MASSACHUSETS INSTITUTE Internet as an object. OF TECHNOLOGY by JUL 2 6 2019 Kallirroi Retzepi LIBRARIES B.Eng., Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (2011) S.M., Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (2013) Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, School of Architecture and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master's in Media Arts and Sciences at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2019 @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2019. All rights reserved. Signature redacted A uthoree - --- --- - ............... :...... Program in Media Arts and Sciences, May 10, 2019 Signature redacted Certified by ...... .. .................... Andrew Lippman Associate Director & Senior Research Scientist, MIT Media Lab Thesis Supervisor Signature redacted Accepted by ...... / Professor Tod Machover Academic Head, Program in Media Arts and Sciences 2 Internet as an object. by Kallirroi Retzepi Submitted to the Program in Media Arts and Sciences,, School of Architecture and Planning on May 10, 2019, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master's in Media Arts and Sciences Abstract This thesis lies in the intersection of three avenues: physical non-screen interfaces, sto- rytelling promoting community connectedness and hyper-locality afforded by decentraliza- tion. The central question addressed is whether the design and underlying technology of entry points to a network change the way people interact with it and the experience they have. To explore this, I designed and engineered a set of playful physical objects which function as nodes of a hyper-local network. Information bestowed upon this network remains within these nodes, cryptographically secure, and accessible only to local commu- nity members who are aware of the network's existence and mode of operation. I success- fully deployed this network in four locations across the MIT campus, where members of the MIT community could record and listen to audio messages using the physical objects. Given the choice, people engaged with the decentralized, closed network more than they did with the control (open) one. The messages collected by the former had a more positive sentiment score and their language was more personal than the control. This work is in- dicative, but not definitive, evidence that the suggested decentralized and closed network fostered a more positive and expressive discourse than its control counterpart. Thesis Supervisor: Andrew Lippman Title: Associate Director & Senior Research Scientist, MIT Media Lab Internet as an object. by Kallirroi Retzepi This thesis has been reviewed and approved by the following committee members: Signature redacted Andrew Lippman............. Associate Director & Senior Research Scientist MIT Media Lab Signature redacted Judith Donath.. Advisor Berkman-Klein Center Harvard University Signature redacted Zach Lieberman ...... Visiting Professor MIT Media Lab Acknowledgements This is not my first degree, and maybe not my last. I came to the Lab because I was looking for a home that allowed me to think differently, to remain undecided and explore a million things at once. I was hoping that two years here would finally help me focus on a path, a career, a vocation of some sort...which of course did not happen - I am more distracted than ever! Oops~(vt/ But here's the thing: every time a chapter in my life closes I have the extreme luck to say: it is all about the people. And somehow I am convinced that this, in the short time we have to hang with each other on this planet, is the only thing that matters. I would not be here if it weren't for Interactive Things in Zurich, and the opportunity they gave me three years (already!) ago. I hold a very special place in my heart for all of you guys. Special thanks to Peter who taught me so much and Jeremy who asked me about the Media Lab on a bus ride to Munich. I would not have applied otherwise! Thank you to everyone who provided support and feedback for this work. Special thanks to Linda and Monica and the rest of the MAS women. You keep this place running! To my readers Zach and Judith, it has been such a pleasure to learn from you. This has been an intense journey, but I was blessed to have such wonderful companions on my side. Thank you so much to all the Viral team, our small family! To Ziv, Carmelo, Pedro and Woody, you have all made this journey special! Agnes, I would not possibly have done this without you...Thank you for the love, hugs, tears, memes, blob drawings, crazy dance moves, pots, books, electronics help, having my back in group meeting argu- ing matches! Pip, thank you for looking out for me, always willing to listen and having a right thing to say, and of course for knowing so much about design and art. Oceane, merci pour ton sourire, ton energie contaminante, ton enthusiasme pour tous et tout - et pour ton aide niveau circuits et Eagle! You are all such treasures! Au6m MOv yLa 1L a 7OUua(tLaac T T7(ag aTOU~tc yLt Tov a8ep60TYc, XOa TOV ca a ou Oa ctav -6ao Xapo6 evoc (xat neTuxvpvoc) govtTc cc0 MIT! Finally to Sam, who has been my everything. 6 Contents 1 Context 9 2 Existing work 13 3 System description 17 4 Evaluation 27 5 Discussion 33 6 Closing thoughts 39 7 8 Chapter 1 Context I remember a time when the adepts of the internet believed that it would bring about a new universal culture for the whole of humankind. This did not happen, because the internet makes information about the various cultures of the world universally available, but not the cultures themselves. Boris Groys "Towards a New Universalism" e-flux #86 [1] "Community Memory" 1was the world's first public computerized bulletin board system. It was created by Efrem Lipkin, Mark Szpakowski, and Lee Felsenstein and set up at the entrance to Leopold's Records in Berkeley California. Anyone could "Add" a message, attach keywords to it, and "Find" messages. Having to walk up to Leopold's Records to query the community's wisdom probably sounds like a joke to the people who live there now, and to most of us in the developed world. The Internet, the World Wide Web and the overarching technological ecosystem in which they are embedded have evolved in a frantic pace, and as every fast-paced change, it comes with benefits and costs. I will focus my critique from this point on in the following characteristics that are being normalized in existing and nascent information networks: " ubiquitous computing [2] has been translated into ubiquitous screen time [3] [4] [5] * corporate dominance of the tech giants, ranging from controlling Internet traffic [6] or undersea cables [7] to establishing contracts with the Pentagon [8] has led to unprecedented centralization of human and material resources 1https://people.well.com/user/szpak/cm/ 9 eh creation and autoates ctImad moe crat amos fo ei ud t c M CMul ammiusumameous adr G.i.vo onlin un6iv ers -acitBtd USIP eieveOU IMhi P I- M.,M of W"0 -5q "-A 51 AXAO 5WarawJ70 wTlkS A&OC IMFOaMaTmsmm Wwwd. 4w by Nmi I, A (NM t om ant toT . GOT TO is opouinl.Aster toeg ent u l c i aO.n w e r o In 1 th d x oW t. ac txsm f t0htO d c e by cha tawesia.lT ho aim onh alsowe1d. am)~aoam'N K125 .'a.',,ead...&.'.'g~~ ~~ -01111 DOM BWAT.....uZCOhAomlZ how0" . easily c lows bw te h iOWtizd itauserslalsocane be alterd ae by Ar :O m.... P_ 1. itAB~h f AW P~, Akm Mass" ANg og 89 t i n t e e b aslwnessintoOit o orce %theio nework's scopew wand( scle u t m a c in? nume of connec- Ioned d es that colcieypror nato.Temain ass~aaumpiozu mkeixta ItheconextofhisdoumentheterJnetw r X2is usedtoEscrUVibeanensembleOWT ofKA fetedbakoo pu ftetonconecedodethtclletielperoranctO.TheminassumpZO. adito mdu)ditry, ton PmtDakeisthat. consanty saing th thr ndoeno engal atxst withou thaemothe.aa. The atf.in curaiost ha rve hs hss stus a sa eark bypreentig isel Giveteakveroner"WhatiosaboutowheInfatIvewaewraditsaComuieceastwoartsofacntatfeedbackitMeopyon Faeonlinu"Wat'ivers arc hit ecd?"be contanlysalopinthothernonennotbeingabltexisltwithouttheoithser.osades (similar to what a gamut ofmmoder browser extensionsbdo.[14] [15] GvthemaincurositytativesabothistheisithuCnivretworkyrchcesIetingitselfi iffeorntcaestt eforagindhongtenltfpepl'snt hvetiosihiInoretounse Itht itisepfultidtfysmedtteinpinsrfaymfschnetwork" showo esrieanwneutilieo thnemnwhatacosshouldexpect.S noewasinhemichaneutok'sbeiorca byhetgimesphentoniote nto(.hw trbdsinbulinsonessionnttoeorbybrteor esimicnn(o lartwhatagamu m)tofrnrwseretesiionsdo[14][15])wllalohage Infath eanetworkcpandiscaldeanoeanhtoaeutsoacetinmconsatfebclopne *thetypeofmat edciumstextual~ditorypecmixoe) y nwih ewr' bhvoa (switerakseveryone"Wamtnew"whieracbooksks"Watsony ormind?"5] 10 e the content the network is prone to creating (visual, auditory) " the nature of the protocol that underlies information sharing " the location and ownership of the data that circulates in the network (whether it re- sides on a local machine or a distant server) * the transparency with which the network is perceived to function " the playfulness of the network " the regulation the network is subject to The effectiveness for ameliorating the informational landscape using some of the above pressure points, or variations of them, has already been explored by scientists and policy makers. A recent study [16] showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression af- ter limiting the time spent on social media to 30 minutes per day. The rise of decentralized technologies, from the blockchain to the decentralized Web, as I will detail in the following section, are an answer to the hyper-centralizing tendencies of Big Tech. In terms of regula- tion, there starts to be an open conversation about revising anti-trust laws to be effective in the era of platform capitalism and digital labor [17] [18]. Increasingly more and more coun- tries pass legislation [19] [20] that fines the spread of misinformation, since the promises made by the social media giants (that their sophisticated Al will effectively moderate the content being shared) fall short.