2004 Republican National Convention in NYC

Thesus ^ | May 10, 2004 | Joshua Kinberg

[Calpernia]

Crashing the Party Technology for Direct Action Protest Against the 2004 Republican National Convention

Joshua Kinberg

Fall Thesis Instructor: Dave KanterFall Writing Instructor: Mark Stafford“Crashing the Party” seeks to develop a tactical media performance tool thatmerges activism online (cyberactivism) with direct action protest in real spacein an effort to protest the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC.

Thechallenge of this project is to create meaningful dialogue in popular culturethrough tactical mappings of messages and locations in relation to the politicalevent.My intention is to mesh two concepts—Yury Gitman’s wireless bicycle,“MagicBike” (2003), and “GraffitiWriter” (2000), a robot built by the Institutefor Applied Autonomy—by constructing an Internet-enabled bicycle attachmentthat prints messages on streets and sidewalks as it rides by. Thiswireless/writer bike will contain an array of spray-chalk aerosol cans and willprint dot-matrix text and simple graphics. Since the bicycle will also have apersistent Net connection, it will enable user interaction via the web and/oremail/SMS. A website for the project will provide live documentation of theperformances via streaming web cam and real-time updates of the bicycle’sGPS location.

In preparation for this thesis, I researched the history of Civil Disobedience,Direct Action, and Cyberactivism. I investigated the expanding role oftechnology in the context of activism—from Video Activism and IndyMedia toSmartmobs and Flashmobs. I studied the culture of activism and the specificcontext surrounding this particular political event. I participated in organizingmeetings for Anti-RNC protests, as well as bicycle culture events such asCritical Mass. I have been involved with the development of Magicbike withYury Gitman, and also participated in the HelloWorld project, which allowedusers to submit statements through the Web to be laser-projected on thefaçade of the United Nations building (as well as locations in Bombay, Geneva,Rio De Janeiro).In terms of the technological implementation, I have researched mobilewireless networking, physical computing and hardware hacking, GPS, and PerlAPI’s for automated data transfers and web publishing.One Sentence Description:“Crashing the Party” seeks to develop a tactical media performance tool thatmerges activism online (cyberactivism) with direct action protest in real spacein an effort to protest the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC.

[Calpernia]

Something to watch!

[epigone73]

"tactical media"

these folks build some sort of Rube Goldberg graffiti machine, and they think they're g-ddam Che Guevara with a Palm Pilot.

laughable, if our tax dollars didn't help fund this sort of nonsense.

[Calpernia]

Need help with ping lists! I don't have any of my lists rebuilt yet since my puter crash.

This needs to go out to our activism circuit. IMO, this looks like a 'telling' blog.

[deadhead]

"Something to watch!"

Bump

[Calpernia]

Hiya Deadhead! Thanks for the bump! How are you?

[dead]

I researched the history of Civil Disobedience,Direct Action, and Cyberactivism. I investigated the expanding role oftechnology in the context of activism—from Video Activism and IndyMedia toSmartmobs and Flashmobs. I studied the culture of activism and the specificcontext surrounding this particular political event. I participated in organizingmeetings for Anti-RNC protests, as well as bicycle culture events such asCritical Mass. I have been involved with the development of Magicbike withYury Gitman, and also participated in the HelloWorld project, which allowedusers to submit statements through the Web to be laser-projected on thefaçade of the United Nations building (as well as locations in Bombay, Geneva,Rio De Janeiro).In terms of the technological implementation, I have researched mobilewireless networking, physical computing and hardware hacking, GPS, and PerlAPI’s for automated data transfers and web publishing.

Updating us from his mom's basement, this guy’s the best! Most guys who can’t get dates just read comic books. I’m betting even his zits have zits.

Do you even need a pocket protector if your shirt’s tie-dyed and you haven't washed it in two weeks?

[Coleus]

`

[Ingtar]

LOL - the bike would likely get stolen by a New York Democrat voter.

[Cultural Jihad]

. . . the bike would likely get stolen by a New York Democrat voter.

The only way the Democrats can win this year is if they nominate George W. Bush for President.

[Calpernia]

That may be true.

But I'm more worried about our events being targetted.

The recent release of the Jihadi Al Battar has VERY worrisome details on targetting events.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

A website for the project will provide live documentation of the performances via streaming web cam and real-time updates of the bicycle’s GPS location.

A realtime camera that gives GPS locations of what it is veiwing...it seems to me that this could be somewhat worrisome to the Secret Service, Homeland, and Convention Security.

[Old Sarge]

What's disturbing is, the idea of tactical planning with "civil disturbance", did anyone else catch that?

Flashmobs are being considered, by the Guard anyway, as one of the next big threats. If we have civil support missions - like sports events and pol conventions, like the RNC in New York - the idea of an instant mob is something even the best troops can't react to fast enough.

The Left has been beta-testing the concept since October last year; I was on watch when the "flash mob gone bad" incident in Missouri happened, and the same bunch came here to KY. Our watch list was pinging for a week until they left.

I can see Manhattan Island turned into a battleground this summer.

[The Mayor]

Hi Calpernia

This convention in NYC is worrisome, I will send you my ping list in freep mail.

[Calpernia]

Thank you for helping with your ping list Mayor!

Mama_Bear, JustAmy, can you ping your activism lists? I know you are active on the West coast and this is about NYC; but that doesn't mean something similar isn't being done there.

[Mr. K]

sounds like vandalism to me.

maybe someone will just pick up this piece of trash and throw it in the garbage

[EQAndyBuzz]

`I would make it known that anyone causing civil disobediece will be met by Bubba in rikers.

[rocky88]

Let him know how techno-savvy he is..

Name:
Joshua Kinberg

Email:
jk@parsons.edu

Phone:
(201) 328-4547

Thesis Title:
Bikes Against Bush: Using Wireless Bicycles to Protest the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC

Fall 2003 Thesis Faculty Name:
Dave Kanter

Fall 2003 Thesis Writing Advisor:
Mark Stafford


Spring 2004 Thesis Faculty Name:
John Sharp


Spring 2004 Thesis Writing Advisor:
Loretta Wolozin


Thesis Advisor:
Yury Gitman


Concentration:
Multimedia/Physical Computing

[rocky88]

http://a.parsons.edu/~jk/thesis/overview.html

this is the link to his whole project

[rocky88]

oh my... he's been busy the little creep..

Annotated Bibliography
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