Pip Shea
 

ANYCAST
 
ANYCAST at ISEA 2009 Belfast

Developed for the 2009 International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA), ANYCAST embodied the energy of groups and their capacity to contribute their under used energy, or 'spare cycles' to enable others.

ANYCAST was a free, ad-hoc mesh wifi network. To access the network, users offered a thought in 140 characters or less. This thought stream was displayed in a screen-based installation. The strength of the network came from the support of individuals and organisations willing to share their unused bandwidth. The more participation, the stronger the network, the greater the creative output.

The crowd is self-organising and breeding new levels of altruism. They are designing and building new ways of doing things by extending existing systems to meet their needs and interests. ANYCAST signified the power of the crowd and its ability to invoke large-scale action.

 
 
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