Digital Derive
Prior to starting this assignment I felt restricted by the stipulation that we could not have intentions, but I was also curious and excited about the possibilities of that the internet provides. I started this project by opening my browser to Google. I don’t have any permanent home pages so my next instinct was to identify the individual being depicted in the bright Google Doodle, which sent me to Wikipedia, the individual was “Virginia Apgar” she invented the “Agpar Test” for infants to identify health problems a new born could have just minutes after their birth. In a column on the right of the browser began revealing related individuals and articles chosen from algorithms. From there I clicked on an article titled “25 Insane Vintage Ads You Won’t Believe,” images of these ads were presented in a slideshow, where it required you to click through each one. Surrounding each image on all sides were ads to encourage you to purchase clothes from random stores. I was overwhelmed by the number of ads on this page and quickly clicked through each image.
One of the last ads was presented as a video through the platform YouTube. After clicking through the 25 images I was discouraged and looking for something that would captivate me. When I switched over to YouTube, I had a video for Encino in my recommended videos. The next suggested video came from “The Flossing Backpack Kid” that performed on SNL with Katy Perry. Within the 1 minute clip I was shown 3 different news channels. While “The Flossing Kid” had 3 different channels for the video, I wasn’t bombarded with ads. Just before the Encino video I was only required to watch a 3 second ad. I continued clicking through YouTube passively, I was clicking in hopes that I could either escape this derive or the time would be up and I could be finished. I eventually found myself watching Snoop Dog narrating Planet Earth. The only logo shown was in the beginning of the video I was presented with the YouTube channel’s logo. Then followed by the “Planed Earth” title being altered, so we wouldn’t associate this video with the company. But whenever I see observational shots of animals interacting in the wild I automatically associate the footage with Planet Earth. Many of Snoop’s comments were funny, but the laugh track was very distracting. I spent a lot of the time skipping through this video, as well as using comments to influence the sections of the video I wanted to watch, this was also a lengthier video around 10 minutes. The last video I clicked on following the Snoop clip, was a Kevin Hart and Draymond Green 3 point Shoot Out. Going into this video I didn’t feel that Kevin Hart was funny but I was willing to watch Draymond shoot badly and potentially see Kevin Hart beat him. The video had sports commentators included but overall was not very entertaining. A huge tendency I had during this half hour was to skip through videos and cherry pick the sections that I wanted to watch. I think this came from a feeling of being overwhelmed by the content all over the screen, having the access to scroll through the videos, and the limitations on not having intentions.
