新聞

"It is time for a new relationship with data. But then we must first learn to look at it differently."

In her new book, The Mirror Palace of Data, Levien Nordeman takes you through a fascinating world of data, algorithms and AI with the help of designers, philosophers and scientists.

An interview with Martine appears in the book as one of the 'future makers'. In The Mirror Palace of Data, we discover that we already know much more than we think we do. We discover how to get a grip on our data, and what is needed to shape a different and better data society.

Please note: book launch is March 2023. Pre-orders will arrive in the week of publication.

Very honoured to receive notice of the Awwwards jury that we've been nominated for Site of the Day.

For years, the Awwwards have thé award for design, creativity and innovation on the Internet and we're proud to be among the nominees. Do get out there to vote, if you see this ... untill feb 26th 2022.

Xmas is nearing ... and to support these special times we created: Face Glitter ... a truly in style feature to render glitter to regions of your Avatar; making appropriation and identity customisation even more playfull and diverse.

Do have a look, its quite super duper we think.

Today we received information that Martines' Proposal: "Close Encounters" has been shortlisted for Europes 2022 S+T+ARTS Programme: Repairing the Present. From the Call:

To repair the present, the EU's economy must be transformed and adapted for the sustainable future we all want. The Regional S+T+ARTS Centers focus on a resource, urban, ICT & art-driven transformation as the path towards reconfiguring the social, cultural and economic fabric.

Stay tuned, more on this to follow.

We are happy to bring: Gift Wear WeAlgo. Our agent to gift your beloved a Custom Biometric Selfie on a winter warm, cozy soft wearable ... because having is King, but giving ... giving is Queen right?!

And here's your chance to do just that.

Purchase a Gift Coupon now, receive it directly by email and be ready for the gifting holiday season.

Today we launched Where WeAlgo V2, a complete overhaul of the Playground, integrating many of the features we have been experimenting with in times before. This release brings into each room eg: Halo, Fip Radio, Custom Background (colors & images), Chat and Voice editor.

More importantly? a fundamental use-case has been added: Audience. From now on —when Starting a New Room— you have the option to choose from: Play or Present. A Presentation Room is designed to allow Audience, participants of a Room, yet without an active role on stage. More on this in a separte post.

Enjoy!

Wear WeAlgo, that's right. We've launched our own photo-booth to brandish your custom biometric selfie on a favorite Stanley/Stella wearable. All products are 100% organic, fairwear cotton, printed in The Netherlands with non-pollutant inks.

Each product is unique and personal in the extreme.

We busy setting up our own line of wearables ... you guessed right: WearWeAlgo.

Not too long from now we'll be launching a photo booth to create and order your personal, customised Hoodie, Tshirt or Bag. All products are 100% organic cotton, printed with non-pollutant inks.

Order your product to not only brandish your printed, custom biometric avatar, but also to support the WeAlgo project.

Watch this space, we will be back for more shortly.

We're very excited about news we received yesterday that Wealgo is shortlisted for BIAS, Science Gallery Dublins' year-long approach to interrogate how bias moves from human to machine and how persuasion, preference, motivation and misinformation contribute to our individual, societal and digital biases.

From the call: "We will bring together artists, activists, designers, policymakers, hackers, researchers and technologists to explore the ways in which bias dominates our world today, from algorithmic justice and facial recognition to the empathy crisis and systemic oppression.

The first part of the year will take a research and development approach from January to June: developing, researching and creating work alongside a diverse group of programme partners, including ADAPT research centre, Tactical Tech, the Goethe Institut, Accenture The Dock and The Digital Hub. The second half of the year will focus on increased pop-up activity and events, culminating in a final flagship exhibition from September to December."

Expect regular updates on this wonderful opportunity.

Today we received positive feedback on our exhibition proposal from Science Gallery Detroit, for their upcomming show: TRACKED & TRACED.

From the open call: "Experimentation, provocation, and research are at the heart of Science Gallery Detroit’s values and programs. This exhibition will explore the practice and concept of dystopian and utopian aspects of surveillance, through the lens of artists, psychologists, story tellers, digital gamers, molecular biologists, performers, neuroscientists, designers, computer scientists, nurses, engineers, musicians, mathematicians, architects, and young people."

The show is scheduled from September 10 through December 11, 2021.

Obviously we're very excited about this opportunity. To be continued.

Wealgo has been recommended by Marleen Stikker — director of Waag Society, Amsterdam — for this years' Prix Ars Electronica. Marleen is jury member of the AI and Live Art category.

Furthermore, the STARTS Prize, part of the STARTS Initiative of the European Commission, awards the most pioneering collaborations and results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts.

Today we entered our submissions.

Today we lauched a work-over of the initialisation flow of Wealgo. Also —combined with this release— we're launching two new Rooms: Don't Blink & Private Room. Last first: Private Rooms. From the start Private Rooms was part of the promisse, but we took it back because of overload ... now it's back.

Yet christal new is Room Don't Blink ... can you beat the algorithm?

Do let us know!

While under lockdown here in The Netherlands, we had fun and shared precious moments with our loved ones in the Wealgo Xmas Edition aka a 2 day long Live Nativity Scene; or as we call in here: Een Levende Kerststal.

For the occasion we pre-designed a number of characters from the story mixed with the more fabulous Santa Claus narative: of course baby Jezus, Mary & Jozef and the three Kings, but also Santa's hat and a Xmas Tree.

We also introduced new functionality which —moving forward— will be available for all: choose a Mask from a default set of Avatars. This will give you a quick start while getting to know Wealgo. Ofcourse it's still possible to customise your mask, which will be saved in your mask drawer.

From all of us here at the project: Have a wonderful 2021. All the best to all!

Today we received notice that our pioneers funding application at SIDN Fonds (Stichting Internet Domein registratie Nederland) has been positively awarded. The funding (~EURO10k) will allow us to develop chat functionality for Wealgo and we will be investigating and implementing face identification possibilities.

SIDN Fund stands for ‘a strong internet for all’. We provide financial support to ideas and projects that aim to make the internet stronger or that use the internet in innovative ways. By doing so, SIDN Fund wants to help increase the social impact of the internet in the Netherlands. SIDN Fund is an independent foundation established by SIDN, the foundation for internet domain registration in the Netherlands.

We are delighted with this news and thank SIDN Fund for their support and trust.

We have been selected for Dutch broadcaster VPRO's Tegenlich Pioniers.

From the brief (in Dutch):
Welke pioniers zorgen voor intimiteit en persoonlijk contact in tijden van tech? We mogen elkaar niet aanraken, terwijl we elkaar digitaal op elk moment kunnen bereiken. Hoe blijven we in onze nieuwe samenleving verbonden, met de ander? Hoe blijven we elkaar raken met onze ideeën en maken we écht persoonlijk contact, ook al moet dat via schermen, data en algoritmes?

Have a look at all the entrees and if you want, vote for Wealgo:
(registration required :(

It looks like gameplay is a possible (extra?) route for us to take. Being able to move your Avatar across the screen, giving power of direction, contact & purpose opens up possibilities for play.

In this light 3d space is opening up. Here we're looking into adding three.js camera & scene and using head/nose movement to steer direction.

It's remarkable? how 1st person perspective & selfie mode collide ... to be continued.

We captured these funny? avatar screen movies ... After a little practice with the Mask Editor and enough people in a Room, we're bringing you: Puzzling & Singing.

Check it out and see for your self what you can do.

Simultaneously with Martine's ISEA presentation we opened Wealgo Playground to the public. Very exciting to find out where this is going (if anywhere ...).

Below is the ISEA video presentation.

Today we came across an interesting article on bandwidth pollution on the Harun Farocki Institute blog.

https://www.harun-farocki-institut.org/en/2020/04/16/streaming-video-a-link-between-pandemic-and-climate-crisis-journal-of-visual-culture-hafi-2/

Today we recieved a friendly green light from TastenKunst to continue developing with the BRFV5 algorithm - whithout the need to purchase a commercial licence at this stage. A big deal for us, as we are still working on a shoe string and saving out of pocket costs is crucial. So big thanks to them.

Today we recieved good news that Dutch Creative Industries Funds will grant WeAlgo a 6 months development budget. Our awarded proposal plans for the development of a closed user-group biometric conferencing tool, the capture of user group test data and dissemination of activities at different events.

Obviously we are very excited about this news and thank the fund for it's trust.

We are making good progress on the Fitting Room Mask Editor. The facial regions we have identified are colorable by fill & stroke. And landmarks can also be colored. Settings are stored in local storage ready to be transmitted over Jitsi.

We have submitted a proposal for the Eyebeam 'Surveillance Capatalism' call. See the video below.