
These options are there to promote using facebook for a wide array of things – other than posting videos or photos, it gives you the option to share your feeling/activities, check in at places, start a poll, start a list, tag people or events, or even “support nonprofits”. While some of these features have been present for a while, this is the first time I’ve actually noticed the support nonprofit tab. Truthfully, I can’t think of a single person who logs onto facebook to support nonprofits. Additionally, posting a status about you supporting a non profit is almost like tooting your own horn. I feel like these features are unnecessary, but then again so is half of what facebook promotes and sponsors. I just find it interesting that facebook encourages you to think these ways, to engage with the community, but truthfully I doubt people use these features much, I know I don’t.

1. Switch the headlines and articles on Buzzfeed and the Washington Post
2. Switch the content of Facebook and Amazon
3. Switch the content of the New York Times and Vogue magazine
4. Switch the content for the U of I engineering and Arts websites
5. Switch the clothing store pages for Target and Nordstrom
6. Switch the content for National Geographic and any conspiracy theory website
7. Switch the content for NASAs web page and any conspiracy theory website
8. Replace news articles on a news website with Pinterest posts, and vice versa

Again, this week I was scrolling through facebook and noticed another trend on my newsfeed. Every so often between posts from people I know and care about, there will be these “suggested posts”, as if they contain something that would interest me. But every single time these suggested posts are from sponsored companies trying to sell something. That in itself isn’t too strange, most websites nowadays have sponsored posts to give them some form of ad revenue. But what interested me was the fact that they tried to pass this off as a “suggested post”, like, they are looking out for something that might interest me. They’re saying “Hey, we think you’d like this post!” but it’s just an ad. I just thought that was another interesting aspect of the Facebook website and how it interacts with its users right now.

Here are 8 things I came up with for our REPLACE project:

1. Replace authors/sources with “anonymous”
Does a message become less convincing when you don’t know the source?

2. Replace all the periods with exclamation points.
How exciting could things get?

3. Replace all links with fake links that don’t click.
Take some time to really look at the page you’re on.

4. Replace all pronouns with their opposite.
Would this highlight an imbalance in gender representation?

5. Replace a name with a different one.
What would it look like if Obama spoke like Trump?

6. Replace first person pronouns with third person.
This is just for fun, I suppose.

7. On a news site, replace names and locations with those from kid shows.
How does this affect the message?

8. Replace actual country names with really stereotypical names.
Can you still tell what the story is about? If so, how does that feel being able to correctly identify a country based on its stereotype?

I’ve been trying to pay more attention to the phrasing and wording of things in addition to the design of things. As visual (or like extra-visual? as in fingerprint logins or facial recognition) elements continue to replace textual ones, I’m interested in the rarity of them and therefore (supposedly, if we believe in scarcity) their increased significance. So when my phone tells me that I “have a new memory,” I realize that there’s a lot going on. I can accept “memories” as another corporately co-opted intimate symbol (“friends” “connections” etc.), but I also think about the sci-fi future of how actual human memory will exist down the line. Lots of folks have already extrapolated this to utopic or dystopic (Total Recall comes to mind), but we’re also already there. When I try to recall a moment to share with someone, sometimes I start by scrolling back through my phone’s photos to try and get to that period of my life.

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