“Data Mapping of 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Twitter Activity” by Jiayi Young, Shih-Wen Young, Weidong Yang

Title:

Data Mapping of 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Twitter Activity

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Exhibiting Artist(s):



• Jiayi Young
• Shih-Wen Young
• Weidong Yang

Symposium:

• ISEA2017: 23rd International Symposium on Electronic Art

Venue(s):

• Centro Cultural Universitario Rogelio Salmona – Segundo Piso , Manizales , Colombia

Artist Statement:

This project, with its multiple phases, transforms the 2016 United States Presidential Election Twitter data into a large-scale installation to probe the question of how social media assumes form and transforms the shaping of the future of a nation. The installation recounts Twitter hashtag activity on the topic from February 2016 through the election date of November 8, 2016.

By identifying major Twitter influencers in this election period, uncovering the propagation patterns within the data, and differentiating human tweets from AI tweets, the installation exposes the inner mechanisms of a world where true human tweets and tweets generated by Twitter Bots mutually influence each other and propagate inseparably as a combined voice. The installation allows the examination of the machine world infiltration that shifted the generative entropic propagation of social media influence on this U.S. election, and provides a physical space for contemplating the significant challenges social media pose in our understanding of the social fabric and the radical transformation of the ways in which we now relate to each other.

Category:

• Art Exhibition
• Electronic / Robotic Object
• Installation Art