‘Mind and Mindlessness of the Machine’ is a critical interpretation, catalogue, and translation of the dirty data found within the OCR translated plain text files of Hasluck’s ‘Book of Photography’ (1905), intended to give life to the data that would ordinarily be overlooked. Taking the form of a dictionary, the act of translating computer jargon back into English is intended to challenge the original assumptions of the corpus. Accident becomes deliberation, tool becomes author, and that which is assumed to be objective and void of influence gains a mind.
With an intent to humanise the machine, the data deliberately takes a physical form, with attributes striking a balance between that which is assumed human and mechanical. Phonetic readings hint towards spoken language and a voice, and a gradation in fleshy tones assigns a sense of humanity and a subtle hint of life to the dialogue.
Ultimately, while the dictionary functions as an aid in translating and understanding the original plain text file of The Book of Photography, it also tasks the reader with a choice. The publication ends with a single sentence written in this new language (a hybrid line of human and OCR words). It reads: “remove and retouch their portrait, for it is not dissimilar to our own”--. It is a cue to re-frame the contribution of the machine; to discard assumptions of objectivity.
With an intent to humanise the machine, the data deliberately takes a physical form, with attributes striking a balance between that which is assumed human and mechanical. Phonetic readings hint towards spoken language and a voice, and a gradation in fleshy tones assigns a sense of humanity and a subtle hint of life to the dialogue.
Ultimately, while the dictionary functions as an aid in translating and understanding the original plain text file of The Book of Photography, it also tasks the reader with a choice. The publication ends with a single sentence written in this new language (a hybrid line of human and OCR words). It reads: “remove and retouch their portrait, for it is not dissimilar to our own”--. It is a cue to re-frame the contribution of the machine; to discard assumptions of objectivity.
