INTERFACE Conference 2011

I am pleased to let you know that my lighting paper abstract 'Redirection and Network TimeOut - occupation of Internet Architecture in the Chinese Municipality of Chongqing'  has been selected for the INTERFACE 2011 Conference at UCL, held from the 27th-29th July 2011.  The 3rd International Symposium for Humanities and Technology is sponsored by Goldsmiths College, Kings College and UAL, amongst other institutions. 

Please see a revised version of the abstract below -

The People’s Republic of China is internationally renowned for censoring politically or sexually threatening sites upon the internet; monitoring and re-directing sites that are against the government’s values. Western social networking sites such as Blogger, Wordpress and Twitter, and their Chinese counterparts ‘Fanfou’ (Twitter) and Xiaonei (Facebook) – periodically go dark or flash up a ‘Network Timeout’ information message when information within the site is deemed as inappropriate. The development of Software Programmes such as Psiphon (Citizen Lab, Toronto) and Tor allow the user to potentially be anonymous and steer around filtering systems.

Navigation of the aforementioned digital architecture of the Internet is halted and redirected through a hierarchical system, where physical, or digital, mobility is controlled from the top down. Traditional Chinese architecture was built around the concept that the centre or most protected areas of the building were only for the eldest or those with highest esteem within the community – with courtyards, buildings and walls separating the majority of people from possible sites to occupy.

During a residency in Chongqing this summer, I will research into the navigation of both digital and physical architectural sites in the municipality through interview and visual studies. I will also explore the development of interface design in Chinese Internet sites, and how it still heavily interprets and relies upon print layouts to guide the viewer through the digital space. The paper will reflect on the findings of the research enquiry, discussing the government’s control of the assumed non-hierarchical terrain of the Internet.