reflection :: activist demo day

Recognizing the diversity of projects that Eyebeam presented on Saturday afternoon I was left with the assurance that as easily as we can implement new media and technology into [even subversive] social practice, just as easily can these tools become constructive for accessible, positive human relations. At the moment I feel this positivity stems largely in the act of decentralization, and recognizing one’s inherent [and shared] authority of information, environment, communication, and a general growth beyond prescribed myth. Time’s Up‘s Sustainability Working Group presented a project which has become publicly refined over the last few years, the bicycle power generator, as a method for using electricity off the grid. Once the possibility of electricity is introduced as a mobile idea, and self-generated, the characteristics which dictate a fixed “home” become loose. Signal Strength offered a glimpse into mobile technology, and its public accessibility, in the case of a political or environmental disaster. Working on a network that emits its own WiFi and Bluetooth signal, with a private encryption, affects a basic role with our internet service provider and questions the vulnerability of our access to information. Digital Democracy launched an endeavor to amplify the human voice in regards to pressing political issues. Their site maintains a record of and facilitates the discussion of these issues, allowing for discussion to take on greater dimension. In this particular grouping of projects I observed an autonomy that is possible, yet not dependent, in utilizing new media tools, and recognized the message that if Occupy is an accessible vehicle for positive transformation then this is a glimpse of what fuels it. Inspired by such a philosophical motive, autonomy looks more attractive than usual…perhaps because of its creative exploitation of existing systems.