
…t from a reputable database and writing on it is an extra layer of defiance in the content economy. Generally, the more artifacts a JPEG has, the funnier it is, because the artifacts are a clue as to how far the image has traveled from its “proper” source.
Under these circumstances, stock photos are the ideal medium for public cartooning. They are the only thing left on the internet that is “anonymous,” in a sense — the people in the photos are often white actors pretending to be people in generic or inane situations, and thus are some of the few uncomplicated targets left. They are pictures of what we used to believe the world looked like, before the internet made us real to each other, for better or worse.
know what we want before we’ve said so. Each of us daily creates our own prolific constellation of metadata, which will eventually be more revealing than any self-concept or user profile we create for online use. The aging contingent who say things like “then just turn it off” or those… have begun to demonstrate an eerie ability to sense us, to know what we want before we’ve said so. Each of us daily creates our own prolific constellation of metadata, which will eventually be more revealing than any self-concept or user profile we create for online use. The aging contingent who say things like “then just turn it off” or those coffee shops with the smu…