Interactive art at MozFest — experience the web’s key issues

Interactive art plays a big part at MozFest. Many issues that the event takes on are complicated and challenging. This year an exciting art installation will allow MozFest visitors the opportunity to interact with these five issues in a physical space.

Giorgio Olivero of creative agency ToDo is one of the masterminds behind the installation. He said: “We wanted this project to be about looking into the web. We often don’t see the complicated processes behind the web. As technology becomes easier to use, it also becomes more opaque and we think less about how it works. We wanted to make something that gets people to physically look onto the web and experience it.

There are five exhibits to reflect each of the festival’s key issues — online privacy & security, web literacy, digital inclusion, open innovation and decentralisation. Each one is presented in a physical way in the installation.

The privacy exhibit is called the Human Profiler. Every action you take online leaves a footprint. Depending on your privacy settings — and the ability of sites to protect you — more or less of your info is out in the open. Algorithms mine this data, trying to figure out who you are and what you’ll click on next. Giorgio said: “With this installation we wanted to find a way for the user to embody the algorithm. Users will examine data, make assumptions and try to come up with the perfect targeted ad.”

For web literacy, Giorgio and the team have created the Physical Inspector exhibit. People should have the ability to shape the Internet and their own experiences on it. Luckily, the web is hackable: there are countless opportunities to play, learn, participate and create online. The Internet is truly what we make it. Giorgio said: “We can now build web pages without worrying about javascript frames and so on. As things become more advanced and easier to use, they become more opaque. We’re offering users the chance to play with the graphics in a free session which is definitely not about respecting authority.”

The Web Teleporter exhibit examines the issue of digital inclusion. The Internet should be equally accessible, welcoming and safe for all people. But today, experiences with the web change depending on who and where you are. Giorgio explains: “It’s difficult to browse the internet without our devices and modern operating systems. But what about people who, through circumstances, have to use the internet in different ways? We’re offering people the chance to use the internet as though they were someone else.”

The Openness Shutter, the exhibit about open innovation, asks whether today’s copyright laws make the internet better. The ability to remix work by others into something new, and share it with the world, has fueled creativity on the web for decades. Yet, many are calling for copyright laws that could make mashups and memes unlawful. Giorgio explained: “ The regulations about remixing are so diverse in different countries. People don’t understand that things like producing memes can get them into trouble, as can taking pictures of famous monuments. What is the web going to look like if all of these regulations are enforced?”

The fifth and final piece is focused on decentralisation, for which we have a Web Macroscope exhibit. Much like a microscope makes small things big enough to be visible, the Web Macroscope takes the enormity of the web and makes it small enough to see in a physical form.

The web thrives as an ecosystem of diverse players, working together to build an open environment that fosters innovation. But today’s Internet is dominated by a few big actors.

Giorgio said: “Are we happy about the big platforms for news, commerce and social, for example, taking up so much web real estate? Are we happy with how this concentrates so much power in the hands of a small list of players? With the Macroscope we are trying to make something very complex more simple.”

These five themes are being addressed in different ways, trying to make them playful and accessible rather than dry, or an academic lesson. Most of all, the exhibition is designed to challenge preconceived ideas and make us think. We’d love to know what you think about the issues and the exhibits. Please do tweet @mozillafestival during MozFest and share your experiences with us — and don’t forget to use #MozFest!