Presenting “The Internet: Reimagined”
The first word that comes to mind when I think of when I think of the internet is connected.
Because of the internet, we can communicate in extremely efficient ways and learn about things that we never could have otherwise. Today, we can look up nearly anything on Google and get information about it. We can develop new methods of doing nearly anything with the technology we have now; the internet enables us to accomplish much more because of the ability to communicate so quickly and generate ideas and projects using digital tools on the internet.
However, the internet can also be used negatively. People often criticize each other in extremely harsh and cruel ways (sometimes for trivial or unknown reasons), businesses seek to manipulate people by using the internet in order to gain their time and money, hackers gain control of computer systems and steal personal information, and other unsavory or illegal activities occur on the internet as well.
We exchange pieces of information through technology most of us don’t completely understand. On a basic level, we know that the internet “lives” off of routers, but all of the information contained isn’t something that we can physically touch and hold, like a book. It can be difficult to grasp all of the details of exactly how the internet works.
My thoughts about the internet coagulated into the idea of a map. A web, to be more exact. I chose to create a 3D “string web” that demonstrates how everything on the internet is linked in some way.
The pink thread symbolizes social media, the black symbolizes the dark web, the green symbolizes viruses and harmful malware that can infect computers, the yellow and blue symbolize parts of the internet that are free for the general public to interact with (such as news sites, online stores, etc.), and the white and purple symbolize the aspects of the internet that each of us use personally (for example, online email accounts) and any other facets that don’t fall under the categories mentioned beforehand.
You may also notice that underneath the other threads, there is a neutral or light tan colored thread tied to the central rod and the four rods set in a square. This represents the foundation of the internet: the hardware and software that make up its infrastructure. The neutral thread symbolizes how the internet is neither inherently good or bad.
The threads connect to five computers that each display a screen with different information: the Amazon logo, social media or entertainment apps, the Wikipedia page for the internet, a warning for a detected virus, and Google apps. Each computer represents a different part or “side” of the internet.
I really enjoyed working on this project; I don’t often have the time during the school year to be creative in a physical way like this, but I like making fun craft projects where I have freedom to create whatever I want. Also, it was an interesting change of pace to do a physical art project in a class that’s all about digital studies!
