https://beccaricks.space Becca Ricks Thu, 31 Mar 2022 04:32:36 +0000 https://beccaricks.space en https://beccaricks.space/about Mon, 29 May 2017 21:01:41 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/about <img width="897" height="897" width_o="897" height_o="897" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b2cdae47586ede5d17e906844d31cb4b2e8ecf81b43cae2396a7658267d2ede8/IMG_0503.jpg" data-mid="222650472" border="0" data-scale="93" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/897/i/b2cdae47586ede5d17e906844d31cb4b2e8ecf81b43cae2396a7658267d2ede8/IMG_0503.jpg" />Becca Ricks (she/her) is a researcher, creative technologist, and artist. Her work explores how people interact with social technologies, with a focus on user choice, control, agency, and resistance.&nbsp;Currently, Becca heads up the Public Technology Leadership Collaborative at Data &amp; Society. Previously, she was the Head of Open Source Research &amp; Investigations at Mozilla Foundation, where she directed a lab studying user controls and privacy in relation to online platforms. <img width="100" height="100" width_o="100" height_o="100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/db4ea46c54de5ad97a8628fd79f9866a042441380f519737884b0423e6fe026e/website-logo-1-copy.png" data-mid="226443677" border="0" data-scale="14" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/100/i/db4ea46c54de5ad97a8628fd79f9866a042441380f519737884b0423e6fe026e/website-logo-1-copy.png" /> Becca was named as one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics and served on steering committees for the Partnership on AI’s ABOUT ML project and Ford Foundation’s Public Interest Technology network. She completed a 2017-2018 technical fellowship at Human Rights Watch. She holds a master’s degree from NYU-ITP, where her research explored algorithmic categorization. As a creative technologist and artist, Becca’s practice is rooted in material and digital experimentation. Her projects include textiles knitted on a hacked knitting machine, 3D models made with experimental imaging techniques, and tiny websites and browser extensions. Becca is a co-founder of tendernet, an art/design collective exploring technological futures through speculative exercises.Becca has spoken at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, MIT, the Toronto Museum of Contemporary Art, the Walker Art Center, RISD, and a number of other venues. Her work has been covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, and WIRED.Get in touch ➰ baricks (at) protonmail.com. CV available upon request. linkedin &nbsp; &nbsp;bluesky &nbsp;&nbsp; are.na &nbsp;&nbsp; github https://beccaricks.space/Imagining-Feminist-Interfaces Tue, 16 Jul 2019 17:36:46 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/Imagining-Feminist-Interfaces Imagining Feminist Interfaces <img width="3000" height="1987" width_o="3000" height_o="1987" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8632260a957bf644e1ebd1dac60a1bc1c36e668bf2dc65b079404b017fd28aa8/_DSC1513.JPG" data-mid="211602434" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8632260a957bf644e1ebd1dac60a1bc1c36e668bf2dc65b079404b017fd28aa8/_DSC1513.JPG" /> The multi-year project Imagining Feminist Interfaces (2019-), led by the art collective&nbsp;tendernet, is a zine and workshop series that explores what participatory methods for doing research might look like in the development of AI/ML. I’m one of the founding members of tendernet, alongside Zoe Bachman and Katrina Peterson. ZinesOur collective tendernet has published a series of zines exploring the design of feminist interfaces. In our writing, we describe some of the principles that are central to designing feminist interactions and think through strategies for integrating those principles into voice technologies. Historically, technology has created or shaped the conditions for violence and oppression. Many technologies further entrench – rather than question– existing systems of power. In our work, we’ve explored how a feminist interaction design lens might help us reimagine the design of AI technologies. Instead of nudging us to buy more toilet paper on Amazon, could a voice assistant initiate difficult conversations? Could it attune us to our natural surroundings and ecology? Could it draw our attention to technological and human infrastructure, rather than erase the labor and resources required to maintain it? Could it be bilingual? Could a small language community design it for their own needs?&nbsp;In a series of workshops, we’ve worked together to imagine and prototype alternatives for voice technologies through the framework of feminist interaction design. Through a series of speculative design exercises, we discussed what voice technologies and software could look like if we designed them in line with the central commitments of intersectional feminism: participation, agency, embodiment, equity, empowerment, plurality, and justice.Graphic design by Katrina Peterson. <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3afb92826ebc04e087a55ce7fa84ec5876a41b01b1ae5577843cef4bc25034cf/IMG_8927.JPG" data-mid="137970233" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3afb92826ebc04e087a55ce7fa84ec5876a41b01b1ae5577843cef4bc25034cf/IMG_8927.JPG" /><img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dd7598188e224b03f469200cacc3bec0b0e60c7cf1cfa504d5a298d31093ae14/IMG_6622.JPG" data-mid="211543890" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dd7598188e224b03f469200cacc3bec0b0e60c7cf1cfa504d5a298d31093ae14/IMG_6622.JPG" /><img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f9bcc6a1f031b0da329ae58888ee630f826938a24ef3197786ff662b3d2d96ec/IMG_6623.JPG" data-mid="211543888" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f9bcc6a1f031b0da329ae58888ee630f826938a24ef3197786ff662b3d2d96ec/IMG_6623.JPG" /> Workshop series The workshop series&nbsp;Imagining Feminist Interfaces aims to foster an inclusive space in which anyone can contribute their knowledge and experience to the devlopment of voice technologies, regardless of particular expertise or experience.&nbsp; While the format of the workshops varied, depending on the audience and context, each workshop operated from the assumption that design exists within and shapes larger social structures and ecosystems, and these systems determine the way different communities access and use technology. In developing our workshops, we reflected on the gatekeeping that exists in Silicon Valley and tech culture more broadly. There are lines drawn between the non-technical and technical, the non-coders and the coders, the non-designers and the designers, suggesting that only people with a technical background can offer meaningful insights into a technology.&nbsp; We tried as much as possible to erase those artificial boundaries in order to acknowledge and elevate the diverse forms of knowledge and experience that participants brought with them to the workshop. We ran our workshops in a range of different spaces and contexts, including a feminist zine fair at Barnard, a hackerspace in Brooklyn, NY, a contemporary art museum in Toronto, Canada, a university design conference at RISD/Brown, and the Walker Art Center. <img width="1972" height="1389" width_o="1972" height_o="1389" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d637f37959762eca28dfab7a81e3c70046033c4bd9e7f49b95fa94de6f7811b5/EJXuDPHW4AInKqE.jpg" data-mid="211602317" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d637f37959762eca28dfab7a81e3c70046033c4bd9e7f49b95fa94de6f7811b5/EJXuDPHW4AInKqE.jpg" /><img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0c2b977c4f72539cca33025d2750afff22ab8c9ba6ac719e83fe8cd5e8c6364e/IMG_1811.png" data-mid="95690617" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0c2b977c4f72539cca33025d2750afff22ab8c9ba6ac719e83fe8cd5e8c6364e/IMG_1811.png" /><img width="4032" height="3024" width_o="4032" height_o="3024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cd783c028556c0826f9eaaef06703047663bbade3323bb789fd932dfd2b5b7be/IMG_1804.png" data-mid="95690613" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cd783c028556c0826f9eaaef06703047663bbade3323bb789fd932dfd2b5b7be/IMG_1804.png" /><img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/580ef880c0acbf593a1cab4a6a958f92cc181cacbc04300acbdcf8887a08e3fe/DSCF48071.jpg" data-mid="46756404" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/580ef880c0acbf593a1cab4a6a958f92cc181cacbc04300acbdcf8887a08e3fe/DSCF48071.jpg" /> You can read more about the project in our Adjacent article, Imagining Feminist Voice Technologies. <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6de9733d3b9ead658942fc91b60e40aac32068536f2d29c22df99b64cbab9263/IMG_0883.JPG" data-mid="46755981" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6de9733d3b9ead658942fc91b60e40aac32068536f2d29c22df99b64cbab9263/IMG_0883.JPG" /><img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/484e5fcb0210a313e995315d04551b5ca64590b8a7ca21f656d5cbd520523e9e/IMG_0884.JPG" data-mid="46755982" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/484e5fcb0210a313e995315d04551b5ca64590b8a7ca21f656d5cbd520523e9e/IMG_0884.JPG" /><img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c09dba1064f6f9aeb4912cbfdcc1a40a03868c830885523227566f25cd2f395/IMG_0885.JPG" data-mid="46755983" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8c09dba1064f6f9aeb4912cbfdcc1a40a03868c830885523227566f25cd2f395/IMG_0885.JPG" /> <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7cb3c8df0c3d0e5b36de80d1502190f6a13fd12d5c4ad190d313cc36cbca5c99/IMG_8924.JPG" data-mid="137970232" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7cb3c8df0c3d0e5b36de80d1502190f6a13fd12d5c4ad190d313cc36cbca5c99/IMG_8924.JPG" /><img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c30adbfb69f883de161d9958370bcc58c102462dc57f341398ff20f9d32ce97/IMG_8925.JPG" data-mid="137970308" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8c30adbfb69f883de161d9958370bcc58c102462dc57f341398ff20f9d32ce97/IMG_8925.JPG" /><img width="2826" height="2302" width_o="2826" height_o="2302" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c6c3e39c90d9bb3422ff3977c7b00453e987e8aaa0e4fc9eee3c6b834fce94cb/_DSC1440-copy-2.JPG" data-mid="211602441" border="0" data-scale="95" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c6c3e39c90d9bb3422ff3977c7b00453e987e8aaa0e4fc9eee3c6b834fce94cb/_DSC1440-copy-2.JPG" /> https://beccaricks.space/cyber-fiber Wed, 30 Mar 2022 02:54:54 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/cyber-fiber cyber/fiber <img width="3898" height="4243" width_o="3898" height_o="4243" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43b78ba4844c41d4df03a1b088e97b57f818c96e8176b8aca9d43aecd4e749a8/DSCF8518.JPG" data-mid="211539289" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/43b78ba4844c41d4df03a1b088e97b57f818c96e8176b8aca9d43aecd4e749a8/DSCF8518.JPG" /> cyber/fiber (2021-) is a project exploring the links between computation and knitting. The work involves different types of interdisciplinary research: Material research, utilizing a modded or hacked&nbsp;KH-930e knitting machine connected to a computer running open source software from All Yarns Are Beautiful (AYAB), and revisiting and re-figuring the intertwined histories of textile production and computing to imagine different technological futures.This body of work aims to trouble the distinction drawn between engineering and craftwork. Craftwork is a form of engineering, requiring similar sets of skills and training. However, gendered notions around what computing expertise looks like has conferred value on different forms of labor.&nbsp;These distinctions are a product of distinct historical and social transformations. For instance, the hand-woven core rope memory in early computers was created by physically weaving software by hand. Highly skilled weavers and craftworkers, most of whom were women whose labor was undervalued, worked in Massachusetts to weave the core rope memory that powered the early Apollo Guidance Computer. In this work, I also look at how the history of textile production and labor can teach us lessons about the future. The Luddites famously resisted the transition to factories by systematically destroying the stocking frame machines that had replaced traditional knitting techniques, and with them the knitting guilds who had historically cultivated consensus around the quality of knitwear for centuries. In my work, I attempt to explore these histories through a process of unwinding, untangling, pulling and stretching, knitting and unraveling. I approach knitting as a technique that can help us reimagine or re-figure different technological futures. How can we imagine futures that are more relational, connective, and centered around care? <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed18a9b2b452b8776da4d78021e5847a0498c0ea7db0888f96768957942d0f5a/DSCF8264_crop-copy.png" data-mid="211540244" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed18a9b2b452b8776da4d78021e5847a0498c0ea7db0888f96768957942d0f5a/DSCF8264_crop-copy.png" /> <img width="3000" height="1848" width_o="3000" height_o="1848" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f4b778a5717858f25f3f1c96d16d4a47df1343b8351ca0fac4eb7af2d3bea2e8/Knitting_with_Machines-copy.png" data-mid="211540370" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f4b778a5717858f25f3f1c96d16d4a47df1343b8351ca0fac4eb7af2d3bea2e8/Knitting_with_Machines-copy.png" /> <img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdKcwa-IwJMDRqrAvA_e6sewX4hu3_0kfVlusOxpYjPV3nwINrCfKKZgocIsAqrkOuDnS01x-IJdeVMQ9SJPrIojI7PLw4WN7dXoTQdj5VOxeg3mWQP6TSBghBajkNEMZ7ksF5_4WOsR29XBXwoy5avszR7?key=EZeVCnljfVuoE_Z5oMqDjQ" width="546" height="349.81645983079653" style="width: 486.735px; height: 311.118px;"><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc5Gh6AkoJEmfzCokr8acHyzQYwGs89O9sTtbyJvIXfyqzInIwJkLw8gpYRpBI01L4iQrnpihD9QbKmGZHw_AWftU03uSxKGSG5Gaj4zi4_u5BhOGFzq-aEJLhkuqGCYUmzfmAxZ-JkRhnWirijUQ_-zoMt?key=EZeVCnljfVuoE_Z5oMqDjQ" width="601" height="487" style="width: 439.335px; height: 356px;"> Worksthe air moves in to fill the spaces where my body's been (2024)Garments serve as an interface: They act as a kind of scrim, separating our body from the bodies around us.&nbsp;This sweater is a prototype for a live performance exploring the spaces that exist between bodies. The sweater contains a detachable “patch,” knitted using hand manipulated stitches that produce a 3D ruching effect. The patch contains a proximity sensor and battery pack wired up to a FLORA, an Arduino-compatible microcontroller.&nbsp;The proximity sensor allows me to track my proximity to other bodies over time.&nbsp; Knit on a knitting machine with wool yarn.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img width="3921" height="3309" width_o="3921" height_o="3309" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d6beb518c87b1a38966eedb8263414460590e366bab251103648c2a18bf71d2/DSCF8769.JPG" data-mid="211539421" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d6beb518c87b1a38966eedb8263414460590e366bab251103648c2a18bf71d2/DSCF8769.JPG" /> <img width="6000" height="4000" width_o="6000" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7856262840f6eb95df84c8df711a80ba84f77fa5e81c4665f551eb8209655bab/DSCF8590.JPG" data-mid="211539420" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7856262840f6eb95df84c8df711a80ba84f77fa5e81c4665f551eb8209655bab/DSCF8590.JPG" /> Seeing (Pears) Like a Computer (2024)&nbsp; This piece is a reflection on what it means to be seen and classified through the eyes of a machine. The sweater highlights errors made by the image classification model Ultralytics YOLOv8, a state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) model used to classify and label images.&nbsp;The title references the work of James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State, which emphasizes the universalizing gaze of large systems that are designed to identify, sort, and categorize people and bodies for the purpose of exercising control and enforcing normative values. When I ran an image of pears harvested from my pear tree through the model, it incorrectly identified one of the pairs as a “person” with a 0.26 confidence threshold. I later learned that this particular model struggles to identify small objects or objects that are clustered together. Knit on a knitting machine with wool yarn, naturally dyed with bark from a pear tree in my backyard. <img width="2416" height="1712" width_o="2416" height_o="1712" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/265cc0ebd6d6adf174b2d7dd31413d0fd36cc02da68db75c0500434c05970b5a/Screen-Shot-2024-02-19-at-11.09.57-AM.png" data-mid="211540287" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/265cc0ebd6d6adf174b2d7dd31413d0fd36cc02da68db75c0500434c05970b5a/Screen-Shot-2024-02-19-at-11.09.57-AM.png" /> <img width="3510" height="2870" width_o="3510" height_o="2870" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/20df993692348968c9bbe5953f5214102eb5af7bcd783ae4516eb24e6bd0e0ef/DSCF8804.JPG" data-mid="219850347" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/20df993692348968c9bbe5953f5214102eb5af7bcd783ae4516eb24e6bd0e0ef/DSCF8804.JPG" /> <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6f9833b472ffcbf3275a2e00ef09347974343758716b22e41c96067f2097f154/DSCF8825-copy.JPG" data-mid="211539350" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6f9833b472ffcbf3275a2e00ef09347974343758716b22e41c96067f2097f154/DSCF8825-copy.JPG" /> You can watch a 2024 artist talk I gave on the topic titled Knitting with machines: Imagining softer futures through ‘string figures.’ https://beccaricks.space/Logged-in-from Sun, 23 Jul 2017 17:36:18 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/Logged-in-from Logged in from <img width="900" height="494" width_o="900" height_o="494" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/239f6a1727e00aac79c71aa76abdf0e7cd6487e70035dfcd8468760fb9314ddc/facebook-2-1.gif" data-mid="138131268" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/900/i/239f6a1727e00aac79c71aa76abdf0e7cd6487e70035dfcd8468760fb9314ddc/facebook-2-1.gif" /> Logged in from (2017) was completed as part of my NYU master’s thesis, which interrogates how self-identity is constructed and negotiated online. In this project, I explored the “data traces” we leave behind from our interactions on the internet through my Facebook data. It also reflects on the passive data collection by tech platforms like Facebook that might catch many users by surprise. I used an experimental imaging technique called photogrammetry to contruct the 3D landscapes. After downloading my personal data archive from Facebook (a brand new feature the platform had released in 2017), I found information about every administrative change I’ve made to my Facebook account since I’d joined. Using the location data associated with each action + Google Maps + Agisoft 3D software, I reconstructed the physical geography of each location in a three-dimensional environment, producing a series of strange, imaginary landscapes. Project site:&nbsp;The interactive web project lives here. Press coverage: Technical.ly <img width="800" height="594" width_o="800" height_o="594" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/67a5f1d5cf13d55b10265dafe5a3f1fc504fb29c4211d276f8d82f009a5004ea/Untitled-2-1.gif" data-mid="138131609" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/67a5f1d5cf13d55b10265dafe5a3f1fc504fb29c4211d276f8d82f009a5004ea/Untitled-2-1.gif" /> <img width="2244" height="1244" width_o="2244" height_o="1244" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a942c3a65b6fa9424550ebce47be86b5e80cd091a4a7d239d8e34a98856c3b68/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.36.16-PM.png" data-mid="1615579" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a942c3a65b6fa9424550ebce47be86b5e80cd091a4a7d239d8e34a98856c3b68/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.36.16-PM.png" /> <img width="1960" height="1102" width_o="1960" height_o="1102" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/41f160d47b60446236aa2b7d0925b6d37c5ba8c0786bfde6c5323c0316614c7e/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.39.32-PM.png" data-mid="1615589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/41f160d47b60446236aa2b7d0925b6d37c5ba8c0786bfde6c5323c0316614c7e/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.39.32-PM.png" /> <img width="2008" height="1130" width_o="2008" height_o="1130" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/330ff42bd401c40885c6572659a5f1cb1e093f3ea5452908675b1bfcc065ccbc/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.37.57-PM.png" data-mid="1615583" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/330ff42bd401c40885c6572659a5f1cb1e093f3ea5452908675b1bfcc065ccbc/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.37.57-PM.png" /> <img width="1916" height="1078" width_o="1916" height_o="1078" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6b65fed7678f1d6e43ee8d2a14f9726740b73ee38f590e15889e489b1e9b9823/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.38.41-PM.png" data-mid="1615586" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6b65fed7678f1d6e43ee8d2a14f9726740b73ee38f590e15889e489b1e9b9823/Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-3.38.41-PM.png" /> https://beccaricks.space/fuzzify-me Sat, 25 Aug 2018 17:51:37 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/fuzzify-me Browser extension: fuzzify.me <img width="3432" height="2118" width_o="3432" height_o="2118" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2ebded53f0e06c219fb4091171ce741c333bd3ea0e19596fd173aec9a8082a4d/fuzzify-1.png" data-mid="137868815" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2ebded53f0e06c219fb4091171ce741c333bd3ea0e19596fd173aec9a8082a4d/fuzzify-1.png" /> fuzzify.me (2018) was a browser extension available for both Chrome and Firefox that gave Facebook users more insight into how advertisers on the platform might be targeting them. The tool allowed users to automatically and routinely deny advertisers access to their personal information, while also showing them a complete timeline of how they are being targeted over time. The project was a collaboration between myself, Hang Do Thi Duc, and Joana Varon of Coding Rights as part of our time as 2017-18 Mozilla Fellows. We worked together on both the development of the tool, which can be accessed here, and accompanying research into how advertisements on Facebook often target women in discriminatory ways.After installation, the browser extension begins assembling a running list of all the Facebook advertisements the Facebook user is seeing over time. The user can view all those advertisements in the Fuzzify.me dashboard, as well as the explanation Facebook provides for why they are seeing that advertisement. All the information is saved locally, so only the user has access to the information the browser extension collects.Besides providing greater transparency, the tool also helps Facebook users minimize the information advertisers access through the Facebook ad platform. Facebook regularly assigns users “ads categories,” which can be viewed in the ad preferences page on Facebook. From the Fuzzify.me dashboard, the user can click “Clean Ads,” automatically removing all the categories that are visible to advertisers. The categories you cleared from Facebook is also logged into the user dashboard. The idea is that over time users will able to compare how their targeted ads are changing over time after making changes to their advertising preferences. Ultimately, the goal is to investigate whether or not the privacy controls Facebook has implemented are actually effective at preventing or minimizing ad targeting. For more information, you can see the code on Github. <img width="4504" height="2698" width_o="4504" height_o="2698" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/787e1eb2e2d7ded9af71aa4a9b2f343bb5a2b31454d03b4c23836f1e485260fa/fuzzify-2.png" data-mid="137868590" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/787e1eb2e2d7ded9af71aa4a9b2f343bb5a2b31454d03b4c23836f1e485260fa/fuzzify-2.png" /> https://beccaricks.space/algorithmic-poetry Thu, 31 Mar 2022 04:32:36 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/algorithmic-poetry algorithmic poetry <img width="1000" height="769" width_o="1000" height_o="769" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dc1d7d5ca5a699b700035f2ea0228b2efc67c4e0705627511019c4fd381a4c9b/dithered-image7.png" data-mid="211601575" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dc1d7d5ca5a699b700035f2ea0228b2efc67c4e0705627511019c4fd381a4c9b/dithered-image7.png" /> Over the years I’ve experimented with new poetic forms through the use of procedural text generation methods. Here I’ve highlighted some of those projects: Archive of the Anthropocene, Finnegans Wake-ify, Apology Generator, Internal Security Zones, SmartPharmacist, and Chiastic Wood. I use both Python and JavaScript programming languages in my practice. Typically my text generation is powered by machine learning using TensorFlow / ml5.js , stochastic models like Markov chain, and grammar libraries like tracery. Works Archive of the Anthropocene (2020) is a generative, ten-line poem that captures the feelings and language of climate grief. It was developed in collaboration with climate activist and writer Ash Sanders. We used procedural text generation as part of a process of developing new rituals for the loss of species and lands.&nbsp;See the interactive website here. Each time you refresh the website, it generates an ephemeral poem—a chance mutation of all the words and archives we fed into the generator. The primary source text for the poem was tweets scraped from Twitter about climate grief, climate anxiety, and species forced into extinction. Secondary sources include words about geography and language pulled from other poets. Website built with JavaScript + generative text powered by tracery. <img width="1612" height="1001" width_o="1612" height_o="1001" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d13ad9b3ace65fa4891bf968ce1d88b8ede02d94f9b6846bcc365387e2fdf07e/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-10.31.15-AM.png" data-mid="138196838" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d13ad9b3ace65fa4891bf968ce1d88b8ede02d94f9b6846bcc365387e2fdf07e/Screen-Shot-2022-03-31-at-10.31.15-AM.png" /> Finnegans Wake-ify (2016) is a text generator tool that allows you to generate a text that mimics both the style and the vocabulary of the James Joyce novel Finnegans Wake. Finnegans Wake is written in an experimental stream of consciousness style that rejects narrative conventions. Web app built in ReactJS + Webpack + Node.js. See the interactive website here and the process blog post here. <img width="2236" height="1594" width_o="2236" height_o="1594" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/98d8f96ec13bf0a60913c978b72eb920a50a8a17dcc7d371d6c8650597e6cdb1/finneginswake.png" data-mid="138132959" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/98d8f96ec13bf0a60913c978b72eb920a50a8a17dcc7d371d6c8650597e6cdb1/finneginswake.png" /> Apology Generator (2016) is a project that generates poems composed of my apologies. My primary source text used was an archive of my emails. Specifically I used emails in which I offered up some kind of apology, whether it was a late email reply, a rejection, or expression of empathy. <img width="2550" height="3300" width_o="2550" height_o="3300" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/94bee54407e351fcd984a14706bdf6af3133792a2cf34329541deb4d446e688b/apology-generator.png" data-mid="211601126" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/94bee54407e351fcd984a14706bdf6af3133792a2cf34329541deb4d446e688b/apology-generator.png" /> Internal Security Zones (2016) is a satirical generative text project that generates instructions for constructing and maintaining a prison environment.&nbsp;It uses the U.S. Department of Justice’s Jail Design Guide as primary source text, with a database of business &amp; capitalist aphorisms as a secondary source text. See the process blog post here. Website built with Python + Flask. As of 2016, the U.S. criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, and 79 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, and prisons in U.S. territories [1]. The American prison population has more than quadrupled over the past 25 years, an increase largely driven by heavier penalties for non-violent offenses and with disproportionate impact on people of color [2].Power is not static, nor does it emanate from a center of origin. Rather, power exists in an enmeshed network and is wielded by people or groups by way of “episodic” or “sovereign” acts of domination [3]. Power is dispersed and pervasive rather than concentrated, embodied, and enacted. Confirming Foucault’s description of “modern societies of control” (a term used by Gilles Deleuze), Giorgio Agamben argues that biopower operates in physical spaces known as “zones of exception,” physical spaces in which disciplinary power is exercised [4]. The architecture of the prison – the panoptical design, the single cells, the isolation and surveillance – internalizes discipline. I’m interested in the material form of prisons and how capitalism fuels the construction of prisons: Who designs them? What do the physical spaces look like? What are the material exigencies? <img width="2084" height="1246" width_o="2084" height_o="1246" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c7133163c1e7bd0d6970154fc0767db230307cae13207bf04b7bac52754b4bae/Screen-Shot-2016-05-06-at-11.07.02-AM.png" data-mid="138133621" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c7133163c1e7bd0d6970154fc0767db230307cae13207bf04b7bac52754b4bae/Screen-Shot-2016-05-06-at-11.07.02-AM.png" /><img width="2026" height="1264" width_o="2026" height_o="1264" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/585a0b6b649889c4130bfea19c97d8f34cb0597100924dd4db4dcedec8eba62b/Screen-Shot-2016-05-06-at-11.05.53-AM.png" data-mid="138133612" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/585a0b6b649889c4130bfea19c97d8f34cb0597100924dd4db4dcedec8eba62b/Screen-Shot-2016-05-06-at-11.05.53-AM.png" /> Chiastic Wood (2016) is a is a generative, seven-line poem that adheres to a loose chiastic structure. It uses as its primary texts Craigslist listings for antique wooden furniture and episode scripts of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. A chiasmus, or chiastic pattern, is a narrative technique in which two ideas, A and B, appear in the pattern ABBA. It’s a circular, palindromic way of speaking or writing that reflects the structure of oral traditions and epic texts. These kinds of symmetrical patterns are often found in ancient literature such as the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Hebrew Bible, and other texts&nbsp;rooted in oral tradition.See the process blog post here. #1 The fire I speak of is not a kind fire. a solid teak frame with tongue and groove joinery. Never seen so many trees in my life. I’ve got one man too many in my life Never seen so many trees in my life. a solid teak frame with tongue and groove joinery. The fire I speak of is not a kind fire.#2that cherry pie is worth a stop. Full length, fully upholstered, arched backs. Maybe, if it was harder… these creatures who introduce themselves Maybe, if it was harder… Full length, fully upholstered, arched backs. that cherry pie is worth a stop. https://beccaricks.space/plastic-in-paradisum Sat, 22 Jul 2017 17:20:17 +0000 Becca Ricks https://beccaricks.space/plastic-in-paradisum plastic in paradisum <img width="5000" height="3333" width_o="5000" height_o="3333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/72fbbde383451e47c3416d0583aa55424aa746ae2a779ef30fa93b55e75ade24/baby-edited.png" data-mid="137931870" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/72fbbde383451e47c3416d0583aa55424aa746ae2a779ef30fa93b55e75ade24/baby-edited.png" /> plastic in paradisum (2016) is a catalogue of discarded plastic objects recovered from a beach at Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn, NY. For each object in the catalogue, I did in-depth research about its origin and constructed a 3D model/portrait. The catalogue is a reflection on the social meaning we confer on these objects over time: How did these objects come to be considered “trash” or “waste”? What are the images and rituals of consumption? How have cultural attitudes toward waste resulted in an ocean that contains plastic? For each object I collected, I used an experimental imaging technique called photogrammetry to reconstruct a 3D model of each object. Using Agisoft 3D software, I was able to extract 3D information from 2D photographs through a process of aligning the photos, creating dense clouds and vertexes, and generating the textures. The resulting 3D models were uploaded to the open source platform SketchFab.The slow, physical ritual of “cataloging” the discarded objects— scanning the beach for plastic, picking up each object, washing and scrubbing them one by one, taking between 50-100 photographs of the plastic, researching the plastic material and origin— has revealed a history and a life for each object. <img width="5000" height="3333" width_o="5000" height_o="3333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba605ff62eb5eeb899c1b88d7828fdc56bd78cb0ef385af6aed008ace6213d7a/can-edited.png" data-mid="137931760" border="0" data-scale="76" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ba605ff62eb5eeb899c1b88d7828fdc56bd78cb0ef385af6aed008ace6213d7a/can-edited.png" /><img width="5000" height="3333" width_o="5000" height_o="3333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/89bedf69b148893bb34da4dfebb54a6696edfc92bcc9d966505807cc406dbe83/bottle-edited.png" data-mid="137930802" border="0" data-scale="79" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/89bedf69b148893bb34da4dfebb54a6696edfc92bcc9d966505807cc406dbe83/bottle-edited.png" /><img width="5000" height="3333" width_o="5000" height_o="3333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/badd864ce1dbdf4db70697a4a35156e0e31f19a9fe9cec7645ffb927d7b0d5be/toy-edited.png" data-mid="137931142" border="0" data-scale="75" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/badd864ce1dbdf4db70697a4a35156e0e31f19a9fe9cec7645ffb927d7b0d5be/toy-edited.png" /> Project website: See the website and archive of found plastic objects here.Sketchfab: See the 3D portraits of the objects in my SketchFab gallery.