A Crash Course in
Civil Discourse on Political Blogs

 
2008, Fang-Yu Frank Lin
compustition.com

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Political Science 101
A Crash Course in Civil Discourse on Political Blogs

Political Science 101: A Crash Course in Civil Discourse on Political Blogs is a net art installation that constantly scans and monitors four hundred political blogs for headlines, keywords and trends. The "learnings" are presented as slides that are generated in real-time, using textbook style charts and graphs. A hacked slide projector projects these virtual slides to the screen in a simulated classroom setting. Hence, the class is a study of blogs as a political medium, and an appraisal of its traits and uses:

Is the Political Blogs legitimate? Where does it stand in the long tradition of civil discourse as a facilitator/facilitation? What is the role that the political bloggers play in this suddenly proliferative forum? Come take Political Science 101, taught by none other than the political blogs itself.

Political Science 101 is the second installment of Fang-Yu Lin's Theses on the Internet series, following From the Great Beyond: Internet as an Entity? Channeling the Net Through a Robotic Typewriter. The third installment, Enter My Space: Individual Exhibition and Collective Spectating for the Realization of Virtual Selves, is currently under development.

Born in Taiwan, Fang-Yu Lin is a New York-based new media artist and designer whose artwork reflects the interplay of human experience, culture and technology. His works have been featured in many venues, including Whitney Artport, Tate Online, Les Rencontres Internationales, Prix Ars Electronica, Seoul New Media Festival, Bauhaus Dessau, and SIGGRAPH. Lin also co-authored Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew, a design DIY book to be released in October. He holds a MFA in Design & Technology and a MS in Information.

Contact: f r a n k AT compustition DOT c o m

A special thank-you goes out to (in alphabetical order) Daniel Finkler, Rey Peralta, and Jamie Roberts. Without their coding prowess, this project would not have been possible. Also thanks to Catalin, Mateo, Carlos, Aya, Marc, PT, and everyone at Intermedia Arts.

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