record – LABS

Thesis Info

Thesis Title: Public News Network: Digital Sampling To Create A Hybrid Media Feed

URL where full thesis can be found: etd.tamu.edu/metaview.php?DAID=etd-tamu-2003A-2003032810-Sten

Keywords: Sampling, Streaming Video, OpenGL, Virtual Reality, Navigable Space, Electronic Media, Digital Media, New Media, Software Art, Digital Art, Television, Situationist

Abstract: 200-500 words: PNN presents a three-dimensional space a viewer can navigate using a computer mouse and keyboard. Moving within the environment one sees irregularly shaped three-dimensional objects resting on an infinite ground plane, and hears an ethereal wind. As the viewer nears an object, the sound transforms into the sound of television static and text is displayed which identifies this object as representative of an episode of the evening news. The viewer “touches” the episode object and a transcript of the broadcast begins to scroll across the screen. With further interaction, video of the broadcast streams across the surfaces of the environment, distorted by the shapes upon which it flows. The viewer can further manipulate and repurpose the broadcast by searching for words contained within the transcripts. The results of this search are reassembled into a new episode object, which is surface-mapped with video containing the terms stripped from their original context. Juxtapositions of sound and imagery present the opportunity for the creation of an aesthetic experience through willful manipulation of meaning effects.