EXPERIMENTATION LOG — Writing a quiz

Aim

More or less similar to my last experiment (name generator meme).

How might I provide a framework for generative participation to enter/transport others into this cyborg/witch world?

How might I create a quiz as a inviting, interactive object/activity to bring people into this cyborg witch world? 

Precedents / context

The idea of a quiz came from Diana in one of the group critiques (around the ID cards), as a possible way to bring participation into my methods. I was interested in participatory methods at the time, and while this isn't generative I think it's a fun experiment. These personality quizzes always remind me of girls'/womens' magazines, which I love, but usually sit within prescribed definitions and boundaries of (feminine) identity. Working instead in the "other" bodies and identities of the cyborg and witch from my research hopefully starts to subvert these expectations and categories.

I think the quiz also offered a space to explore the characterisation of the cyborg-witch people/entities more deeply. I'd essentially have to construct different personas through giving them different answers and preferences to the questions of the quiz.

I looked at/drew inspiration from some online quizzes I had done recently, and also some I'd worked on before in Queer Vertigo.

Process / methods

• I started by building on the narrative that started to form around the ID cards — Cyborg Witches as shoplifters of time, living a life of identity theft/criminal activity. This direction/storytelling method felt like there was still something interesting and unexplored here, and the quiz presented a fun means through which to generate this narrative. 

• Cyborgs/witches-as-criminals is a really fun premise? thought experiment? for me. It works well as a parallel for the cyborg/witch-as-rebel-body, but with a more specific narrative element. I wasn't sure where to start with the quiz at all, and this seemed like an interesting way in. 

• The questions/answers came from this line of thinking, and also the typical girly, stock questions content from teen/womens' magazines. E.g. Variations on: What are you doing this Saturday night? What do you never leave home without? I found that either the questions and their answers, or the unexpected answers in response to common questions would work together to subvert convention. 

• Some of it built on the experiments and thinking I had done already, like the other-entity illustrations and their eye-configurations, or the gif shrine I made in Hubs. 

Which Witch R U?

Choose a crime to mastermind against the colonial patriarchal network

Shoplifting for more Time. They don’t deserve it !!!

Scamming, pyramid schemes… 

Identification Fraud, gotta make sure they don’t catch me n my 

Vandalism… with hidden messages to leave a breadcrumb trail to the Coven 

You’re on the run ! From the Time Cops. You have 1 min to pack ur bag and dash, what are the essentials?

Lipgloss and black market casssh

Ur top secret journal with all your takedown plans

Snacks for the road, stashed in all your hidden gadget pockets

The Coven is hooking up at 2200. What’s in the background of your VideoCall?

All your plant otherlings and pickling jars for your alternate limbs

A glitch .gif shrine to all the cyborg witches that inspire you

You’re in bed already, surrounded by squishy plushies for company

It’s a ssaturday nite. Where are u taking yourself?

Into ur personal lair. Ssaturday nites are for gathering data and plotting the next heist.

Printing on some lippie+blush to emerge from ur crypt and go float with my girlz

They’re doing a retina scan at the gate. How’re your retinas looking 2day? 

Ugh I hate those things do they expect me to scan all 17 of my eyeballs?

Hot. I got those new glitchy falsies to mess with the reading

Ur having a totally crap day. How do you cheer ur aura up?

• I had written what I thought was a decent part of it, started to think about the answers as building characters, tapping into certain archetypes of femininity and either embodying it or pulling in criminal activity to subvert it.

• Thought I could also use the quiz to play with more generative tools, rather than thinking up all the options myself. Ali mentioned Talk to Transformer when we spoke, which is a AI tool that searches the internet for adjacent content based on the text you input. It generates output word-by-word, resulting in somewhat coherent blocks of text. Seemed very easy, and I want to keep myself surprised in these experiments, so generative methods are something I do want to explore more.  https://talktotransformer.com/

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• Most of the inputs where the questions + answers I had so far from the quiz, to generate similar content. I tried putting in some "names" from the name-generator-meme as well, to see what I would get. Some of the code-inspired input (e.g. Humanoid++, <aura>) would generate similar content in its spelling/punctuation conventions, which was sometimes interesting and sometimes nonsensical. 

• I screenshot some of my favourite output-configurations. Some of them also incorporated different languages — I google translated some latin (Salvia facit saltum — Saves the forest! (very witchy)), and a block of text that seems to have similarities with Estonian (or could just be gibberish)? 

• Copying and pasting outputs that resonated, I finished filling out the answers for the quiz. I was aiming for 6+ questions, and at least 4 answers i.e. 4 cyborg-witch characters. I didn't go so far as to flesh out the identities and personalities of each "character" — just tried to think of 4 relatively distinct answers to the questions. 

Which Witch R U?

Choose a crime to mastermind against the colonial patriarchal network

Shoplifting for more Time. They don’t deserve it !!!
Scams, Pyramid Schemes… We’re building an empire here. 
Identification Fraud, gotta make sure they don’t catch me n my gang 
Vandalism… with hidden messages to leave a encrypted trail to the Coven 

Choose a crime to mastermind against the colonial patriarchal network.

- Shoplifting for more Time. They don’t deserve it !!!

- Raising a bunch of chickens for some expression of that odd instinctual interaction with the laws of nature. Now will be some fun !

- Entertain the Boss with a web page.

- Dress up as the world's luckiest beggar, so he can choose a mid-size supply of Tylenol.

- Gather Rifles to use against his Puppy Dogs.

- The good-spirit lady will transport you somewhere in her car in order to fulfill your ocular requirements.

- Are you an action-hero ????

This is what we have done so far.

One player can take on the role of a vengeful vigilante as they dig for clues through the home and the historical records to uncover the inner workings of the Illuminati.

Another can be the vengeful businessman as they create a slippery web of blame as they try to kill the conspirators and thwart their plans.

Beneath the veneer of order lies a number of unresolved mysteries, the full details of which will only be uncovered by each player taking a turn at masterminding.

"A satirical homage to the latest in FBI fantasy."

https://

Conspiracy, corruption. They got our secrets, we can never trust them

Despite jealousy, resentment and hatred, we believe we can trust our neighbors.

They look out for their own… right?! Wrong.

It's time to fight back. "  Babs Yacon Gardner

What's needed is more people who  can keep  it

The inside of the box. It might have diamonds inside.

You'll see, but not if I tell you.

Finest, ultra collectible, artisan stuff.

Contact me for full details on shipping fees or other special requests.

Barcode:

Scoundrels try to give you a dress with magic effects… Pay to steal

Blackmail, anonymous information… you know the drill .

When children ’play a devil on their side,’ they become our devil… the omen of death.

Compelling compelling villains is also what starts our mythos.

Narrative Is the key. We need a good story to tell.

Covert Operation… KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR VIOLENT REVENGE

Scanner Shortcuts

– Hallucinations

– Chatter, hallucinations

– Multiple [Spoken][Signs/Notes]

– Ambient [Can be used while hostile]

– Sounds, like unident

You’re on the run ! From the Time Cops. You have 1 min to pack ur bag and dash, what are the essentials?

Lipgloss and market casssh
Ur top secret journal with all your takedown plans
Snacks for the road, stashed in all your hidden gadget pockets
Photoalbums
Extra batteries? Charging cables/ports/backup generator? Office on the run
Code scrambler so they cant catch u

You’re on the run ! From the Time Cops. You have 1 min to pack ur bag and dash, what are the essentials? A Laptop — you don't want to be trapped inside a room with a laptop on your lap! What do you pack? Camera, Visor, charger, Scrambler. If you don't want to fight the cackling Time Police, pack a mouse and bag of Scrambles. Also in your bag? Flashlight and lens protector, Bandana.

Your only weapon: A pair of black-rimmed glasses

Stranded in a time-travel penitentiary, time-travelling hero Clockpunk finds himself fighting for his life against the clock, and his attempt to return

Unlock all other super criminals in the world in a super heroic story that mirrors the I Wanna Play featuring famous stars from TV's Gotham and America's Most Wanted. With all new cutscenes, making of footage, behind the scenes footage and hours of gold coins.You have to survive years with the smugglers risking everything as you travel in the wildest and most dangerous part of the United States. Wanting to have some

The Coven is hooking up at 2200. What’s in the background of your VideoCall?

All your plant otherlings and pickling jars for your alternate limbs
A glitch .gif shrine to all the cyborg witches that inspire you
You’re in bed already, surrounded by squishy plushies for company
A greenscreen to aid the cross-screen-dimension-at-home spell casting
Something hidden/mysterious/those greenscreens

All week you've been talking about the evils of urban legends, and now it's an operation that's making the rounds online

The Morning Sickness »

There's only one possible explanation for this: what's in that bottle is a portal to hell!

Your DOOMed unit reads the splash screen, then instantly unleashes its No!…

In a panic you've

When you first tap on her that does it

panda bellows

rabbit noises

What’s in the Background of your VideoCall?

All your de-facto magnets: puns, self-aware jokes and obscure references for future tailors

A haiku about the coming death of the patriarchy

Your IRL refrigerator with the Halo n

Question Answer: As this is the Secret Garden, where are the weed things?

All you inhabitants of The Garden would be sequestered in each of these "quarters" so the Fallen Angel could remain unseen.

Question Answer: [Archive] That music makes me feel queasy. Can it be removed from MySpace?

You are profaning one of the few sacred places left

It’s a ssaturday nite. Where are u taking yourself?

Into ur personal lair. Ssaturday nites are for gathering data and plotting the next heist. 
Printing on some lippie+blush skin™ to emerge from ur crypt and go float with my girlz
U think nite is just for theft? saturday nite doesn't end before the sun sets on an all nite lie. Shrouding my movements in riddles…
Downloading a body so I can go out and dance out my being in an alternate corporeal dream 

You think nite is just for theft?

saturday nite doesn't end before the sun sets on an all nite lie.

You think nite is just for theft?saturday nite doesn't end before the sun sets on an all nite lie.

im part of a satnav/stealth group...we're planning on chipping out someone's squat on Saturday night,and we

If u havent heard from me in a few days, I wll be finna dump ur grot ass out into the trash (But u can claim is a gift at your own risk). Trust me, it'll be covered up in glitter and about 10 degrees colder than a pterodactyl to be honest

If it makes you feel better, I send around a link to this thread for anyone who wants to pick

They’re doing a retina scan at the gate. How’re your retinas looking 2day? 

Ugh I hate those things do they expect me to scan all 17 of my eyeballs?
Hot. I got those new glitchy falsies to mess with the reading
I came prepared. 
Ah fuck. Cover me while I switch out my eye. I hope i brought one that still goes with this outfit

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Grow a beard, grow a little wings and be a slut for life.

Salvia facit saltum!

Post Extras:

That's terrible news. I only recently came here to read up on these that were ruined by the sandstorms that hit Colorado a couple years back. I'm especially sad that some of the fields were quite close to a water source.

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Okay, damn, this is not going the way I want, this is worse than I was anticipating.

It's either the scanner sucks, or they are taking my sight.‬

But why are they taking my sight if I haven't broken a sweat with all this?

Oh. Well that is definitely a red (magic) eye spell I see.‬

Huh? Magic eye? Why?

Ur having a totally crap day. How do you cheer ur aura up?

Burn your candles, roll those eyeballs back and imagine the downfall of your networkEnemies
Decide 2 grow a beard, grow a little wings and be a slut for life.
Feed it some auraTreatz and positive affirmations till it starts glowing again
Chat 2 a friend — ur familiar bot
movie/music 
Use the void spell 2 open it up and screem into it 

Who when witch? Why why why?"

"I got burned! I'm sorry!" Lily cut off her daughter's hysterical tantrum. Her eyes were red and tearing, and Harry couldn't hold back any longer. "But it was on purpose, I swear! I want to change this, I want to see if we're right!"

Lily's tears fell as she ran to the couch and propped herself against it. Harry watched her for a moment before deciding to grab the comforter from the side of the room, roll it over her head and wrap it around her daughter. "This is the curse, Lily," he started speaking in a hushed voice. "And it can go both ways, I don't think you

W.ho W.hen W.itch? Witch? Hou? Queer? Wim Ubee-o Wa-to WWAW You Women? You, women. Who? Who? You, women. Whom? Whom? You. Women women. Whom. Whom. Wuchu We The willowy slop, wow! Wurkly Wurkling whunga I hooeeere We're gonna get slapped, wch., and welchyd We're on the beach, wch., poolside We're goin' to lose, wch., get down, down We're getting tall, wch., head on, toadying We're bleeding, wch., you're miDDI

W.ho W.hen W.itch?w. Who Watches The Watchers? Who Watches The Watchers? Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Wherein Lies, LIES, AND MORE LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies, LIES, And More LIES Wherein Lies

Reflection on action

• The particular Talk-to-Transformer examples shown captured narrative flows and ideas that I found funny, or exciting or in line with the tone and voice I've been trying to create. It was really satisfying, seeing this cyborg-witch materiality of sorts being realised in ways I couldn't have imagined, and with minimal effort on my part. I suppose there's also an irony, or conceptual elegance in using AI to generate cyborg witch narratives, as a cyborgian extension of my mind and thoughts? 

• A quiz was something I was intimidated to construct, but also something I really wanted to explore and think through. It also seems like a fun object/artefact to speculate through. I found I lost interest towards the end, after the bot generated content. I didn't see much point in fully fleshing out the quiz, making sure the answers aligned with certain results, much less typesetting and designing it. I left it for a few days, but have now realised if I've explored what I wanted to in this experiment, I should just shelve it and move on to something that is interesting. It took on a meandering exploration, which I think I should follow instead of straighten out. 

• I talked about the deviant power of language in the meme experiment log, in expressing and distributing non-dominant, othered experiences and voices. It was interesting to notice how an AI neural network mirrored the "deviance" of the input, and outputted similar content in words, and more distinctively, spelling and punctuation. The outrageousness of some of it reminded me of Plastique Fantastique's work (n.d.), in the phonetic stresses written into the language, that automatically shifts it to a more performative text.
  
  
  "W.ho W.hen W.itch? Witch? Hou? Queer? Wim Ubee-o Wa-to WWAW You Women? You, women. Who? Who? You, women. Whom? Whom? You. Women women."

• This criminality narrative was really exciting to explore and flesh out. I think it directs the tone towards the kind of space I want to create — politically inclusive and against normativity, but in a way that is empowering and irreverent. I still think there's more to look into here — lots of delicious nuggets that I'll probably forget about so maybe I'll make a shortlist. (Fodder for more generative experiments!)

Reflection for action

Upon reflecting on this experiment after a few days, and having moved in this direction since, I think this points at the potential exploration still to be done in generative narratives and methods. The Talk-to-Transformer content almost took off and became its own thing, which maybe could be deepened and fleshed out in a follow-up experiment — materialising this more visually (grouping and "data" vis, visual narratives)?. Or perhaps built into a participatory, generative workshop format instead?

I think modelling the experiment outcome around a quiz was really helpful in setting a framework, and boundaries for operation and generation. The results went somewhat beyond that, but again, provides more interesting prompts and material for further experiments. I have since built on this narrative method in a different space (Tracery and generative poems), but this could be valuable to revisit.

References

Plastique Fantastique. (n.d.). Plastic Fantastique make new life. http://www.plastiquefantastique.org/index.html