Artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris makes online art that captures the world's expression -- and gives us a glimpse of the soul of the Internet.
Why you should listen to him:
Brooklyn-based artist Jonathan Harris' work celebrates the world's diversity even as it illustrates the universal concerns of its occupants. His computer programs scour the Internet for unfiltered content, which his beautiful interfaces then organize to create coherence from the chaos.
His projects are both intensely personal (the "We Feel Fine" project, made with Sep Kanvar, which scans the world's blogs to collect snapshots of the writers' feelings) and entirely global (the new "Universe," which turns current events into constellations of words). But their effect is the same -- to show off a world that resonates with shared emotions, concerns, problems, triumphs and troubles.
"Jonathan Harris [is] a New York artist and storyteller working primarily on the Internet. His work involves the exploration and understanding of humans, on a global scale, through the artifacts they leave behind on the Web."Edge.org
Blog Posts on TED
-
Data at play: Some cool visualization tools – October 5, 2007
On Guardian Unlimited, Charles Arthur offers a neat roundup of new ways to see all kinds of data with fresh eyes. On the list: Jonathan Harris' "We Feel Fine" project (watch his TEDTalk) and, of course, Hans Rosling's Gapminder tools (watch his TEDTalks from 2006 and 2007). The story is part of Guardian Unlimited's Free Our Data campaign, an effort to press the UK government to release mapping and demographic data about the UK and its citizens, collected by government entities -- who currently charge for access to it. More
-
Jonathan Harris tells the Web's secret stories, on TED.com – July 10, 2007
Jonathan Harris wants to make sense of the infinite world on the Web -- so he builds dazzling graphic interfaces that help us visualize the data floating around out there. Here he presents "We Feel Fine," a project that scours blogs to collect the planet's emoti(c)ons, and the "Yahoo! Time Capsule," which preserves images, quotes and thoughts snapped up in 2006. And he premieres "Universe," which presents current events as constellations of words -- a tag cloud of our collective consciousness. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 19:37.) Read more about Jonathan Harris on TED.com.
Embed this video: Use this code to run the video on your own site:
Watch this talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances. New: Download this talk in high resolution (480p) >> More
-
The Whale Hunt: New work from Jonathan Harris – December 10, 2007
Artist Jonathan Harris (watch his TEDTalk) just launched his latest piece, The Whale Hunt. In this visionary, documentary work, Harris joins a family of Inupiat Eskimos on their annual whale hunt:
I documented the entire experience [in] 3,214 photographs, beginning with the taxi ride to Newark airport, and ending with the butchering of the second whale, seven days later. The photographs were taken at five-minute intervals, even while sleeping (using a chronometer), establishing a constant "photographic heartbeat." In moments of high adrenaline, this photographic heartbeat would quicken (to a maximum rate of 37 pictures in five minutes while the first whale was being cut up), mimicking the changing pace of my own heartbeat.
Read Harris' full statement on the piece, watch the highlights, or just dive in -- to watch the passage of time, space and life under the Alaskan sky. Photo: "May 6, 11:10pm Hauling up Joe Ahkivgaq's whale" Courtesy Jonathan Harris, The Whale Hunt
More
