🎃👻🎃 OCTOBER 31ST, 2015 👻🎃👻
At the end of my last Patreon-Exclusive update, I said I was going to make more prototypes. And, well, I did! This update will be a recap of the stuff I made this month -- some of which I haven't even publicly talked much about yet -- and also give you a lil' backstory for each project.
Two weeks ago, I uploaded INGROUP/OUTGROUPS, a prototype for an interactive explanation of how we form groups, how "us vs them" arises. Here's a GIF of it:
Now, doing this prototype was really interesting for me, because for the first time in a long time that I was surprised by the simulation I'd made. With Parable of the Polygons and Neurotic Neurons, I was basing those off existing computational models. (Schelling's Segregation Model and Hebbian Learning, respectively) So I already knew what the outcome would be going into it.
But with Ingroups/Outgroups? I was making a computational model from scratch. As far as I knew, no mathematical/computational model of social identity had existed until then.
So first, I did a whole bunch of research. Actually digging deep into old academic papers, and taking lots and lots of notes:
(From this 1991 paper by Marilynn B. Brewer)
And while, not after, doing academic research, I'd try to boil it down to simple rules, and simulate them on the computer. Seeing my simple rules in Ingroups/Outgroups lead to such dynamic, non-repeating emergent behaviour felt... pretty sweet.
However, I learnt the hard way, the dilemma every modeler faces - what to keep in, what to throw out. I wanted to put everything that was established in social psych into the model, but then it would become impossible to visualize or understand. So it goes.
Anyway, the prototype did pretty well, and you backers & playtesters gave lots of very helpful feedback! But! I promised myself I'd finish at least three prototypes before deciding which one(s) to fully flesh out.
Another thing I've been working on this last October: an interactive explanation on privacy... for the BBC! I'm can't show too much of it right now, but just a small GIF is fine:
This one relies more on visual metaphors. So we all have different sides to ourselves (shown as red/blue sides), and in different social environments (shown as different rooms), we present ourselves differently (shown as masks). Then later I'll add stuff about trust, intimacy, reputation, and what happens to all that in an environment where you can no longer control your own data. (e.g. NOW.)
This project, actually, is why I did Ingroups/Outgroups in the first place, to get practice at the process of converting sociological theory into simple computer rules. Again, first I did lots of academic research. Mostly diving into the literature from Alan Westin, Irwin Altman, and danah boyd.
(From this 1976 paper by Irwin Altman)
Then, I had to figure out how to visualize their theories. It is awfully convenient how we already have lots of spatial metaphors for human relationships, like "being close to someone", or "being open or closed", or "outside the norm", and so on. So, I brainstormed some visual metaphors, and possible simulation rules, sketched it all up...
...and made it all computer-y! That, uh, that's my process. Yeah.
And most recently, I've been making emoji-based cellular automata. I tweeted a GIF of it yesterday. It, uh, somehow got 200+ retweets? Apparently the internet really likes emoji and/or cellular automata.
Seriously though, emoji actually has a practical use here -- it's a large, standardized art pack that's pre-installed on everyone's computer. Also, it helps make the complex systems I'd be modelling feel less threatening, more friendly, more accessible. Maybe.
THE BIG IDEA: to make a tool that lets people model complex systems.
This could be used by educators in the classroom, journalists to explain things, or just your everyday person who wants to play with simulations. If we have a way for people to read & write in systems, to have dialogues about systems, and gain an intuition for the complexity of life... well!... that would mean... something!... maybe something good!
Anyway, that's all for now. Happy Halloween!~
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