GeneralNews - A plead for Abstraction

GeneralNews is an interactive meta-browser. It substitutes words on websites in real-time, changing texts to be more abstract or more concrete. The user can change the level of abstraction with a slider. Thus, new descriptions of the world and descriptions of “new worlds” are created. GeneralNews relies on an electronic dictionary containing the various kinds of words, e.g., syno-, hyper-, and hyponyms. The system analyzes the average level of abstraction for each original text and indicates the value on the scale. Daniela A. Plewe: “Thinking in alternatives is essential for progress, because we develop new ideas by changing existing descriptions. Abstraction is a powerful invention which helps us to grasp the fullness of the data. Applied to news-sites, GeneralNews shows the relativity of our text-conveyed reality in the media.”

General News – Credits Idee und Produktion: Daniela Alina Plewe; Software-Entwicklung: Steffen Meschkat; Computer-Linguistik: Prof. Dr. Manfred Stede, Peter Tauter, Uwe Küssner; Interface und Layout: Daniela A. Plewe, Daniel van Alphen; Webprogrammierung: Karl Gampper; Dank an: Blinker Berlin, Andreas Dietz. Mit Unterstützung des ZKM Karlsruhe, des Instituts für Linguistik Universität Potsdam und unter Verwendung der lexikalischen Datenbank “Wordnet” des Instituts für Kognitionswissenschaft, Universität Princeton. GeneralNews ist eine Weiterentwicklung von ArtAbstracts im Auftrag von MedienKunstNetz.

Daniela Alina Plewe

studied Philosophy, Literature, and Anthropology at FU Berlin, Video at Université Paris 8, and Experimental Media Design at the UDK Berlin. Since 1991 she is active as an artist participating in international exhibitions and festivals, e.g., “Ars Electronica” Linz; Canon Art Lab, Tokio; University of California Los Angeles; “Transmediale” Berlin; Lehmbruck- Museum Duisburg; “FILE” São Paulo.

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	GeneralNews - A plead for Abstraction GeneralNews is an interactive meta-browser. It substitutes words on websites in real-time, changing texts to be more abstract or more concrete. The user can change the level of abstraction with a slider. Thus, new descriptions of the world and descriptions of “new worlds” are created. GeneralNews relies on an electronic dictionary containing the various kinds of words, e.g., syno-, hyper-, and hyponyms. The system analyzes the average level of abstraction for each original text and indicates the value on the scale. Daniela A. Plewe: “Thinking in alternatives is essential for progress, because we develop new ideas by changing existing descriptions. Abstraction is a powerful invention which helps us to grasp the fullness of the data. Applied to news-sites, GeneralNews shows the relativity of our text-conveyed reality in the media.” General News – Credits Idee und Produktion: Daniela Alina Plewe; Software-Entwicklung: Steffen Meschkat; Computer-Linguistik: Prof. Dr. Manfred Stede, Peter Tauter, Uwe Küssner; Interface und Layout: Daniela A. Plewe, Daniel van Alphen; Webprogrammierung: Karl Gampper; Dank an: Blinker Berlin, Andreas Dietz. Mit Unterstützung des ZKM Karlsruhe, des Instituts für Linguistik Universität Potsdam und unter Verwendung der lexikalischen Datenbank “Wordnet” des Instituts für Kognitionswissenschaft, Universität Princeton. GeneralNews ist eine Weiterentwicklung von ArtAbstracts im Auftrag von MedienKunstNetz. Daniela Alina Plewe studied Philosophy, Literature, and Anthropology at FU Berlin, Video at Université Paris 8, and Experimental Media Design at the UDK Berlin. Since 1991 she is active as an artist participating in international exhibitions and festivals, e.g., “Ars Electronica” Linz; Canon Art Lab, Tokio; University of California Los Angeles; “Transmediale” Berlin; Lehmbruck- Museum Duisburg; “FILE” São Paulo. > General News > Daniela Alina Plewe