wefeelfine.org
today we looked at video on TED about a website called wefeelfine.org. it uses a programme which searches the web for the phrase ‘I feel’ or ‘I am feeling’ and then collects the data and represents each feeling as a dot which floats around the screen. these dots can be manipulated to show trends, such as age and gender. this way you can see what type of person feels what and who is more likely to express emotion. the dots can be put into graphs and even represent the weather so you can see how the weather might affect emotions.
i’m still not sure how i feel about this website. on one hand it seems a bit pointless, what does it matter to the general public how everyone in the world feels? it reminds me a bit of those annoying facebook status’ where everyone whines about they’re feeling but no one actually cares. it also seems a bit like an invasion of privacy, and an easy way to stereotype people.
on the other hand this website could have its uses. it is like a virtual census that the government could use to dicern the true feelings of the nation, it could help them to see what in the world real people genuinely care about. it could also be useful for products and businesses to do market research, they could see how people felt about them and also what sort of products and services might appeal to people, without having to do market research on busy streets, asking people closed questions. as for being an invasion of privacy, i think if you put it on the web then anyone can look at it, so you can’t complain if they do. there is a difference when it comes to how people use the information however. this website could lead to more stereotyping, however it could also break some stereotypes. also stereotyping isn’t that bad a thing, it happens for a reason, so i don’t see this as a downside to the website.
so, after considering it, i think this website could have a purpose but at the minute it seems like another flashy programme developed just for the fun of it because it’s possible.
