Infobesity

Today's Internet environment and the prevalent development of short videos such as TikTok have resulted in the phenomenon of information fragmentation and information content flooding. However, I found that people are not deeply aware of the hidden dangers of this phenomenon and even the control of capital behind it. The program aimed to alert people to this dangerous trend.

Inspiration

The online media is instantaneous and massive, and the limited screen for presenting information gradually gives rise to a fragmented writ- ing style to adapt to the characteristics of the online media and cater to the needs of the audience.

Helen Yu (age 17)

1. Xiaohongshu
2. 2.5 hours
3. 5%. I will often view others’ comments to get more informa- tion and ideas.
4. Twitter. I look at other’s comments on the information.

My first idea was to create a small book. It is a small book that could be hidden inside a hard disk drive. I want to use this medium to show the idea of information overload. I named this book “Infobesity” to reinforce the idea of information overload.

Duration

12 weeks, Spring 2022

Project Deliverable

Procreate

Mixed Media

According to the interviews, data research shows that short videos have massively taken up the gaps in people's lives, causing the phenomenon of information overload. Too much information has entered into people's lives so that the information people receive is fragmented, incomplete, and superficial.

Using special binding, the parts of the big data analyzing user’s preferences can be hidden inside.

What you see on the surface are some eye-catching images on TikTok, but what is hidden inside is the computational process of big data, analyzing users' preferences, making them more addicted.

Final Design

My idea was to create an outfit that are made up of fragments of information such as screenshots from Tik Tok videos and comments.

I created a clothing using clear vinyl cloth and attaching screenshots from fragmented sources of information onto it. Clothes are an inseparable element for human beings. This is similar to how TikTok and those fragmented information have make people become addicted and cannot “live” without them. The clothing was made into the form of workers’ suits. This shows the concept of people becoming the “digital laborers”.

Claire Wang (age 22):

1. Xiaohongshu 2. 2 hours
3. 10%
4. Google

Kevin Yu (age 22):

1. Twitter
2. 45 min
3. 15%.
4. For the information about sports, I will go to another platform dedicated for sports-related discussion.