You Look Wiki Today!
This project was an audio / visual exploration of the phenonemon of spontaneous content creation sparked by internet media.
A fine example of this is the "Sportsracers" - fans of "The Show with Ze Frank" an online video journal of one man's life for a full year.
During the episodes, and outside of the frame of the episodes in the website's forums, Ze Frank would give assignments to his listeners, photo contests and the like.
After the initial warmup period, Sportsracers began creating media of their own accord, including remixes of songs by artists unknown. (Examples here)
More recently, an online audio podcast as sprung as if by magic from the nurturing womb of Twitter, an online microblogging service. Through this medium, three men met, @hotdogsladies, @lonelysandwich and @scottsimpson.
After recognizing a shared sense of off-beat humor, the men assembled a method of creating semi-monthly audio podcast wherein they created an elaborate artificial world that they attempted to "monetize" through their eponymous psuedo-company, You Look Nice Today.
Each episode they would come up with a new money making scheme and ponder the possibilities of this new business venture. Without the direct instruction of the show, listeners began creating digital and physical manifestations of these far-flung ideas.
Examples include uniforms to help potential customers recognize the company as a company, the new trend of made-up "latte names" to lighten the mood on the next trip to Starbucks and even needlepoint for an as-yet unproduced clothing line.
Looking into the history of the podcast, I was stunned to find little to no information on the show and its participants on the web, even the all-knowing Wikipedia was stumped. In keeping with the spirit of the impromptu creations the show is known for, I have decided to host, here on the ACTLab servers, a You Look Nice Today-specific wiki, entitled You Look Wiki Today.
I intend to spread the word about this wiki quietly and hope that the wiki is able to flesh itself out organically, with end users adding their creations and documenting individual episodes. Fingers crossed!