Ethical Considerations: The thesis presents the three main threads of thought regarding terraforming – that we should because it is there and man – superior to all other forms of life – wants challenges; that we should not since we are not superior to other forms of life and have no right; and the middle position – that we should be able to terraform Mars only if we clean up our act on Earth first. This is the point of view taken by the author of the thesis.
5 Ways Mars Can Kill You: the essay portion of the thesis is an overview of the research regarding the main obstacles to terraforming Mars and potential solutions.
Storyboard: Depicts the ethical efforts one must achieve before traveling to Mars as well as the process of terraforming – all images in chronological order.
Graphics: A series of Illustrator/Photoshop graphics moves the reader through the problems we have here on Earth that must be solved before terraforming, the process of getting to Mars and the activities involved in making her inhabitable for man.
WIKI: The WIKI showcases thesis material in a more interactive manner. JavaScript animations run throughout the WIKI and the user is able to create posts within the website – which acts as a forum.
A friend of mine once told me that coding is like doing magic, and frankly, I am inclined to agree. With a keyboard, a development environment, and a little bit of language skill, you can build an entire world. Despite being heavily rooted in logic, math, and science, there is a certain mystery to it, a sense of illusion and wizardry. The sense of pride and power that comes from successfully finishing an app, program, or website is like no other. I recently watched the film Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) for the first time, and I was struck by one of the lines. In thinking about the success of his creation and what that means for the world, he says, “I’m not a man, I’m God.” And although I wouldn’t say that is exactly how I feel when I turn in a coding assignment, I understand the sentiment. This thesis is going to be a bit different than the one I thought I was going to write. When I started this, I thought it would be about an amazing coding project I had completed. I would write about all the beautiful code and the nitty gritty of the technical aspects. But, the project that I intended to create is not the project I ended up with, and I couldn’t be happier. I finished with something a lot more meaningful, a lot more interdisciplinary, and a lot more me. In this essay and the accompanying coding project, I aim to take you on the journey of building my own piece of digital culture, an app titled “Exposed.” I begin by discussing how the motivation to create Exposed came from the desire to stop using an app made by an internet celebrity and how the values of Gen Z and their relationship with technology influenced and guided the creation of the app. Then I examine the relationship between code and the coder, and how external factors such as being a woman in technology impacts project development. Then I explain the results of the coding process and outline how Exposed turned out. Finally, I consider the meaning of digital culture and how it functions in the creation of Exposed. Along the way this project became extremely personal. I found that the deeper I dove into making the code work, the more I learned about myself and my relationship to technology. If I promise to be honest with you, will you promise to listen to what I have to say?
In accordance with the practices of Digital Culture, Chrononaut Canyon is an interactive art experience that demonstrates how digital design practices can influence change, and innovative solutions to global problems. Digital Culture is defined as the arts, tools, customs, and values of the digital world and how they interact and overlap with the physical world. As computerization and technological innovations rapidly increase and permeate into everyday life and the physical world, the need to understand the role of digital tools becomes imperative in designing solutions to global problems. This includes using digital technology and design as communication tools to aid in the awareness of global problems, such as climate change and environmental degradation, in order to create sustainable solutions whilst embracing the twenty-first century’s digital culture.