Google Street View documenting humanity

I just read the most fascinating and beautiful post on Art Fag City about how Google Street View is an objective, impartial snapshot of humanity today. I had no idea such gems could be found there! It reminded me of this post about digital serendipity; you never know what you'll find as you're poking around the world from your desk.



Jon Rafman – the artist & guest blogger of the post – brings up about a million good points, but some of my favorites were about how Street View records the world: as it exists, at that very moment, in whatever state it is.

The world captured by Google appears to be more truthful and more transparent because of the weight accorded to external reality, the perception of a neutral, unbiased recording, and even the vastness of the project.

It definitely different from photographers who spend hours taking 500 shots, only to pick one that is perfect, no?


The last part of that quote – about the vastness of the project – is brought up again later: If Google chooses, their systematic storing of panoramic views serves photography’s historic role of cultural preservation. This could be a different version or perspective on things like the LIFE archives, maybe?

Rafman also brings up how technological phenomena like Street View are ongoing symbols of our world & how we interact with it evolves all the time. This very way of recording our world, this tension between an automated camera and a human who seeks meaning, reflects our modern experience. Beautiful, a little wistfully sad, and squeakily delightful all in one.

self reporting bias, or reality?

Are those-who-Twitter hungrier than they are horny?


TweetVolume uses Twitter and Google to allow you to compare the frequency of words or phrases that are Twittered. Type in five words /phrases and you get a pretty little bar chart that compares them all. In my search, "food" outnumbered "sex" by 6,470 tweets. It's a fun little site to spend a little bit of time on. Get creative with the words you put in. Let me know what you find.

Thanks to Russell for Twittering about this. ooo, meta.

a smart theme

Normally I would react to the new Google Homepage themes with a loud "neat!" and spend several minutes choosing my favorite one. And that would be it. But this is truly great - the themes are dynamic! Here is a screenshot of the one I chose:



Now, see how the sky is purple and it's nighttime? Well, that's because I just took this screenshot, at 9.54pm. When I chose my theme, Google asked me for my zip code, so that the scenery could change along with my actual surroundings. It was pinkish as the sun was setting tonight, and before that it was bright yellow at around lunchtime. I wonder if it reflects the weather as well, and not just the time. Maybe I want another ice storm here in New York just so I can see. The point here is that Google always takes everything a couple of steps farther. I love it.

EDIT | see?! It's the afternoon and it looks like this: