Turbulence Spotlight: “MAICgregator” by Nick Knouf

Turbulence Spotlight: “MAICgregator” by Nick Knouf
http://turbulence.org/spotlight/knouf/
[Needs Firefox Browser and extension download]

“MAICgregator” is a Firefox extension that aggregates information about colleges and universities embedded in the military-academic-industrial complex (MAIC). It searches government funding databases, private news sources, private press releases, and public information about trustees to try and produce a radical cartography of the modern university via the replacement or overlay of this information on academic websites. This is a necessary activity in light of the contemporary financial “crisis”.

Please visit this post for conversation about the project:
http://turbulence.org/blog/2009/04/20/maicgregator-by-nick-knouf/

BIOGRAPHY

Nicholas Knouf is a PhD student in information science at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. His research explores the interstitial spaces between information science, critical theory, digital art, and science and technology studies. Ongoing work includes “Fluid Nexus”, a mobile phone messaging application designed for activists and relief workers that operates independent of a centralized network, robotic puppetry projects
that engage with psycho-socio-political imaginaries, and sound works that encourage the expression of the unspeakable. Past and current work has been recognized by a number awards, including an Honorary Mention by Prix Ars Electronica in [the next idea] category (2005), the Leonardo Abstracts Service (LABS) for his master’s thesis (2008), a memefest Award of Distinction (2008), and a special transmediale “Online Highlight” (2009). Additionally, his work has been discussed in print and online media, including ID Magazine, the Boston Globe, CNN, Slashdot, and Afterimage.

For more Turbulence Spotlights, please visit http://turbulence.org/spotlight