<aside> 💡 Assignment: Link your idea (the why) to an execution plan (the how).

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Reading my peers' journals make me feel like I should read more 😅 While I'm happy with my "progress", I do wonder if it's?? too easy???? but let's be real, I do not have the capacity to read at the moment. Based on previous experience, I know that looking up any materials about Vietnam is not helpful for research nor my mental health. It's a whole can of worms, filled with big bad jargons and white men, so I want to solidify my thesis goal before consuming more materials. (I do frequently return to Nothing Ever Dies by Viet Thanh Nguyen though.)

Talking to people and doing small projects/explorations seems to be the best way to go, so here are the thing I can work on for the remainder of the semester:

1. gather data and patterns also i hate that i have to say 'data' but that's the best way to describe this for now

• What kind of data I want to collect?
  • would be nice to finish collecting them Vietnam vids and figure out a way to showcase them
  • would be nice to talk to other people about their experience/perception of their country and how it's like to live in the USA bubble
  • Darnyill dropped me this cool project about the culture of immigration and kpop dances. It's nice to know that kpop is a common ground shared by many Viet teens as a point of connection, an aid in their journey towards reconnecting with their culture
• What is the pattern amongst these data? What are the mechanism that determined the distribution of these data?
• What are the assumptions or defaults that these data operates on?
  • i like looking at default avatars on social platforms and how they assume this universal grey blob neutral aesthetic
  • also something in Sam's thesis blog post this week spoke to me ✍️ esp. about the ritual of encountering and associating algorithm with religious rituals ✍️
• How do I reject these data? Do I need to?
• What is the takeaway that I want to get from collecting, studying and displaying these data?
  • tbh i find them therapeutic 🧍
  • something about meditation and reconciliation
• What is the takeaway that I want others to get from collecting, studying and displaying these data?
  • I do have the tendency to lean into the irony, but can they become harmful? Am I perpetuating or magnifying the problem? How am I raising awareness? sure ironic projects are fun and I love those Sam Lavigne projects but what's next eeeeeeeek

2. setup meetings to talk and exchange with different people

• [x] Talk with Shawn van Every about Live Web/general surveillance things:
  • the ethical implications of engaging with surveillance cameras
  • our love for Surya Mattu 🙏
  • how to make the topic and discussion of surveillance not fearful/less mysterious and raise awareness? what are the worst case scenarios of surveillances
  • the fine line between data input for research (since all computers need data to train themselves) and full-on, harmful surveillance
  • methods of control, algorithm as a form of data-collection and surveillance
  • got reading list for his past classes (Veillance and Surveillance Documentary)
    • I enjoyed working on this project and would love to continue working with surveillance data and cameras 🥺
• [ ] Talk with Yo-Yo Lin about media-making as healing practices (soon)

1. setup the scope for a 50 days project
2. distill the resources into a reading list that I can sit on and ignore over winter break

Things that popped up in my radar this week:

Nabbed this from Sam Heckle's post, a list of youtube videos uploaded with their default filename:

https://default-filename-tv.neocities.org/