1 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:06,640 Hello everyone and thank you for having me. 2 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:09,440 My name is Simon Weckert. 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:22,860 I'm a Berlin-based artist and in the beginning of the year I did a project which is called Google Maps Hacks, which got a lot of attention in social media, in the news, on television. 4 00:00:23,620 --> 00:00:33,700 And today I would like to give you a short introduction and a short insight about the project, what was my motivation, what is the technique behind. 5 00:00:33,820 --> 00:00:44,880 And before I gonna start with that, I would like to play a short video of the project, especially for the ones which don't know what I'm talking about. 6 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:45,680 So before I start, just a short introduction to myself, what is my background. 7 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:58,520 I studied art at the University of Art in Berlin and there I was much more interested into digital computing, coding, electronics. 8 00:02:59,140 --> 00:03:04,640 And that's actually also, I would say, what I learned and that's also what I'm interested in. 9 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:19,780 So basically in my artworks or in the topics I'm dealing with, I'm super interested in how technology influences, how technology shapes our society. 10 00:03:20,340 --> 00:03:29,160 So one of my, let's say, sentence I'm always kind of following is that at first we shape our tools and then they shape us. 11 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,380 At some point I truly believe in that. 12 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:44,620 For example, how it shapes our language when we talk to each other, but also of course how it shapes mobility, how we move in a city, how we interact in society and so on by technology. 13 00:03:45,320 --> 00:04:13,980 And those are basically some leading questions and topics what I'm trying to understand and to follow and basically also make people aware of it, what technology means to us, what technology means to society and also make topics specific related to technology, 14 00:04:13,980 --> 00:04:22,660 let's say, open or understandable for people which are not so familiar with it. 15 00:04:23,300 --> 00:04:37,080 So therefore, one of these projects or one of the performances I did was the so-called Google Maps Hacks in the beginning of the year. 16 00:04:38,100 --> 00:05:00,340 And as you have seen in the video, what I did was basically I used a red wagon, which is actually made for for children, and I used 99 smartphones, put them into the wagon and was carrying those wagons behind me in the streets of Berlin. 17 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:10,020 The special thing about it was that on the smartphones there were Android smartphones, basically Google smartphones. 18 00:05:10,220 --> 00:05:22,340 There was also Google Maps running on it, but I will come to that specific point later on because it might be possible that some of you are interested in how this technique behind works. 19 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:44,940 But anyway, so basically I was carrying those 99 smartphones behind me in the streets of Berlin and by doing so I was able to generate and virtual traffic on Google Maps service or basically in the navigation tool of Google Maps. 20 00:05:45,940 --> 00:05:53,800 So I got the idea for the performance during the 1st of May demonstration in Berlin. 21 00:05:54,020 --> 00:06:13,120 Basically every year in Berlin, on the 1st of May, there are huge protests and basic demonstrations in the city of namely Kreuzberg and Neukölln, where people are going outside in the streets and fighting, protesting for their labour rights. 22 00:06:13,140 --> 00:06:36,660 And I think it was like three years ago when I went to one of those protests and during that time I checked my smartphone, also in that sense the application Google Maps, and then I realized that in that time that there were a lot of traffic in the streets of Berlin or in that area where the protests were going on. 23 00:06:36,940 --> 00:06:55,240 And then I thought like, oh wow, actually interesting that there is virtual traffic on Google Maps right now, because in fact right now there is no car at all on the street, there are just people walking alongside the street. 24 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:05,780 And then I thought like, wow, that's actually quite interesting to me to see how Google is generating this virtual traffic. 25 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,940 And I thought like, might it be possible to reproduce that kind of effect? 26 00:07:10,940 --> 00:07:19,120 And it was for me quite clear that I don't need, let's say, a lot of people walking alongside the street. 27 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:26,660 Actually what I need is their smartphones to generate something similar to this. 28 00:07:26,660 --> 00:07:41,500 So this was basically the beginning for me to start, or when it was starting to grow, to think of, okay, can I reproduce something like that by myself? 29 00:07:42,380 --> 00:07:48,680 This was then the point where everything started to think about, okay, how can I reproduce it? 30 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:59,420 And then the whole journey began for me like, what do I need for that? 31 00:08:00,820 --> 00:08:09,460 For example, do I need for each smartphone one SIM card, or could it also work with some kind of hotspot? 32 00:08:09,460 --> 00:08:24,620 It means that multiple smartphones are connected to one smartphone, and does it mean that this could also work, that Google believes or thinks that, okay, there are, let's say, 10 smartphones, but in fact they are all connected to one SIM card. 33 00:08:25,660 --> 00:08:34,040 So that was basically a lot of backward-forward processes and tests going on. 34 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:38,560 I mean, for me, the biggest thing was actually to get smartphones in general. 35 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:43,820 I thought it might be quite easy to get second-hand smartphones, but in the end, I figured out it's actually not that easy. 36 00:08:43,820 --> 00:08:54,860 Especially, I mean, when I was in Germany, I couldn't find, let's say, providers which offered them cheap, where you could basically buy them. 37 00:08:55,220 --> 00:09:04,920 So what I did was, in the end, I asked a lot of friends if they could rent me their smartphone for one day. 38 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:13,540 And I also got a pretty good contract to an official smartphone rental station, where you can rent a smartphone for one day. 39 00:09:13,740 --> 00:09:19,920 And then this was basically the way how I got 99 smartphones. 40 00:09:19,980 --> 00:09:29,420 99 in that sense also stands for the Occupy movement in New York. 41 00:09:29,420 --> 00:09:35,820 And of course, there's also a link to the Jay-Z song 99 Problems. 42 00:09:35,820 --> 00:09:46,200 And so, for me, it was actually after I figured out, okay, actually, this hack also works with less smartphones. 43 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:57,280 For me, it was pretty much only a question, okay, I need basically some kind of number which is, you know, getting somehow rememberable or notable in social media. 44 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,680 And that was the reason why I came up with 99 smartphones. 45 00:10:00,860 --> 00:10:06,920 So there's, for example, here an important fact is that you don't need 99 smartphones. 46 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,200 It can also work, for example, with 50. 47 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:19,420 And I have always also seen people, let's say copycats on YouTube, and they use 20-25 smartphones. 48 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:32,340 So therefore, here it makes sense to point out that it's basically the question where you want to produce virtual traffic. 49 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:34,040 So to me, it looks like this. 50 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:51,980 You can use less smartphones to produce virtual traffic when you're, let's say, on the countryside compared to when you're in the city with the potential that, let's say, cars are passing by where you're going to carry the wagon with the smartphones behind you. 51 00:10:51,980 --> 00:10:56,620 Then it seems to make sense to have more smartphones in the wagon. 52 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:02,320 So that's actually what I learned or basically what I figured out during my test phase. 53 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:18,380 And so, yeah, basically, then for me, it was like, okay, what I learned is, okay, let's say to produce something like this in Berlin, I learned that I need around 50. 54 00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:31,880 But then, of course, it also came to my mind, basically, I would like to place that somehow, let's say, in the social media, I would like to have some kind of, let's say, that people remember that. 55 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,340 And that was the reason why I came up with 99. 56 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,300 So what was my main motivation behind the project? 57 00:11:42,300 --> 00:11:48,800 So I would say that there are multiple reasons or motivations behind them. 58 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:56,820 But I think like one of them, probably the biggest one is the map in general, in that sense, the digital map. 59 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:04,580 And let's say the paradigm change, compared to analog maps, which we had back in the days. 60 00:12:04,780 --> 00:12:22,040 So I mean, imagine that probably if you ask somebody, think about the map, then I would say that for 80 or 90% of the people, what pops pops out in their mind is probably a digital map, for example, Google Maps, right? 61 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,980 But this wasn't always like this, of course. 62 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,140 And like back in the days, we had analog printed maps. 63 00:12:29,140 --> 00:12:34,400 And those maps have been shaped, those maps have been produced. 64 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:43,140 And those maps have been, of course, let's say, controlled and manipulated as well, by most of the time states and military. 65 00:12:43,220 --> 00:12:49,460 So they used it for specific purposes, they use it for an instrument to argue. 66 00:12:49,500 --> 00:12:56,120 And I mean, of course, they use it, for example, to divide countries to divide areas. 67 00:12:56,120 --> 00:13:03,360 And yeah, basically, they have been used as an instrument for powerful control. 68 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:27,620 And well, regarding this, and having a look at the maps we have today, I thought, okay, actually something is going on here, which basically I see as a paradigm change, in case of regards to the, let's say, power to the control to the influence of those maps, 69 00:13:27,620 --> 00:13:31,820 which means that back in the days, we had the military, we had the state. 70 00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:39,500 And now we have pretty much more, I would say private companies, which are defining how those maps looks like. 71 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:50,780 And this to me generates, of course, questions like, okay, we have these maps as digital maps, but then where does those standard comes from? 72 00:13:50,780 --> 00:13:52,780 How transparent is the system? 73 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,920 How can I, as a user of those maps, shape it? 74 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,800 Especially also, let's say, also as well, how can I manipulate it? 75 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:07,640 And how open is the system, especially from a democratic point of view, right? 76 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:19,500 So in that sense, I think it's worth it to have a closer look what digital maps, especially Google Maps, means to us these days. 77 00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:27,960 And also, yeah, how I think it's shaping, how it's influencing our everyday life. 78 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:41,800 So the advent of Google's GeoTool began in 2005 with Maps Earth and followed by Street View in 2007. 79 00:14:42,260 --> 00:14:49,140 And they have since become enormously more technology advanced. 80 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:53,900 Google's virtual maps have little in common with classical analog maps. 81 00:14:53,900 --> 00:15:00,340 The most significant difference is that Google Maps are interactive, scrollable, searchable, and zoomable. 82 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:12,820 And Google's map services has fundamentally changed our understanding of what a map is, how we interact with maps, their technology limitation, and how they look aesthetically. 83 00:15:12,820 --> 00:15:17,280 So in this fashion, Google Maps makes virtual changes to the real city. 84 00:15:17,580 --> 00:15:27,740 Applications such as Airbnb and car sharing have an immense impact on cities, on the housing market and mobility culture, for instance. 85 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:47,060 There's also a major impact on how we find a romantic partner thanks to a dating platform such as Tinder and on our self-quantifying behavior thanks to the Nike Jogging app or map-based food delivery apps like Deliveroo or Foodura. 86 00:15:47,820 --> 00:15:55,880 All of these apps function via interfaces with Google Maps and create new forms of digital capitalism. 87 00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:07,240 And without these maps, car sharing systems, new taxi apps, bike rental systems, and online transport agency services such as Uber would be unthinkable. 88 00:16:07,540 --> 00:16:11,500 An additional mapping market is provided by self-driving cars. 89 00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:15,080 And again, Google has already established a position for itself. 90 00:16:15,740 --> 00:16:23,380 With its GeoTools, Google has created a platform that allows users and businesses to interact with maps in a novel way. 91 00:16:23,380 --> 00:16:28,960 This means that questions relating to power and the discourse of category have to be reformulated. 92 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:37,620 But what is the relation between the art of enabling and techniques of supervision, control, and regulation in Google Maps? 93 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:48,420 Do these maps function as a dispositive net that determines the behavior, opinions, and images of living beings exercising power and controlling knowledge? 94 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:54,720 So as an example, think about protest demonstrations in a city. 95 00:16:55,160 --> 00:17:06,500 So let's say, I think the main purpose for demonstrations or protests is to interrupt the everyday life of people living in a city, right? 96 00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:10,100 So when you go to the street, you're going to block the street. 97 00:17:10,140 --> 00:17:21,960 And that means you would like to interrupt their daily, let's say, business and to make them aware of something, what you're fighting for, what you're protesting for. 98 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:28,280 So let's imagine that we have a navigation system like Google Maps. 99 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:44,200 That means that cars and, let's say, tourists in cars, people living in the city, driving in the city are getting rerouted around that demonstration because of this navigation system. 100 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:53,700 Because the navigation system is saying you, yeah, actually there is some traffic in front of you, so I'm going to show you a better route to your destination. 101 00:17:53,760 --> 00:18:05,440 But what happened then is that you in a car, sitting in a car, driving in a car, you will never get aware of what happened there in front of you into the street. 102 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:16,920 Like basically what happened there, let's say, when people, let's say, farmers are protesting for better milk prices or so on and so on. 103 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:28,400 So you will never get to know actually what's going on there because you will actually not get that there are people protesting there in front of you. 104 00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:56,400 And that, for me, is actually a kind of, let's say, dangerous effect because that means that, therefore, it's somehow cutting one of our democratic tools we have, which is basically the democratic or the protest culture, the demonstration culture, where we are able to go out and say something out and I think there I see a kind of danger what, 105 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,200 let's say, Google needs to work on to 106 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:13,740 basically implement this and that into their cities that even if you are getting re-routers that you already get some kind of indication why you are basically getting re-routed. 107 00:19:13,740 --> 00:19:22,040 So is it because of a traffic or might it be possible there is, for example, a demonstration going on and if there is a demonstration going on, what kind of demonstration is it? 108 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:35,200 So I think that's, for example, a pretty interesting, let's say, side effect which comes up when we gonna use tools like Google Maps. 109 00:19:38,450 --> 00:20:02,170 Another effect that comes with Google Maps and servers, especially with the traffic feature, is that imagine that there is a highway and there is a traffic, then the navigation system tells me, okay, I found a shorter, faster route around it and therefore you will get getting re-routed, 110 00:20:02,170 --> 00:20:22,210 for example, to a smaller city or let's say an area with smaller streets and that actually creates or could create much more traffic compared to, let's wait 20 minutes, 30 minutes until this traffic got solved. 111 00:20:22,210 --> 00:20:40,030 So basically what happened is, and that's a quite interesting, for me a quite interesting friction, what I see there between, let's say, those digital tools and the analog world, is that, for example, our cities, our streets, most of the time they are not made for a huge amount of, 112 00:20:40,030 --> 00:20:42,730 let's say, cars, right? 113 00:20:42,830 --> 00:21:06,790 And when we gonna use these navigation systems and we gonna get re-routed by those navigation systems through, let's say, smaller cities, that means that the amount of cars which are getting re-routed are actually creating much more traffic in that area because this area is actually not made for that many cars. 114 00:21:06,790 --> 00:21:27,730 So therefore for me it means that actually it needs to be also something implemented into these services that is also basically realizing, okay, this route actually makes sense to you, but it also realizes that when it's gonna send, let's say, 100 cars there, 115 00:21:27,730 --> 00:21:48,910 then it actually will create much more traffic or it will create much more, let's say, problems in that area compared to, say, okay, look, just basically wait 20-30 minutes and this might be better, might be faster for you instead of going to link around it. 116 00:21:54,060 --> 00:22:12,260 So these are just a few examples where I think that digital maps will shape our, let's say, how we move, how we interact, for example, in urban space, in a city and in the near future. 117 00:22:12,820 --> 00:22:35,760 And, I mean, maybe as another example, as a last example, I would like to give you also, let's say, for, let's say, kind of a future view is that, as we all know, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Go in the background is also using Google Maps services to locate, basically, 118 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,320 to locate Pokemons in the area where you are. 119 00:22:39,500 --> 00:23:06,420 And there are reports that are saying that there is a cooperation between, for example, restaurants or some kind of, let's say, businesses and Pokemon Go talking to each other through the Google Maps service to means that, for example, McDonald's talked to Pokemon Go to tell them like, 120 00:23:06,420 --> 00:23:14,960 yeah, look, could you probably place pretty raw Pokemons in front of our store? 121 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:29,260 Of course, with the main motivation that the users of those applications will probably have a look or go into the store once they are standing in front of it. 122 00:23:29,540 --> 00:23:38,300 So, therefore, we see that it's not just like this that we are gonna using Google Maps, as we know it, in an application. 123 00:23:38,300 --> 00:23:52,320 It actually also lies behind of a lot of services and it's gonna be used by, let's say, a lot of, yeah, things we probably use every day or like, you know, post delivery. 124 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,720 I mean, police is using it. 125 00:23:54,720 --> 00:24:00,900 And, of course, as I already mentioned, specific delivery services and so on. 126 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:20,080 So, therefore, I see a lot of, let's say, yeah, control and power influence by Google when we are talking about like how these tools shaping our everyday life. 127 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:33,200 So, this was pretty much more, let's say, my motivation and what I was interested in in this project. 128 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:45,960 And now I would like to give you a short insight of what happened when I published the project and basically, let's say, the afterglow of it. 129 00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:50,540 And probably also maybe some kind of stuff like how it went viral and so on. 130 00:24:50,580 --> 00:25:07,080 So, the thing is or one important, I think, what I think why it went so viral was one important fact is that I published the project one week before the 15th birthday of Google Maps. 131 00:25:07,380 --> 00:25:30,240 So, I was aware of that probably a lot of or that was quite clear for me that a lot of journalists and newspapers, they will write about the Google Maps birthday and they will write about something like, okay, this service has a lot of influence in our everyday life and how it shaped and so on and so on our everyday life. 132 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:44,800 And I wanted also to give those journalists and newspapers, let's say, another view about this service and also somehow, let's say, show them the downside of it. 133 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:58,340 And that was the reason why I published this project one week before the birthday, so that they basically could took it into their articles and to write about it. 134 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:13,600 And that was also basically the whole journey, because after I published it, I got like so many interviews and yeah, well, basically had to write a lot of emails and so on and so on. 135 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:33,500 And this was actually for me quite a long, long learning process, like how to deal with the media and also, let's say, how to make it, let's say, as easy and understandable as possible for a wider audience. 136 00:26:34,140 --> 00:26:59,100 And let's say, one of the most, let's say, the question that I got most was that if Google basically wrote me or got in contact with me, and that's not the case, but they gave a statement, I think it was in the Guardian, where they said, where Google's spokesperson said, 137 00:26:59,100 --> 00:27:11,160 whether we are car or cart or camel, we love to see creative users of Google Maps, as it helps us to make maps work better over time. 138 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:30,180 And so I think they took it in a kind of sporty way and basically now, I guess, they are trying to work on it, that this kind of, let's say, hack doesn't happen in the future. 139 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:53,740 I personally think that they might not be able to fix that because, for example, what I did to, let's say, trick the algorithm was that I was simulating some kind of stop and go behavior with the wagon. 140 00:27:53,740 --> 00:28:16,100 That means that I was carrying the wagon behind me and from time to time I was running, then I was basically standing there, going slower and then basically I had this kind of, let's say, unregular rhythm during I was walking in the street of Berlin. 141 00:28:16,220 --> 00:28:36,900 And what I also did was that I also spent sometimes half an hour or also 40 minutes at one place and basically was, you know, working forward, backward on one spot, especially, for example, in front of the Google headquarters in Berlin. 142 00:28:37,620 --> 00:28:53,580 So, therefore, I think I'm not sure if they are able to track something like this because when they are able to track some kind of behavior, then it also means that, for example, demonstrational protests might be not being tracked by Google. 143 00:28:53,580 --> 00:29:13,540 So, basically, I think there are then... there's basically this kind of a problem for them because when they are saying they're gonna solve these kind of bugs, it also means that they probably cannot be... they will not be able to, let's say, track a lot of people walking alongside the street, 144 00:29:13,540 --> 00:29:15,680 like protests, for example. 145 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:27,000 So, therefore, I'm curious to see if Google will solve this problem in the future and for sure I will do another test, maybe this year, maybe next year. 146 00:29:27,820 --> 00:29:43,500 And, yeah, well, I think what's worth it to mention is that as we know that usually these kind of bugs, I mean, of course, we can debate it if it is basically a hack or a bug or not, but of course it's somehow, I would say, let's say, a problem which they have to solve, 147 00:29:43,500 --> 00:29:44,140 right? 148 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:56,200 But when, I would say, especially in this techie world, if somebody finds this kind of bugs, right, then they're gonna deal with it in a much more, let's say, behind-the-curtain situation, right? 149 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:05,460 So, basically, a broader audience will not notice something or basically will never get, let's say, in touch with something like that. 150 00:30:05,700 --> 00:30:25,260 And I think what this performance I did makes it unique is that I was using, let's say, a technique or, let's say, a metaphor story which is, like, super easy to understand for everybody, even if he or she is not familiar with this, let's say, technology in a way. 151 00:30:25,420 --> 00:30:40,780 Because, you know, everybody knows Google Maps and therefore, I guess, most of them also basically use those navigation systems and they can highly imagine how this kind of, basically, hack could work, right? 152 00:30:40,780 --> 00:30:47,300 Because you have to say that to generate virtual traffic, there are multiple ways. 153 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:56,020 So, I also came across with software or, basically, with an idea of to write a program, like a little application to do that. 154 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:11,730 But then I thought, yeah, actually, like, for to make it understandable and to, yeah, to make it readable for a broader audience, it needs to be, let's say, easier in a way to to read. 155 00:31:12,090 --> 00:31:21,410 Because, of course, I mean, most of the people, let's say, a lot of people, they , for them, algorithms and this kind of stuff is actually too abstract to understand. 156 00:31:21,730 --> 00:31:34,550 So, and that was the main reason why I thought, okay, it needs another technique, it needs another, let's say, yeah, story to, or method to tell the story. 157 00:31:35,030 --> 00:31:52,050 And this was also the reason why I've chosen the Redragon with the smartphones in it and not taking the way by to write an, yeah, to write an algorithm, to write an application, just doing that from here. 158 00:31:53,670 --> 00:31:55,510 So, I think that's it. 159 00:31:55,730 --> 00:31:57,930 I will end my presentation here. 160 00:31:57,930 --> 00:32:04,830 I hope it gives you a bit of an insight about the moderation and why I did the project. 161 00:32:05,450 --> 00:32:09,850 And I am happy to, yeah, for Q&A in the chat. 162 00:32:09,870 --> 00:32:11,030 And, yeah, see you later. 163 00:32:11,030 --> 00:32:12,070 Have a great day.