Narcissus Unbound
June 1, 2011 6:50 PM Subscribe
The Museum Of Me lets you view a virtual exhibition of your social life.
Non-Facebook users need not click through.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:56 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by BeerFilter at 6:56 PM on June 1, 2011
Facebook non-users are apparently antisocial.
posted by jonmc at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 7:00 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh haha cool it's like the exact opposite of what I want
It's like a website made out of those nightmares where you're naked at your SATs
I am definitely going to give Nightmare Website permission to post on my wall
It will be the only one posting there
and all the posts will just say "Not trying hard enough"
and "Fuck this guy"
posted by penduluum at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
It's like a website made out of those nightmares where you're naked at your SATs
I am definitely going to give Nightmare Website permission to post on my wall
It will be the only one posting there
and all the posts will just say "Not trying hard enough"
and "Fuck this guy"
posted by penduluum at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
How long is this supposed to take? It's been gathering data for like 10 minutes...
posted by solipsophistocracy at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by solipsophistocracy at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011
Intel must think more highly of my social life than I do. It's been gathering data for ten minutes. Maybe it can find me a boyfriend and cook dinner too.
posted by PapaLobo at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by PapaLobo at 7:02 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ahhhhh I actually thought this was way cool. Mostly because I actually use facebook a ton- I wish it had spent longer showing me which photos of mine it thought algorithmically important enough to figure in the video.
Also FYI, although you give it permission to post on your wall for it to work, it actually doesn't post without your permission.
posted by MadamM at 7:04 PM on June 1, 2011
Also FYI, although you give it permission to post on your wall for it to work, it actually doesn't post without your permission.
posted by MadamM at 7:04 PM on June 1, 2011
I wish it let you browse and navigate the 'museum'.
I used to chronicle my life on Blogger, which was pretty linear and long-form. Than I switched to MySpace blogs, which were also linear and long-form. Since I've moved to Facebook (around 10 hours a day, constant updates and posts) and Twitter (maybe twice a day) my personal narrative has become fragmented. Is there a way to organize or filter it?
For a class assignment I was able to print out 100 pages of Blogger blogs. My MySpace blog is now a hefty Word file. How do I sort and backup Facebook for when I move to another service?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:08 PM on June 1, 2011
I used to chronicle my life on Blogger, which was pretty linear and long-form. Than I switched to MySpace blogs, which were also linear and long-form. Since I've moved to Facebook (around 10 hours a day, constant updates and posts) and Twitter (maybe twice a day) my personal narrative has become fragmented. Is there a way to organize or filter it?
For a class assignment I was able to print out 100 pages of Blogger blogs. My MySpace blog is now a hefty Word file. How do I sort and backup Facebook for when I move to another service?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:08 PM on June 1, 2011
LiB, go to Account-> Account Settings -> scroll down to Download your Information and you can download all your posts, photos, and other stuff in a ZIP file.
posted by MadamM at 7:10 PM on June 1, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by MadamM at 7:10 PM on June 1, 2011 [8 favorites]
That's a lot of time chronicling your life. Are most of the entries like: 8:45. Chronicled my life. 8:46. Chronicled. 9:28. Overdue for chronicling. Getting the shakes... ?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:14 PM on June 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:14 PM on June 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
Holy fuck it's slow.
posted by dobbs at 7:15 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by dobbs at 7:15 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
The results are kind of funny when none of your profile pictures are actually of you. What was meant to be the grand finale instead resolved into a screencap from the latest Muppets trailer. Oops.
That said, there's something uncontrollably moving for me about seeing a visualization of my digital life, my digital connections. That part where all my photos were hanging up in patterns was pretty neat, but what got me was the part where all my "friends"'s profile pictures were moving around, corny as it was, and despite the fact that some of these people I've met literally once in my life and never talked to again. Because I am connected to those people, and sometimes in small ways they affect my life, and there's something just outrageously beautiful about the way that we are all connected through the internet, in strange and mysterious ways.
I checked the profile page of one of the people whose profile pictures I recognized, and found that just earlier today she posted a quote from Twin Peaks. So this exhibit/advertisement led me to posting comments on a barely-friend's wall. Which was nice of it.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
That said, there's something uncontrollably moving for me about seeing a visualization of my digital life, my digital connections. That part where all my photos were hanging up in patterns was pretty neat, but what got me was the part where all my "friends"'s profile pictures were moving around, corny as it was, and despite the fact that some of these people I've met literally once in my life and never talked to again. Because I am connected to those people, and sometimes in small ways they affect my life, and there's something just outrageously beautiful about the way that we are all connected through the internet, in strange and mysterious ways.
I checked the profile page of one of the people whose profile pictures I recognized, and found that just earlier today she posted a quote from Twin Peaks. So this exhibit/advertisement led me to posting comments on a barely-friend's wall. Which was nice of it.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:16 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Museum Of Me lets you view** a virtual exhibition of your social life*.
*Requires an active FaceBook® registration
**May not constitute a good MetaFilter post
posted by the noob at 7:21 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
*Requires an active FaceBook® registration
**May not constitute a good MetaFilter post
posted by the noob at 7:21 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
I am selling my soul to Intel so it can mine the parts of my soul that are already on facebook so I can look at pretty pictures of me and my more photogenic friends! Yay!
posted by ChuraChura at 7:23 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by ChuraChura at 7:23 PM on June 1, 2011
I guess we'll also need a disclaimer on all future SLYT posts that viewing them requires an active internet connection.
I thought this was pretty neat, and worthy of a few minutes of my attention.
posted by ShutterBun at 7:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
I thought this was pretty neat, and worthy of a few minutes of my attention.
posted by ShutterBun at 7:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
Also (and I'm sure this is true of a lot of us), my offline social ife does sometime interesct with my online, but by no means always. Several of my IRL associates have specified that they want no part of my Internet life, and I respect that. But that shows the flaw in this doohickie.
posted by jonmc at 7:28 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 7:28 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I was going to put the Facebook disclaimer, but I assumed that despite constant protests most MeFi users were on Facebook.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:28 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:28 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Is Facebook something I'd need the Internet to understand?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:32 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:32 PM on June 1, 2011
No, but you do need a face and a book.
posted by jonmc at 7:33 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 7:33 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
So the "flaw in this doohickie" that was written to display information from a Facebook account in a new, possibly interesting depending on the source, way is that your friends don't want any part of your Internet life?
I'm sure there's a support email where you could fire off a bug report.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:34 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm sure there's a support email where you could fire off a bug report.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:34 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
dobbs: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy
Apps and Websites section on the lower left.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:36 PM on June 1, 2011
Apps and Websites section on the lower left.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:36 PM on June 1, 2011
(five years of facebook data is a lot of data to collect)
posted by ChuraChura at 7:37 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ChuraChura at 7:37 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I guess we'll also need a disclaimer on all future SLYT posts that viewing them requires an active internet connection.
While I'm not thrilled about it, the way things have been going I am not exactly surprised to be receiving notice that a social life requires an active Facebook account.
It explains some things.
I'm probably going to die alone aren't I.
posted by brennen at 7:38 PM on June 1, 2011
While I'm not thrilled about it, the way things have been going I am not exactly surprised to be receiving notice that a social life requires an active Facebook account.
It explains some things.
I'm probably going to die alone aren't I.
posted by brennen at 7:38 PM on June 1, 2011
I think that if I was the sort of person who wanted a Facebook account, this would probably be kinda interesting. I think posts that are interesting to a lot of people are a good thing. I don't expect every post to be for me. I'd like it - but I don't expect it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:39 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:39 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
So the "flaw in this doohickie" that was written to display information from a Facebook account in a new, possibly interesting depending on the source, way is that your friends don't want any part of your Internet life?
What I mean is that I'm somewhat irked by the assumption that everyone's social life is encompassed by fucking facebook.
posted by jonmc at 7:40 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
What I mean is that I'm somewhat irked by the assumption that everyone's social life is encompassed by fucking facebook.
posted by jonmc at 7:40 PM on June 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
Is there a way to organize or filter it?
The medium is the message...
posted by loquacious at 7:43 PM on June 1, 2011
The medium is the message...
posted by loquacious at 7:43 PM on June 1, 2011
What I mean is that I'm somewhat irked by the assumption that everyone's social life is encompassed by fucking facebook.
"The Museum Of Me lets you view a virtual exhibition of your social life."
What part of that sounded like it would be about your friends IRL? It's like coming into the thread and asking if this is something you'd need a TV to understand dude.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:44 PM on June 1, 2011
"The Museum Of Me lets you view a virtual exhibition of your social life."
What part of that sounded like it would be about your friends IRL? It's like coming into the thread and asking if this is something you'd need a TV to understand dude.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:44 PM on June 1, 2011
I started using FB when I started traveling last year, so I expected something more than I got from this thing. Meh - tiny pics, skimming over stuff, almost no cover of my videos. I could whip up a better 'retrospective' myself. (and those *aren't* the ppl I 'interact with most' -- they are just the most verbose.)
posted by Surfurrus at 7:46 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by Surfurrus at 7:46 PM on June 1, 2011
What part of that sounded like it would be about your friends IRL? It's like coming into the thread and asking if this is something you'd need a TV to understand dude.
I don't mean to shit on the post. I imagine it's neat. But I do kind of share the sensation of being irked at the ever-growing void that Facebook is eating in the part of my life where I know about the shit that people are communicating to one another and understanding about the world. Not to mention the giant hole it is doing its level best to tear in the social fabric and fundamental infrastructure of the Internet.
I will now bow out of this thread altogether before I completely devolve into ranting guy in corner at party you didn't really want to attend in the first place.
posted by brennen at 7:57 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't mean to shit on the post. I imagine it's neat. But I do kind of share the sensation of being irked at the ever-growing void that Facebook is eating in the part of my life where I know about the shit that people are communicating to one another and understanding about the world. Not to mention the giant hole it is doing its level best to tear in the social fabric and fundamental infrastructure of the Internet.
I will now bow out of this thread altogether before I completely devolve into ranting guy in corner at party you didn't really want to attend in the first place.
posted by brennen at 7:57 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
No hate here, the only reason I made the comment I made ("Non-Facebook users need not click through.") was to add some info for other users that wasn't in the post about it requiring FB to work. I have other accounts and thought it might let me do something with them, but it needs FB to get started and I don't have that.
posted by BeerFilter at 7:58 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by BeerFilter at 7:58 PM on June 1, 2011
It's not even just Facebook. This app (even if it was open to other sites) shows you a museum of your online life, which is fine. But my online life is only part of my social life, and I assume that's true of most people.
posted by jonmc at 8:00 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by jonmc at 8:00 PM on June 1, 2011
I guess we'll also need a disclaimer on all future SLYT posts that viewing them requires an active internet connection
An active internet connection is not the same as a Facebook account.
posted by the noob at 8:09 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
An active internet connection is not the same as a Facebook account.
posted by the noob at 8:09 PM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
OK, I've been hanging out about 5 minutes, and still getting the "gathering data" message.
5 minutes is long in internet time.
posted by Miko at 8:11 PM on June 1, 2011
5 minutes is long in internet time.
posted by Miko at 8:11 PM on June 1, 2011
(... really? enough data that there is still more to gather?!?)
posted by ChuraChura at 8:12 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by ChuraChura at 8:12 PM on June 1, 2011
I wouldn't be surprised.
But I'm with jonmc: billing it as my "social life" is wrong. It's just my online life, which is maybe 20% of my social life. An important 20%, sure, but not to be mistaken for the whole.
posted by Miko at 8:14 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
But I'm with jonmc: billing it as my "social life" is wrong. It's just my online life, which is maybe 20% of my social life. An important 20%, sure, but not to be mistaken for the whole.
posted by Miko at 8:14 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Mod note: folks - if you don't like it, that's fine, the facebook hate is a little strident and derailing. If we need to talk about this in MetaTalk, we certainly can
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:16 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:16 PM on June 1, 2011
5 minutes is long in internet time.
It's not internet time, it's Facebook time. Out here China has just bought Google and Jobs has become a woman. Where you are someone has just unfriended a hater and written "lol" on someones wall.
posted by the noob at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2011
Oh! IT's starting.
Actually. I have a tremendous nerdy interest in the visual vocabulary they're using, because of my museum career. Wow, they've actually got labels and framed paintings, white walls and a concrete floor, random visitors in deep consideration of my purloined Maxfield Parrish profile pic and my co-worker's headshot and my brother's purloined WWII motorcycle troops profile image.
I have to say, the hanging choices are pretty great. It was wild to see the array of images stacked upon each other - in greater density than a typical museum or gallery will allow, but in a design style pretty friendly to consumer websites and settings - all from my own selections.
The "Words" portion is quite powerful. I do think weighted-word-count visualizations contain a lot of force, and are great illustrations of what a person or institution is about. This gave me quite a good "Words" moment.
In truth, this is a pretty good illustration of what any museum exhibit is. What can we exhibit? Only that which we have evidence for. What evidence can we have, in the 21st century? Mainly that which is made available, developed and endorsed and participated in by its subject, online. Unless you are producing significant volumes of other evidence, this is how the future will know you, via your digital trail. This is our material culture.
No, it's not curated by you, not a complete rendering of your life. But neither would be any real-world exhibition of your own tangible material culture that you did not create.
Really, really fascinating product and powerful commentary on the idea of "museum" and personal archive and suchlike.
posted by Miko at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [7 favorites]
Actually. I have a tremendous nerdy interest in the visual vocabulary they're using, because of my museum career. Wow, they've actually got labels and framed paintings, white walls and a concrete floor, random visitors in deep consideration of my purloined Maxfield Parrish profile pic and my co-worker's headshot and my brother's purloined WWII motorcycle troops profile image.
I have to say, the hanging choices are pretty great. It was wild to see the array of images stacked upon each other - in greater density than a typical museum or gallery will allow, but in a design style pretty friendly to consumer websites and settings - all from my own selections.
The "Words" portion is quite powerful. I do think weighted-word-count visualizations contain a lot of force, and are great illustrations of what a person or institution is about. This gave me quite a good "Words" moment.
In truth, this is a pretty good illustration of what any museum exhibit is. What can we exhibit? Only that which we have evidence for. What evidence can we have, in the 21st century? Mainly that which is made available, developed and endorsed and participated in by its subject, online. Unless you are producing significant volumes of other evidence, this is how the future will know you, via your digital trail. This is our material culture.
No, it's not curated by you, not a complete rendering of your life. But neither would be any real-world exhibition of your own tangible material culture that you did not create.
Really, really fascinating product and powerful commentary on the idea of "museum" and personal archive and suchlike.
posted by Miko at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2011 [7 favorites]
It's not even just Facebook. This app (even if it was open to other sites) shows you a museum of your online life, which is fine. But my online life is only part of my social life, and I assume that's true of most people.
Well, yeah. But my online life also encompasses my social life. Perfect example: last Friday I went to a gig at my local. Checked in on Facebook Places. Checked FB, found that someone else I knew was in the same area. Commented on her check-in. She showed up at the pub, and just as I saw that on FB I saw it in real life too.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:37 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Well, yeah. But my online life also encompasses my social life. Perfect example: last Friday I went to a gig at my local. Checked in on Facebook Places. Checked FB, found that someone else I knew was in the same area. Commented on her check-in. She showed up at the pub, and just as I saw that on FB I saw it in real life too.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:37 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I saw this earlier today, was going to try it, and then it asked for more permissions than I've ever seen a Facebook app ask for and I was like "no thanks". Plus 90% of what I post to FB is weird crap, non-sequiturs and music videos, so it'd probably just be like "piss off, weirdo" anyway.
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:00 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by DecemberBoy at 9:00 PM on June 1, 2011
I have to say, the hanging choices are pretty great. It was wild to see the array of images stacked upon each other - in greater density than a typical museum or gallery will allow, but in a design style pretty friendly to consumer websites and settings - all from my own selections.
It seemed to be heavily biased toward pictures of my cat.
The "Words" portion is quite powerful. I do think weighted-word-count visualizations contain a lot of force, and are great illustrations of what a person or institution is about. This gave me quite a good "Words" moment.
I think here there weren't enough swear words to be accurately representative of what I actually write. I was pleased to see my post about the lost banana highlighted.
Sadly, the banana was eaten before the rightful owner could claim it. But a man who can't keep track of his banana in public maybe doesn't deserve to have a banana in the first place.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:12 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
It seemed to be heavily biased toward pictures of my cat.
The "Words" portion is quite powerful. I do think weighted-word-count visualizations contain a lot of force, and are great illustrations of what a person or institution is about. This gave me quite a good "Words" moment.
I think here there weren't enough swear words to be accurately representative of what I actually write. I was pleased to see my post about the lost banana highlighted.
Sadly, the banana was eaten before the rightful owner could claim it. But a man who can't keep track of his banana in public maybe doesn't deserve to have a banana in the first place.
posted by louche mustachio at 9:12 PM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've left the tab open for like an hour and it hasn't started. Is it broken?
posted by NoraReed at 11:01 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by NoraReed at 11:01 PM on June 1, 2011
I really dug it and laughed when the final composite image was of my dog.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 11:09 PM on June 1, 2011
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 11:09 PM on June 1, 2011
Miko: "Really, really fascinating product and powerful commentary on the idea of "museum" and personal archive and suchlike."
I had like a 5 paragraph rant about how all the god-damned 20 year olds are so in love with their own lifestyles, and themselves (I guess there's no difference) and just won't fucking shut the hell up about it--and was basically ready to light a match and burn down the entire internet, but Miko, christ, that comment of yours saved my soul. I'm off the ledge, and your framing (har) of this one small example of what is possible with all that bullshit we generate makes me quit worrying and love the facebook.
posted by danny the boy at 11:13 PM on June 1, 2011
I had like a 5 paragraph rant about how all the god-damned 20 year olds are so in love with their own lifestyles, and themselves (I guess there's no difference) and just won't fucking shut the hell up about it--and was basically ready to light a match and burn down the entire internet, but Miko, christ, that comment of yours saved my soul. I'm off the ledge, and your framing (har) of this one small example of what is possible with all that bullshit we generate makes me quit worrying and love the facebook.
posted by danny the boy at 11:13 PM on June 1, 2011
I had like a 5 paragraph rant about how all the god-damned 20 year olds are so in love with their own lifestyles, and themselves (I guess there's no difference) and just won't fucking shut the hell up about it--and was basically ready to light a match and burn down the entire internet, but Miko, christ, that comment of yours saved my soul. I'm off the ledge, and your framing (har) of this one small example of what is possible with all that bullshit we generate makes me quit worrying and love the facebook.
I think there's something glorious about how monstrous my own self-regard is, but after writing that comment about my hundreds of blog posts I sort of hated myself a little.
The thing is that there's no big narrative from above. We have to construct our own lives and our own stories and our own epics, and I like that. My Facebook Places check-ins from Saturday night - Rockabilly Night, Random Pub, Nightclub, Goth Club - tell their own mini story. Unfortunately its not quite as good as those long ago days of 5 years ago, when I actually used to write the damn things.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:29 PM on June 1, 2011
I think there's something glorious about how monstrous my own self-regard is, but after writing that comment about my hundreds of blog posts I sort of hated myself a little.
The thing is that there's no big narrative from above. We have to construct our own lives and our own stories and our own epics, and I like that. My Facebook Places check-ins from Saturday night - Rockabilly Night, Random Pub, Nightclub, Goth Club - tell their own mini story. Unfortunately its not quite as good as those long ago days of 5 years ago, when I actually used to write the damn things.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:29 PM on June 1, 2011
Somewhere, the guy who wrote "I Know What Boys Like" is facepalming.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:26 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by pxe2000 at 4:26 AM on June 2, 2011
Ok I tried it, didn't take too long as I don't have tons of stuff on FB, and I have to say it looks amazing! very cool.
It's funny the way it picks random photos of you or your friends and you see them floating by or you recognise 'haha there is that silly video again' and then I guess the wall with the words most used in your status or comments? that was cool too. It all really looks great, the different rooms, the transition effects.
For those who haven't tried it or can't - a quick summary from a first and only look (I didn't save my video): it's an animation taking you through a few (four? five?) different rooms in a gallery exhibition showing images picked from your Facebook profile or your friends' photos and links. First, pinned on a wall like paintings, first just a few isolated ones, then lots of smaller ones togther climbing up one wall, and there are also people in the gallery looking at the walls. You don't really have time to spot more than a few before it moves on. Then, in another room, images are on digital screns and changing. One room shows three big world maps with longitude, latitude and your location. There is a room dedicated to your "likes" with a big sculpture of a thumbs up in the middle, which cracked me up by itself. There is another room dedicated to the words picked from your profile, again I supposed by frequency, and they change until the one most frequent word is displayed (boringly for me it was the word "that", but in another language). Then comes a room with these robots, like the ones used for car assembly, standing around lots of cd-like squares of images placed on a lower surface, picking them up and floating them around. The transitions are very cool, all animated bits of photos floating around. At the end profile photos of you and friends are connected in this giant enlarging network that turns into a globe and that's it.
It does moves rather slowly in a way that does give you the impression of a digital exhibition but it displays lots of images and all rather small so it's also very short.
I think it's more like a tribute to digital animation than to Facebook, really, I barely had time to spot a few of my photos or friends' photos, it's the animation that steals the show and makes you go 'wow', really gorgeous.
I'd like to see this turned into a plugin or application for Flickr or any gallery of images on a website.
posted by bitteschoen at 4:56 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
It's funny the way it picks random photos of you or your friends and you see them floating by or you recognise 'haha there is that silly video again' and then I guess the wall with the words most used in your status or comments? that was cool too. It all really looks great, the different rooms, the transition effects.
For those who haven't tried it or can't - a quick summary from a first and only look (I didn't save my video): it's an animation taking you through a few (four? five?) different rooms in a gallery exhibition showing images picked from your Facebook profile or your friends' photos and links. First, pinned on a wall like paintings, first just a few isolated ones, then lots of smaller ones togther climbing up one wall, and there are also people in the gallery looking at the walls. You don't really have time to spot more than a few before it moves on. Then, in another room, images are on digital screns and changing. One room shows three big world maps with longitude, latitude and your location. There is a room dedicated to your "likes" with a big sculpture of a thumbs up in the middle, which cracked me up by itself. There is another room dedicated to the words picked from your profile, again I supposed by frequency, and they change until the one most frequent word is displayed (boringly for me it was the word "that", but in another language). Then comes a room with these robots, like the ones used for car assembly, standing around lots of cd-like squares of images placed on a lower surface, picking them up and floating them around. The transitions are very cool, all animated bits of photos floating around. At the end profile photos of you and friends are connected in this giant enlarging network that turns into a globe and that's it.
It does moves rather slowly in a way that does give you the impression of a digital exhibition but it displays lots of images and all rather small so it's also very short.
I think it's more like a tribute to digital animation than to Facebook, really, I barely had time to spot a few of my photos or friends' photos, it's the animation that steals the show and makes you go 'wow', really gorgeous.
I'd like to see this turned into a plugin or application for Flickr or any gallery of images on a website.
posted by bitteschoen at 4:56 AM on June 2, 2011 [3 favorites]
jonmc: "It's not even just Facebook. This app (even if it was open to other sites) shows you a museum of your online life, which is fine. But my online life is only part of my social life, and I assume that's true of most people."
Your online FACEBOOK life. I note none of my MeFi, Goon, or Steam lives are portrayed, nor is any of my previous, non-site life. Sad to say, my online social life is about what I have going right now.
posted by Samizdata at 5:50 AM on June 2, 2011
Your online FACEBOOK life. I note none of my MeFi, Goon, or Steam lives are portrayed, nor is any of my previous, non-site life. Sad to say, my online social life is about what I have going right now.
posted by Samizdata at 5:50 AM on June 2, 2011
Since I've moved to Facebook (around 10 hours a day, constant updates and posts) and Twitter (maybe twice a day) my personal narrative has become fragmented. Is there a way to organize or filter it?
How about in 120 exceedingly dense cantos?
These fragments I have shored against my ruins ...
posted by octobersurprise at 7:16 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
How about in 120 exceedingly dense cantos?
These fragments I have shored against my ruins ...
posted by octobersurprise at 7:16 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
I wish real museums did this without the Facebook side of things - how cool would it be to see exhibitions of regular people? You could curate it yourself, in tandem with the museum administration. I would love to see what people would include from their lives if given the opportunity to showcase what they think is important for viewing.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 7:57 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 7:57 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
That is a rather cool idea, Lipstick Thespian. I could see a contemporary art museum doing that. Maybe even having a contest or raffle to select the subject at random, and then curate their life as an exhibition.
posted by Miko at 8:29 AM on June 2, 2011
posted by Miko at 8:29 AM on June 2, 2011
I'd like to see this turned into a plugin or application for Flickr or any gallery of images on a website.
Also a really cool idea. If you could actively curate it yourself instead of having it select material at random from your feed, it would be a pretty cool thing to build.
posted by Miko at 8:30 AM on June 2, 2011
Also a really cool idea. If you could actively curate it yourself instead of having it select material at random from your feed, it would be a pretty cool thing to build.
posted by Miko at 8:30 AM on June 2, 2011
Is this something that I'd need to loudly and obnoxiously proclaim that I don't have a Facebook account in order to sneer at without trying?
posted by shakespeherian at 10:57 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by shakespeherian at 10:57 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm not trying this because I would like to believe it is rendered entirely in VRML.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:14 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:14 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
This really pulled at the sentimental side of me. Sure, Facebook isn't my entire social life, but there's enough going on there.
The photos part for some reason pulled very heavily from a recent trip to a butterfly house, so it was a lot of dense, vibrant greens interspersed with more mundane photos. I really like that effect.
posted by owtytrof at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2011
The photos part for some reason pulled very heavily from a recent trip to a butterfly house, so it was a lot of dense, vibrant greens interspersed with more mundane photos. I really like that effect.
posted by owtytrof at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2011
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That was brief.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:55 PM on June 1, 2011 [6 favorites]