Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sculpture to Reflect Campus Wireless Traffic

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the six-kinds-of-cool dept.

prostoalex writes "Ball State University, the top unwired school in the nation according to Intel survey, is set to unveil a sculpture that will reflect the wireless traffic on the campus network. From the article: 'Beginning Tuesday night at 8 p.m., as people log onto the Internet via Ball State's network, their online activity will appear as sound, color, patterns and images projected onto giant screens set up around the base of Shafer Tower, located in the middle of campus on McKinley Avenue.'"

6 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. I fail to see... by Gobelet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...how patterns projected on a screen could be qualified as a sculpture. Still it'd be nice to see it going all noisy and red on the next worm attack.

    1. Re:I fail to see... by robson · · Score: 3, Informative

      I fail to see... how patterns projected on a screen could be qualified as a sculpture.

      This project could probably more accurately be filed under "installation", but it's not uncommon for sculpture to be a catch-all for anything that's not painting, video, photography, or craft work.

      You can find some good contemporary installation coverage here.

  2. Toldja! by TheTrueELf · · Score: 4, Funny

    FTFA:

    "It should make everyone's surroundings more interesting because that's the purpose of public art," he said. "To exist and engage the people who are passing by."

    See, officer, I told you she's not a hooker. She's a Performance Artist!

    -ELf
    --
    Si tibi te corpus pulchrum habere narrem, habeasne id contra me?
  3. packetbomb by apostrophesemicolon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    how does a port scan or packet flood show on the sculpture?

  4. Re:Eavesdropping possibilities by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Anyone who considers unencrypted traffic passing over the internet as 'private' is naive. If the RIAA can look at your downloading habits, then there is little reason to expect the CIA, FBI, or your neighbor Alice isn't also looking at them. If people are worried about privacy then maybe this will help them realize they are not doing things in secret. There are things you can do to mitigate this, like using encrypted chats or proxy servers, so if it is really important there are things you can do to avoid a silly little sculpture. It is the other guys that you should really be worried about.

    --
    Qxe4
  5. Re:sculpture? by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 3, Funny

    Any chance that my internet traffic will look like naked women?

    --
    Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!