Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

Open source intelligence and information war: new Charles Cameron

More on the information war front: Charles Cameron has an excellent article on open source intelligence in OJR.   It points to the 9-11 Commision's recommendation for an open source intel agency, and one current bill of two to establish that very thing, along with at least one non-governmental attempt.

Open-source intelligence is thus a story, an invitation and a threat -- or a promise. It's a threat of sorts to those journalists who might not welcome intelligence folk reading their articles with more than the usual care and indeed data-mining them with powerful new technologies. But it's a promise of relevance to those who would welcome their analytic skills and research receiving more attention in policy-making circles.

Cameron also points us to Michael Wilson's excellent primer on the subject.

New ARGery

An alternate reality game (ARG) we noted earlier this year, Project Syzygy, has finally come to life.

So far we have the now-customary mix of narrative pieces, embedded in puzzles testing the boundary between game and non-game. Perplexcity offers a sketchy hint of a background (an academy, another world, a missing cube), while a plot device appeared in a non-game, actual catalogue of real stuff.
(And is Marchant a reference to Marchand, also obsessed with a mystery box in a 1987 movie?
)

Game as database continues: Jamie points us to some good resources, like this, this, and this. Unfiction's forum is the place.

I hope the hints of prize money aren't true. If they are, this plus the commercial nature of ILoveBees will strengthen the marketing nature of ARGs.

Meanwhile, even Wired catches on, glancing at ILoveBees.

(thanks to Jamie)

Kaeda: another gorgeous-looking film

Genius writer Caitlin Kiernan points us to Kaeda, a recent French computer-animated film. I'll hunt the DVD, but for now the materials I can find are gorgeous.

The film appears to mount a strong critique of theocracy and/or religion, which might be a growing (if quiet) global meme since 9-11.

Another Web puzzle game: Viridian Room

For those who suffered through Crimson Room, there's a sequel from Takagism, even more frustrating, with a richer object environment: The Viridian Room.

Haunted media: an electronic voice phenomena movie

Haunted media returns to the screen, with an impending film about electronic voice phenomena (EVP), White Noise. There's an official site and a trailer. Who knows how good it will be.

There have been previous attempts to explore this, such as The Stone Tape (which I still haven't seen, but read) . This mix/tribute to Raudive sounds tasty.
Don't forget the key role Raudive played in surfacing the EVP meme.

(thanks to Steven Kaye)

Uncanny marionettes: Ebert

Addressing a favorite Infocult topic, Roger Ebert broods on the uncanny nature of puppets in Team America:

Their characters, one-third lifesize, are clearly artificial, and yet there's something going on around the mouths and lips that looks halfway real, as if they were inhabited by the big faces with moving mouths from the Conan O'Brien show. There are times when the characters risk falling into the Uncanny Valley, that rift used by robot designers to describe robots that alarm us by looking too humanoid.

History of social software

Life with Alacrity posts a fine history of social software. It has a commendable reach back to the early twentieth century.

The term 'social software', which is now used to define software that supports group interaction, has only become relatively popular within the last two or more years. However, the core ideas of social software itself enjoy a much longer history, running back to Vannevar Bush's ideas about 'memex' in 1945, and traveling through terms such as Augmentation, Groupware, and CSCW in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

(thanks to Ken Bolton)

The internet and suicides: Japanese cases this week

Apparently a group of Japanese adults killed themselves this week. Like the story earlier this year about schoolgirl murder, the main (AP) account I can find for this keeps touching the internet, like a magic stone with powers of explanation in the face of agony:

Many of the cases involving people from distant parts of the country started by meetings over the Internet, sparking calls for the government to shut down suicide message boards.

Or:

Increasing numbers of young people in Japan are feeling alienated by modern life. Several thousand are termed "hikikomori" - recluses who never leave their room, finding entertainment only on the internet.

Then there's this update of 1990s technology: "suicide portals".
Apparently the internet has at last replaced film (at least) as a source of blame for horror - nobody's mentioned Suicide Club (2002) yet.

The Beast: a recent interview

This interview does a good job of exploring more of the conceptual background behind the most famous alternate reality game (ARG), The Beast. Topics include ephemerality and the affordances of "open" design.

I like this descriptor: search opera.

Kerry vs the cybergothic

A passage in one of John Kerry's books (2003) points to an interesting attitude towards speech and the net:

We can't let the best thing that came out of the Nineties get strangled by bad content. Saving the Internet from hype and filth and making it a much more effective medium for learning, communicating, and legitimately and voluntarily buying and selling will be a major focus of the Kerry administration.

(emphasis Infocult's)

Once again a policy stance draws on the fears of the internet as horrible place.