Jaki Levy
Capture the Corporation
Shoot a corporation - get a non-corporate message on your phone.
http://www.capturethecorporation.com
Like cell phones, Corporate logos are ubiquitous in nature both in the urban environment and our virtual ether. To promote dialogue, users are encouraged to take pictures of these corporate logos and receive information and opinions of these corporations.
The images will be collected and displayed online. The collected images will tell their own story about our relationship to corporate culture.
The area of Big Games and ubiquitous computing is a rich playful area. It allows for participation and communication in a myriad of ways. Since the launch of yellow arrow, Location Based Services have made their way into this world, but it is still not widely used.
Why? A big obstacle has been the cell phone carriers. T-Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint have actively made it difficult for their subscribers to use their system. The world of ubiComp aims to correct this problem.
Additionally, the world of tactical media aims to use the means of corporations against them. Since I am re-appropriating corporate logos to have a conversation about them, this project shifts the discourse away from the impersonal corporation and towards the personal person.
corporations, consumers, producers, hactivists, tourists, urban dwellers
To begin the project, I will put up stickers saying \"Shoot the corporation. send your message to: xyzemail@domain.com\" These stickers will be located throughout the city near recognizable corporate logos. As an urban dweller makes their way through the city, they will notice these stickers, prompting them into action. As they take a picture of the Starbucks (or any other corporate logo) and send it off, they might wonder \"Why did I just do this?\" Perhaps they will patronize the corporation. After a few seconds, they will receive a message from my system: \"The system has received your Starbucks logo. While I personally don\'t go into Starbucks, I do like their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. It is difficult to avoid this chain of coffee. You can see more logos and stories on our site. Thanks for your co-opteration.\"
The system is built with php, perl, mysql, and mobot. Mobot does the image recognition. As each logo is recognized, the user is sent a specific snippet of the corporation they have photographed. Each snippet is written by me.
So far...I have learned that my relationship with corporations is quite complex. I am still looking for ways to break out of the traditional consumer role.
The images will be collected and displayed online. The collected images will tell their own story about our relationship to corporate culture.
The area of Big Games and ubiquitous computing is a rich playful area. It allows for participation and communication in a myriad of ways. Since the launch of yellow arrow, Location Based Services have made their way into this world, but it is still not widely used.
Why? A big obstacle has been the cell phone carriers. T-Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint have actively made it difficult for their subscribers to use their system. The world of ubiComp aims to correct this problem.
Additionally, the world of tactical media aims to use the means of corporations against them. Since I am re-appropriating corporate logos to have a conversation about them, this project shifts the discourse away from the impersonal corporation and towards the personal person.
corporations, consumers, producers, hactivists, tourists, urban dwellers
To begin the project, I will put up stickers saying \"Shoot the corporation. send your message to: xyzemail@domain.com\" These stickers will be located throughout the city near recognizable corporate logos. As an urban dweller makes their way through the city, they will notice these stickers, prompting them into action. As they take a picture of the Starbucks (or any other corporate logo) and send it off, they might wonder \"Why did I just do this?\" Perhaps they will patronize the corporation. After a few seconds, they will receive a message from my system: \"The system has received your Starbucks logo. While I personally don\'t go into Starbucks, I do like their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. It is difficult to avoid this chain of coffee. You can see more logos and stories on our site. Thanks for your co-opteration.\"
The system is built with php, perl, mysql, and mobot. Mobot does the image recognition. As each logo is recognized, the user is sent a specific snippet of the corporation they have photographed. Each snippet is written by me.
So far...I have learned that my relationship with corporations is quite complex. I am still looking for ways to break out of the traditional consumer role.