May 09, 2006
threadcloud
Curating Clouds
threadcloud is social artware for collective curatorial activity in distributed space. The project is developed by 03 skripty kittenz: jake elliott + tamas kemenczy + siobhan renfroe. It is part of the [FRAY] series of events. The threadcloud software is split into two components:
01: artcloud (web application front-end): Anyone can access the artcloud at threadcloud.info and anonymously submit links to digital artworks. The artcloud enables users to describe artworks that have been submitted + descriptively connect them with one another.
02: threadcrab (grid gallery): In the language of computer network architecture, a 'grid' refers to a network of computing resources that share a load in a distributed fashion, essentially behaving like a resource-sharing rhizome or a hive mind. The grid gallery is the presentation layer for threadcloud. It is operated by an automatic software preparator named threadcrab, who accesses sites with forum or comment functionality (aka blogs, livejournals and online message boards), and install references to the artwork along with tags, descriptions and relationships drawn from the artcloud's database.
========wtf (aka faq)========
::::what can i do on this site?::::
+ submit, tag, and describe relationships between digital artworks.
::::should i submit artworks i have made or that others have made?::::
+ you can submit anything you like. the process is completely anonymous, so there is never any indication of the relationship between the artist responsible for the artwork and the person responsible for submitting it to threadcloud.
::::who developed threadcloud?::::
+ 03 skripty kittenz in CHI IL US
::::what does the threadcrab do?::::
+ threadcrab installs references to the artworks from the artcloud into online message boards and comments on blogs. threadcrab also uses information added by users of threadcloud.info to position artworks in relationship to one another.
::::is threadcloud social software?::::
+ social software is a term used to describe software technologies that provide a platform for social activity. it is currently used specifically to describe web applications like myspace, livejournal and friendster. threadcloud is social artware; an attempt at a self-reflexive + critical social software platform presented as software art. threadcloud's criticality w/r/t social software is articulated through its emphasis on anonymity, it's avoidance of hierarchy, and its reliance on unsolicited insertion into pre-existing, digitally-mediated communities via the threadcrab.
::::is there an index of websites in which threadcrab is operating?::::
+ threadcrab will be active beginning on may 13th, 2006. threadcrab will report back to the threadcloud about its activities and a map will be accessible at threadcloud.info.
::::what techknowledgies are used to build threadcloud?::::
+ threadcloud is built with four open source techknowledgies. the front-end user interface is built in javascript with MochiKit. the front-end talks to a server-side web services api built in python with the django framework. the display graphics are generated using tamas kemenczy's 'ansinerator' php library, an engine for generating and displaying ANSI-style graphics in the browser (open source, release forthcoming). the threadcrab is a firefox plugin built in javascript with greasemonkey.
===about fray===
[FRAY] is a series of interwoven events organized by the Film, Video and New Media department (FVNM) at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). [FRAY] is focussed on time, screen and code based experimental New Media art. [FRAY] consists of the following
interrelated aspects: a conference, discussions and presentations, screenings and clusters of projects running during the Spring 2006 semester.
Posted by luis at May 9, 2006 05:15 AM
