All computers store visual data. A computer’s graphics card is recording a history of all recent activity on the machine. The core of Scrape is a custom software application that retrieves the data from a computer graphics card, interprets it, and represents it visually. This creates a beautiful, abstract mosaic of sometimes chaotic and sometimes recognizable tiles of information.

The software is used in the three projects that make up Scrape: an interactive installation uncovering traces left behind when using a public computer, an online social network rethinking the concept of constant status updates, and an exhibit of prints using information as a drawing medium.

On one hand, Scrape is a reminder of the amount of trust we put into computers. On the other, the project exposes the tell-all attitude characterizing our online social interaction. Scrape explores these themes through a re-interpretation of data, using information as a medium for creating beautiful visual compositions.

Read the Thesis Paper

Two of the Scrape modules, the interactive installation and the exhibit of large format prints, will be on display throughout the week at ITP.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once you make an account, you can download the desktop agent and run it on your computer (OS X 10.5+ only for now). The agent allows you to scrape your graphics card manually or at random intervals. You can then save the generated images on disk or upload them to the Scrape site. You can also set Scrape to automatically post your “computation state” to Twitter.

Scrape is an art piece that explores information privacy by focusing on the graphical data that is left behind on a computer. All computers store visual data. The graphics card is basically recording a history of all recent activity on the machine. The core of Scrape is a custom software that retrieves the data from a computer graphics card at regular intervals. This found data is interpreted and represented visually, creating a beautiful, abstract mosaic of sometimes chaotic and sometimes recognizable tiles of information.

The idea behind Scrape emerged from a bug in software that I wrote, in which the user interface was being drawn within itself recursively. After much confusion about why this was happening, I eventually realized that I had accessed “leftover” data on the graphics card. The idea to expose this forgotten visual data has been in the back of my mind for about four years and finally became fully developed in Scrape.

I developed the concepts behind Scrape in Show and Tell Studio last semester, and my intention was to apply for a Canada Arts Council Grant to produce the piece after graduation. However, it is a solid project that is fit for a thesis, so I have decided to work on it now.

The Scrape software will be used in the three modules that make up the project.

The first module is an interactive installation piece. A room is furnished with three computers and six monitors on a desk, metaphorically a security office in a mall or office building. Visitors are invited to use the computers, where Scrape is running in the background, collecting data in real-time and feeding it to the monitors. The controls in the front of the monitors can be used to switch between a grid view of the eleven data interpretations, or a full-screen focus on one of them. This allows the users to directly see the contents of the scrapes and the relationship between their actions and the displays.

The second module is an exhibition of large format portraits produced with the software. The prints will be selected images generated by Scrape, offering a snapshot of users characterized by their collected data. Visually, the pieces will mirror the repetition patterns and singularity of collage art, resulting in compositions that are both beautiful and representative of this one aspect of their creators. By using the program extensively, the participants will understand the inner workings of its operation and will have greater control on the output, using data as a medium to “paint” their self-portraits.

The last module is an online service where users can upload their scrapes to a gallery. A downloadable application will allow participants to scrape their graphics data, save it as an image, and upload it to the online service. The uploads can be shared with other users and hyperlinked to already-existing social networks. The idea is to answer the popular “What are you doing?” question –which is at the core of services such as Facebook and Twitter– using a unique and personal visual badge. Instead of redefining one’s identity through written status updates, the visual scrape exposes one’s “computational state” impartially and uncritically.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The communication with the iPhone is done through OSC using Mrmr on the phone and OscP5 on the laptop. The 3D environment was built with JOCode for Processing, an OpenGL framework I have been working on with Mark Napier. We are in the process of finalizing the library and it will be available within the next two weeks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Very silly but lots of fun. We basically learned that you can shoot any mundane thing in slow-motion and it’s going to look incredible.

Watch it here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

See http://www.teleshadow.net/autosuggestionII/ for more information.

A project by Brad Todd with Elie Zananiri.