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A project by Heidi Kumao & Chip Jansen
Presented
at ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge/ISEA 2006
August
4-13, 2006
See
the project
website for more documentation
Live
news broadcast altered in real time allows viewers to watch tv in
a radically new way.
In
layman's terms:
CNNplusplus
provides a means for TV viewers to modify the display of a live
CNN news broadcast which is playing on a monitor in a cafe, waiting
room, or other social space.
The automated CNNplusplus software program
tracks the frequency of words used by the newscaster and lists the
current top 100 words, a collection of terms that gives a penetrating
insight to the day's events. When any of these words is spoken on-air,
an image, of the viewer's choice, is immediately sourced from the
internet and displayed beside the newscaster. Viewers can also type
in their own fake-news headlines to scroll across the bottom of
the screen. This allows viewers to change the world news to their
liking and to express opinions to other viewers in the room. Incisive
image choices and witty headlines composed by viewers spawn an ardent
and entertaining forum for anonymous self-expression. Through the
fusion of software, live TV, and audience input, this work creates
a speedy and seamless compilation that allows CNNplusplus to pass for a real news broadcast. The subterfuge is subtle, playful,
and at times, transcendent.
A
more technical explanation:
CNNplusplus is a tactical media project presenting a technologically altered
newscast through subtle, automated media juxtaposition and replacement.
The newscaster stays solidly positioned in the right corner of
the screen as always, while the News Enhancement Program selectively
replaces the other two regions of the screen. Viewer-modified
headlines take the place of the weather, sports and stock “ticker,”
while the image in the upper left is replaced with the results
of a keyword triggered Google Image Search. CNNplusplus
tracks the frequency of words used by the newscaster and lists
the current top 100 words. Viewers can input an associated keyword
to be used in an automatic Google Image Search when any of the
top 100 words is spoken. The resulting image is immediately placed
beside the (speaking) news anchor. Popular keywords such as “freedom”
trigger real-time image searches to related concepts such as “colonial
rule,” “occupation,” or “ice cream cone.”
Preserving the appearance and sound of a normal broadcast CNNplusplus
sureptitously entertains and educates its viewers.
Viewers can customize the news by submitting their own headlines
and keywords at CNNplusplus.com.
Constantly updating and changing, the "news" is never
the same twice. CNNplusplus is a live-video broadcast meant to
be viewed in a TV set wherever the news has been naturalized into
the environment: airport lounges, bars, doctors waiting rooms,
rest stops, etc. As both a news source and a critique of the news,
CNNplusplus promises a dynamic, engaging, and humorous group viewing
experience.
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