CyberFortune not only has examined the folk culture of fortune-telling itself, but also the phenomenon of the combination of folk culture and digital culture, particularly how people’s behaviour has changed throughout the hi-tech era.
This research consists of an exegesis and a creative project. It focuses on an assumption about fortune-telling: The Internet and computers may have a mysterious power to predict something that people do not know yet. In this experiment, a net art creation is used to present this notion, which is particularly based on the tension of collaborative creation on the Internet. Hence, while users are participating in the procedure of fortune-telling, they are contributing to the net art project as well. This research project does not try to answer how accurate fortune-telling is, or attempt to interpret the meaning of its prediction, although I have studied a range of rational arguments of doing fortune-telling through the Internet.This project not only has examined the folk culture of fortune-telling itself, but also the phenomenon of the combination of folk culture and digital culture, particularly how people’s behaviour has changed throughout the hi-tech era. Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and synchronicity, and the discoveries on binary arithmetic by Leibniz are indeed ideas that have assisted me in understanding the rationality of fortune-telling, and the way of finding patterns within the Internet.
Taiwanese fortune-telling culture is embedded in traditional Taiwanese cultural activities. With science and technology rapidly developing and the capacity of the Internet constantly advancing, the culture of fortune-telling, therefore, has been transformed from a traditional figure into a new interactive platform within the Internet, and recently has formed a special occult-style creation within this scientific and technological era, which I have named Cyber Fortune.
In order to formulate the nature of fortune-telling, the calculating method of the traditional I Ching and the interpretations of its text have been applied in this project. With the application of digital content and the feature of interaction between Internet and users, a breakthrough in the sense of visualization is created. In addition, this project also attempts to integrate traditional cultural lore, the digital media logic of the computer and the Internet into an original net art project, which serves as a cyber fortune-teller and user-generated collaborative creative website.
Key terms: Cyber Fortune, Fortune-telling, Net art, Internet art, web art, collaborative creation, user-generated collaborative creative, Taiwan
The research of this project incorporates the theme of Taiwanese traditional fortune-telling practices, with the function of collaborative creation based on the internet medium. To fully realise the collaborative execution of this creation project, it will require public involvement. The website will respond to the form of the viewer/participant's engagement, thus stimulating and enticing users to participate and contribute to the project. This is a key aspect of concern in the Cyber Fortune creative project.
There is an interesting contradiction between fortune-telling and the Internet: firstly, fortune-telling is considered a traditional analog transmitter/medium, while the Internet is built based on advanced hi-tech digital logic. Secondly, fortune-telling deals with the actual social life of individuals, while by contrast, the Internet creates a virtual life for avatar beings. Furthermore, fortune-telling is particularly focused on subjective identity whereas the Internet recognizes codes and IP addresses from each computer rather than users. Although originating from ancient times, fortune-telling is a behaviour that is still actively performed within modern hi-tech society. Accordingly, the practice of fortune telling has become an indispensable basic element for constructing “interactive” net behaviour with users. While appreciating the traditional lore, one is also experiencing at the same time an alternative digital form that combines ancient and technological fortune-telling. This is the creative strategy demonstrated as an end product from this research.
The Cyber Fortune outcome of this research also attempts to practically point out how the subconscious of peoples’ minds and their inner worlds play out when using the fortune-telling service. If fortune-telling is nonsense from a scientific viewpoint, there are still lots of people who believe in its mystic powers of prediction, thus, bringing up the contradictory part of a person’s attitude trapped between “superstition” and “antitheism”. In other words, the research of this creative project utilizes a similar strategy to that of the ancient Chinese I Ching, which is based on the assumption that the issue of the Internet equals the fortune-teller’s mystic power (springing from the Chi energy of an organic machine). This assumption attempts to rationalize this superstitious behaviour from a common perspective, and at the same time adopts a perspective liberated from the superstitious beliefs of the people who use the service of fortune-telling.
1-1 The Structure The hypothesis of this research is: The net and computer (machines) can operate as a fortune-teller, utilising the power of the net, specifically collaborative interactive activity. In order to answer this hypothesis, three main research lines of enquiry have been followed: A).The relation between fortune-telling, computers and the net. B).The function of collaborative interaction across the Internet. C).The relation between fortune-telling and collaborative creation on the Internet.
Below is a chart to show the correlation between these three areas and the execution of the creative project.
(The correlation between three areas of research and the execution of the creative project. )
The relation between fortunetelling, computers and Internet To justify the notion that the internet can function as a fortune-telling’s mystic power, this project has employed the theoretical concepts of the collective unconscious and synchronicity from Carl Gustav Jung to illustrate the rational predictive power of the I Ching. And to justify the rationality between fortune-telling and computers, the relation between the I Ching and binary code has been analysed by studying Leibniz’s research on binary arithmetic. Together this research supports the rational perspective of prediction using computers and the Internet as a form of virtual consulting room.
Four kinds of net art forms can be found within the Cyber Fortune project, namely Game Art, Collaborative Creation on Internet, Non-linear Narrative, and Information Art. However, due to the correlation between the collective unconscious and collaborative creation, the form of collaborative creation on the Internet serves as a primary function in the final creative project. Following are the four characteristics of collaborative creation on the Internet, which are considered as the main function of the final creative project.
1. Playing participation: Important net art factors attract user participation. 2. The growth of the art form: the shapes of works change with users’ participation and contribution. 3. The verbality of art: Art brings experience sharing and dialogue. Art becomes a verb. 4. The transferring of Authorship: Artists become the editors of work, and users participating in the work become artists at the same time.
The relation between fortune-telling and collaborative creation on the Internet When users participate in a creative project through the form of collaborative creation, their personal unconscious and the collective unconscious are connected. Both are experiencing the same events of synchronicity at the same time. The power of collaborative creation attracts participants to contribute to the creative project, as well as for them to come back to the project time after time. This form of attraction is the most important element for a successful net art project. Hence, the outcome of this creative project is not to construct a fortune-telling website, but also a new form of artistic project, which involves individual and collaborative creation across the internet.
In this sense of collaborative creation through the Internet, the outcome of the image or totem will keep being transformed in line with the increased number of participants. In other words, each participant has an effect on the creation of the art work. However, the participants cannot predict the changes in each step of the work. Similarly, based on the assumption of fortune-telling in China, it is deemed that everything in the world is impacted by each other (Zhou Jian Nan 2005). For example, a person who is somehow connected with ‘certain people’, every thing that he or she has done will have an impact on those ‘certain people’ in some way. The destiny that governs the individual also has an influence on others. In short, both the collaborative creation and people’s destiny are in the same way based on the perception of an outcome which keeps changing itself through people’s participation.
1-2 The Contents in Brief The Exegesis consists of three sections. Section I (Chapter 1 to Chapter 3) begins with an introduction of the entire research, followed by the thematic study of fortune-telling culture. Section II (Chapter 4 and Chapter 5) introduces the category of net art. Section III (Chapter 6) records the creative process and concept idea of the creative project, ending with the conclusion of the entire research.
The first chapter describes the structure of the entire research: it points out the relation between fortune-telling and the Internet, collaborative creation on the Internet, and the execution of the creative project, which rationalizes the gap between net art and fortune-telling. The section on methodology sets forth the manners and strategies of cataloguing net art and fortune-telling practice. Chapter 2, in the first place, explores the rational philosophy connecting theories of collective unconscious, synchronicity, and the I Ching. Secondly, the chapter proceeds to the justification of the relation between the hexagrams of the I Ching and computer binary code by studying Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz‘s invention of binary arithmetic, together with Shao Yong’s number system of the I Ching. The research on “Mind May Affect Machines” by Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University is also another important contribution to explain the rationality and likely accuracy in attempting fortune-telling through computers. Finally, case studies of similarity issues close the contention that net and organic machines both process a seemingly mystical-like power. Chapter 3 is the last chapter of Section I, consisting of three field studies of the cultural phenomenon of fortune-telling in Taiwan, which tracks the development of fortune-telling, categories of traditional fortune-telling practices, and the contemporary fortune-telling culture in the digital era.
Chapter 4 and chapter 5 are devoted to the introduction and classification of net art, an attempt to generate a theory of appreciating net art through classifying it. It intends to help people understand and research the net art sphere. Despite the fact that net art is a kind of art form which is constantly growing and branching out, cataloguing and analysing is an ongoing process in the history of net art’s current development. In addition, collaborative creation in the net art medium is still in its beginning stage, and its environment is rather chaotic at the moment. An attempt to clear up the emerging trend toward collaboration in net art creation serves as the core concept of this research, aiming to build a new range and definition of collaborative creation based on the Internet.
The final section of the exegesis is Chapter 6, which concludes the visual outcome of the research. It explains the structural concept of the creative project, which is the user- generated collaborative creation net art site, together with an explanation of the programming behind the screen. Furthermore, this chapter examines the technical barriers within the site, and the difficulty in solving these problems within the scope of this degree, and contains a suggestion for the further work.
The methodology applied to this project is a combination of qualitative research methods; involving interpretive research and critical research, as well as utilized the qualitative research methods of case study literature and interviews. The research is divided into two parts: the conceptual theme and the technical medium. Investigation into the aesthetics of net art is part of the written section. The research on the practice of fortune-telling in Taiwan serves as the theme for the major creative project. Thereafter, a net art project is created based on the research findings. Thus, the entire research is considered as three sections, which cover the cultural background study of the theme (fortune-telling), the medium (study of net art), and the execution of the creative project (a net art site). Hence, the outcome of the creative project serves as the conclusion of the whole research.
Area of research Due to the differences in research areas between net art and fortune-telling practice in Taiwan, the research method in this research will be used in two dissimilar ways in order to reach the goal of this project. Net Art Net art is a new field in the territory of new media art. As a result, there is a lack of literature debating its content and development. Owing to the swiftness of high technology, the growth of net art is still expanding. Therefore, it is not rational to conduct this research based on study of the literature alone. Hence, I have included another two other methods to approach this research, which are doing case studies and interviewing artists and scholars.
(a) Case studies: I have searched more than a hundred net art projects around the world, from the early stages of the mid 1990s up to the present day. Following is the selection of key sites I have analysed.
◎Rhizome Website address: http://rhizome.org/ Since 1996The largest online gallery in the world for exhibiting net art projects. It has been established for a decade. Rhizome was initiated in 1996 as an on-line platform for the global new media art community; it celebrated its Tenth anniversary Festival of Art & Technology in 2006. Rhizome’s focus is primarily on Internet art.
◎Nettime
Website address: http://www.nettime.org Since 1995The mailing list is a good way to reach a large group of active cultural producers. This is an effective service for people who are interested in new media art, especially in the medium of internet. Nettime is not just a mailing list but an effort to formulate an international, networked discourse that neither promotes a dominant euphoria (to sell products) nor continues the cynical pessimism, which spread by journalists and intellectuals in the 'old' media who generalize about 'new' media with no clear understanding of their communication aspects.
◎Plug.inLocation: Albania Website address: http://welcome.weallplugin.org/ Since 1999Plug.in is an internationally oriented media art enterprise which is active in the organization of exhibitions and events. It collaborates with other institutions to develop media art projects and provides networking and mediation services to media artists. [plug.in] champions high-quality media art that makes a significant contribution to contemporary culture. On one hand, plug.in acts as a library to visitors; on the other hand, its role is like that of a gallery open to the public.
◎Whitney ArtportLocation:
New YorkWebsite address: http://artport.whitney.org/Since 2002This is the Whitney Museum's portal to net art and digital arts. It is an online gallery space for commissioned net art projects. The site consists of five major areas: The archive of “gate pages,” which functions as portals to net artists' works. The “commissions” area, which presents original net art projects commissioned by the Whitney Museum. The “exhibitions” space, which provides access to and information about current and past net art and digital arts exhibitions at the Whitney. The “resources” archive, which links to galleries, networks and museums on the Web; past net art exhibitions located in world-wide Web publications relating to net art and digital arts; as well as new media festivals. The “collection” area, which archives the works of net art and digital art in the Whitney Museum's holdings.
◎Tate onlineLocation:
LondonWebsite address: http://www.tate.org.ukSince 1998There are four existent Tate galleries located in the United Kingdom: Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St lves. Each of them has a different role to display various artworks. Tate Online is considered as Tate's 5th gallery, focusing on the exhibition of net art or digital art based on the internet medium. Tate Online offers lasting resources supporting the Tate's varied programs of exhibitions and events, and unique online activities and interactive content. Since the Tate is a well- known museum, once a net art project is announced on this website, it will be propagated to the whole environment of net art in a short while. Thus, it is one of the main places to follow the trajectory of net art circumstances.
(b).Interviews:
From the progress of literature reviews and net art projects studies, I have narrowed down a list of some artists and scholars I intend to interview, so as to collect a wide range of perspectives from practical experts and theorists. Due to the location and distance factors, most of the interviews will be conducted via the internet medium, such as email and online telephone applications, namely, Skype or Voipstunt. To fulfill the concerns of the human ethics of requirement, I have been granted the necessary ethics clearance from the University. The clearance number is: UTS HREC REF NO. 2006-167A.
(c) Popular Mailing list:
There are some online organizations which provide a public mailing list service, for example: Rhizom.org and nettime.org. Both online organizations allow people to subscribe to a public mailing list. Once people sign up for this service, they can post issues, doubts, thoughts or comments to all the members who have subscribed to the list. By the time they receive the information or issue from this service, they can replay their viewpoint back to the mailing list members. I have subscribed to the mailing list from both organizations for quite sometime. I find that both mailing lists have been helpful and useful. Hence, I will utilize the mailing lists to ask some of my questions about net art, and to get feedback from the rest of the members of the mailing lists.
In addition, Rhizom.org and nettime.org have reliable reputation in the sphere of net art. As such, people who post and respond to the issues are quite serious. Besides, the majority of the members in the mailing list are very experienced and expert in the field of net art work. For example, being a well-known software artist as well as a new media theorist, Lev Manovich has had a post about his viewpoint in Generation Flash. He has received lots of responses from the members of the mailing list (Lev Manovich 2002, p. p13). From this example, I believe that using a mailing list is an effective way of gathering information related to the field of net art from the public.
Fortune-telling practice in Taiwan There are numerous types of fortune-telling practice in the world. However, being a Taiwanese, I am very interested in the cultural aspect of fortune-telling in Taiwan. Thus, the research area of this section will focus on the fortune-telling practice in Taiwan. There are two steps in this process; namely investigating types of fortune-telling practices and interviewing fortune-tellers in Taiwan. Before I officially started this DCA program, I regularly visited more than twenty individual fortune-tellers in Taiwan. Each of them has different methods of using prediction instruments in telling people’s fortunes. I have used videos and photos to record these variations in fortune-telling. After obtaining the human ethics clearance, I interviewed ten of the most well-known fortune-tellers in Taiwan via Skype video conference technology. Referring to the support of addressing the importance of fortune-telling culture in Taiwan, I studied the literature reviews to understand the behaviours and motivations of Taiwanese people using the services of fortune-telling. Analysis The data analysis was divided into two modes: net art and fortune-telling practice. The sphere of net art was classified into different categories based on the function of user interaction. The type of fortune-telling practice was categorized by analysing the usage of prediction instruments. Since this is a qualitative research project, Grounded Theory and Semiotics was employed as the main methods for analysing raw materials.
Grounded theory: Grounded theory is an appropriate style for analysing data for qualitative research, as it is about discovering theory from data gathered. The concept of this theory emphasizes how the discovery of theory from data systematically obtained and analysed in social research can be furthered (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 1). Theoretical sampling is the process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyses his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 45). Generating a theory from the data means that most hypotheses and concepts not only come from the data, but are systematically worked out in relation to the data during the course of the research (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 6). In discovering new theory concepts and findings, one generates conceptual categories or their properties from evidence; then the evidence from which the category emerged is used to illustrate the concept (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 23).
The inventors of Grounded theory, Claser and Strauss, believe that although formal theory can be generated directly from data, it is most desirable, and usually necessary, to start the formal theory from a substantive one (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 79). Since Net art is such a young artistic form, there is little abundant theoretical debate on its aesthetics and systems of classification. I collected more than one hundred net art sites to apply the method of comparative analysis, together with the study of relevant literature reviews. By doing so, those net art sites were then conceptualized, each into its category, and followed by the data analysis process. Thus I obtained a formal theory which informed the aesthetics of net art from its substantive data. Certainly, the generated theory from this research met four highly interrelated properties as its requirements for developing a theory. The first requisite property is that the theory must closely fit the substantive area in which it will be used. Second, it must be readily understandable by laymen concerned with this area. Third, it must be sufficiently general to be applicable to a multitude of diverse daily situations within the substantive area, not just to specific types of situation. Fourth, it must allow the user partial control over the structure and process of daily situations as they change through time (Glaser Barney G. 1967, p. 237).
(The chart of how Grounded theory applies to this research, particularly in the field of net art study.)
Semiotics: Semiotics is the field of study concerned with how signs produce meaning. David Sless, who states that semiotics is a way of thinking – an intellectual position from which to try to understand the universe, approaches semiotics more pragmatically (David Sless 1986, p. 155). It was Saussure who elaborated the tripartite concept “signifier + signified = sign”. Saussure states that a sign is made up of a signifier (an object) and a signified (its meaning). The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary (Ferdinand de Saussure 1966, p. 67).
The study of signs is also known as semiotics- a term coined by the American philosopher, lexicographer and polymath Charles Peirce. He states that there are three principal kinds of signs: iconic signs, indexical signs and symbolic signs (see Figure 1-5). Iconic signs are likenesses that convey the idea of the thing they represent by imitating them- such as a photograph of something. An icon bears a resemblance to its object. Indexical signs covey information by “indicating” their physical connection with the thing they represent, such as smoke to fire. An index is a sign with a direct existential connection with its object. Symbolic signs are general signs that have become associated with their meanings by conventional usage. A symbol is a sign whose connection with its object is a matter of convention, agreement or rules (Fiske John 1982, p. 51; Ian Noble 2004, pp. 89-94).
Roland Barthes advocated Peirce’s notion of sign; he analysed the relation between signifier and signified from its cultural aspect: using the second degree terms denotation and connotation. A particular word or a sign may have a literal meaning- this is called denotation, and it will also have a connotation or a range of connotations. Connotation refers to the range of cultural, social or personal interpretations of a sign, image or word. In the science or art of semiotics, denotation and connotation relate to the relationship between the signifier and the signified (Ian Noble 2004, p. 92).
Roland Barthes advocated Peirce’s notion of sign; he analysed the relation between signifier and signified from its cultural aspect: using the second degree terms denotation and connotation. A particular word or a sign may have a literal meaning- this is called denotation, and it will also have a connotation or a range of connotations. Connotation refers to the range of cultural, social or personal interpretations of a sign, image or word. In the science or art of semiotics, denotation and connotation relate to the relationship between the signifier and the signified (Ian Noble 2004, p. 92).
In order to conduct my analysis, semiotics was employed as a method of categorizing fortune-telling practice in Taiwan from a cultural perspective, and informed the creation of the final project as well. I use the term signifier (an object) from Saussure to apply it to the triangular model from Peirce. Thus the classification of traditional fortune-telling practice was based on its tool (object); here, the term tool interprets as a transmitter while doing fortune-telling. For instance, Chinese ancient coins for casting in the I Ching, writing characters for Graphology; lines and undulations on the palm for palmistry reading, and so on. The outcome of the categories of fortune-telling practice will then serve as data/ row materials for the concept and idea of the creative project.
(The chart of how semiotics applies to this research, particularly in the study of fortune-telling themes, and the impact on the creative project.)
Chapter 2 Internet and computers as mysterious power generators
I have concentrated my research on my theme for the creative project, which is a hypothetical issue: that the internet and computers may have a mysterious power through collaborative interactions to predict answers which we do not know yet.
To justify the notion that internet and computers may equal the predictive power of fortune-telling, I utilized the theory of collective unconscious and synchronicity from Carl Gustav Jung to illustrate the rational prediction of the I Ching. In addition, to justify the rationality between fortune-telling and computer binary code, I refer to Leibniz’s research on binary arithmetic. The research on how the mind may affect machines by Professor Robert Jahn of Princeton University is also another important contribution to explain the rationality and likely accuracy in attempting prediction through computers. While there are some contentions between the internet and computers as fortune-tellers, I was able to provide supporting academic theories to illustrate the relation between collaborative creation, the collective unconscious and synchronicity to bring out the connections between each element. Based on the supporting academic theories that I have mentioned above, it is clearly evident that the creative project of my research is not merely a hypothetical net art project, but also an authentic online fortune-telling project. When users participate in the creative project, their personal unconscious and collective unconscious are connected, at the same time they are experiencing the same event of synchronicity, and the answer that users are seeking is being traversed between their personal unconscious and the wider collective unconscious. That is to say, the art form which users contribute to is an archetypal symbol generated by the participants, and people are able to resolve their doubts through their interpretation of the symbol.
2-1 The rational philosophies Collective unconscious Collective unconscious is a term from analytical psychology originally coined by Carl Jung. While Freud did not distinguish between an "individual psychology" and a "collective psychology", Jung distinguished the collective unconscious from the personal unconscious particular to each human being. The collective unconscious is also known as "a reservoir of the experiences of our species” (Wikipedia). From Jung's view point, the “personal unconscious” is based on the “collective unconscious”. It is the deep structure of one’s psychology, which is congenital and generally unanimous. If we liken these two theories to an island, consciousness would be the portion of island above the sea surface; the representation of the personal unconscious is the part of the island that is under the surface, which cannot usually be seen, but it sometimes emerges from the sea by the flow of tides; the common base of all isolated islands is the seabed under the deep sea, it may be regarded as the collective unconscious (Hsin-I Wang 2001, p. 27).
The personal unconscious is absolutely individual, including repressed desires and the content of experiences that have been forgotten. The collective unconscious does not come from personal experience, nor is it the outcome of what the person has learned, but rather it exists in every human being innately through heredity (Hsin-I Wang 2001, p. p25). In Jung’s notion of the collective unconscious, he regarded unconsciousness as a stockroom composed of the personal unconscious and collective unconscious. One part of the stockroom stored consciousness that once had been known but has been ignored or forgotten, and the other part of the stockroom inherited the unconscious experience of human history. The unconscious of experience does not exist in human consciousness, but forms part of the human history that comes from all mankind and is owned commonly by all people. This kind of experience is not easily perceived by individuals, but it can appear through the channel of dreams. Since ancient times, there have been numberless ancestors’ experiences repeated, and collected and stored in the human brain.
Just like Jung’s primitive cave in his dream, he did not depend on personal experience to reach the collective unconscious, but he could experience the collective unconscious through his dreams (Hsin-I Wang 2001, p. 31). For example, a great number of people in their sleep have experienced the feeling of being dropped from a very high place to the ground, then waking up frightened. According to the individual unconsciousness theory of Freud, this probably resulted from the intense pressure of the personal unconscious. But if we take the viewpoint of Jung’s collective unconscious, this example could support the scientific evidence that human ancestors come from the monkey family. People’s collective unconscious still remembers the frightened sense monkeys have of falling to the ground because of carelessness on trees when they were sleeping. Though the history of human being is already very far away from the monkey phase, the ‘monkey’s memory and experience’ still exist in the human unconscious, and the experience of this unconscious is possessed commonly by all mankind. Therefore, people still have and retain this experience in their subconscious mind.
Yet another example, most of us has an instinctive fear of the dark or of snakes. Referring to Jung’s theory, this is because our ancestors from the Eolithic era lived in caves and were often bitten by snakes and attacked by wild animals during the night. As a result, these human experiences have been stored in the collective unconscious. The notion behind this theory of Jung is that human instinct is closely related to the historical sense. In other words, except for the instincts of sex and violence that Freud talked about, when a person is born existent history has an impact on that person’s destiny, and brings meanings to the person’s life that combine it with human history. Hence, people are connected with the past, even receiving messages from the vast system about events in other people’s affairs.
The collective unconscious is constituted of this general eternal information which is beyond personal experience. Perhaps we can explain the phenomena of this so-called supernormal power from Jung’s perspective, such as communication through the world and universe, or the ability to know inside information or knowledge through supernatural power. If a person can communicate with his/her own unconscious, then the person will be able to connect to the collective unconscious through their personal unconscious. Since the store of collective unconscious of knowledge and experience comes from all human history, if a person can travel between personal unconscious and collective unconscious, he/she will be able to get messages from the vast system of the collective unconscious. Therefore, these people and these messages may be regarded as mystic predictors or the so called ‘sixth sense’. Archetype Jung believed that the personal unconscious and collective unconscious are different in terms of content, but happening continuously. Jung thought that people must able to learn to understand their own unconscious, then, they might have the ability to control the power between personal unconscious and collective unconscious. Thus, Jung proposed the theory of archetype in order to interpret the mutual relations between collective unconscious and personal unconscious.
An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned or emulated. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality or behaviour. The value in using archetypal characters in fiction derives from the fact that people are able to unconsciously recognize the archetype; thus, creating the motivation, behind the characters’ behaviour. In Jung’s psychological framework, the archetype is innate, providing universal prototypes for ideas and able to be used to interpret observations. A group of memories and interpretations associated with an archetype are a complex, e.g. a mother complex associated with the mother archetype (Wikipedia).
Jung believed that people have introverted and extroverted personalities simultaneously, rational and irrational reactions at the same time, and both male and female characteristics exist in the same body. This is also a concept of Yin and Yang in coordination. In addition, Jung stated that people have both conscious and unconscious thoughts at the same time. People are not merely driven by incidents from the past, but also are pushed by expectations from the future. Followings is a list of the main archetypes stated by Jung.
◎The self: In Jungian theory, the Self is one of the archetypes. It signifies the coherent whole, unified consciousness and unconscious of a person. The Self, according to Jung, is realized as the product of individuation, which in the Jungian view is the process of integrating one's personality. For Jung, the self is symbolized by the circle (especially when divided in four quadrants), the square, or the mandala: hence, the Self is the centre of the human spirit.
◎The shadow: Shadow is a personality which has the same gender in one’s dream or unconsciousness, but is opposite to the ego. Jung indicated that human nature is contradictory. If the personality has displayed the mindset of going to the east consciously; it is often the west that the mind wants to go under the unconscious personality.
◎The Anima: Anima is the unconscious or true inner self of an individual, as opposed to the persona, or outer aspect of the personality. It represents the feminine inner personality, as present in the unconscious of the male.
◎The Animus: Animus is in contrast to the anima, which represents masculine characteristics in the unconscious or inner self of the feminine individual. Jung argued that human beings have the capacity to understand further the personal unconscious and collective unconscious through analysis of the above four kinds of archetypes. Every human being could have hidden countless of archetypes, and his or her experience is closed to primitive potential memory, which may lead to excite the prototype. A complex is a main factor in forming an archetype. It is influenced by various different cultural types, living regions or national customs. For instance, in the perspective of archetype, perhaps Jesus in Christianity and the Buddha in Buddhism are figured from the same concept, yet the difference between these two Gods is merely that different nations generated different symbols of their own faith. Jung compared life to a rhizome plant. The real life hides in the rhizome deeply, it cannot be seen; the portion of life that emerges from the ground has only an ephemeral existence, it withers transiently; only the unconsciousness hidden deep inside of the heart could draw the shape of a human spirit. Thus, the archetype is like a key which has opened up and symbolized the human spirit. Jung believed that these symbolic strengths, if applied effectively, could reconcile the conflict at heart and reach a balance in the human soul. When a person’s unconsciousness and consciousness have reached a balanced state, that is to say that this person can face himself or herself totally and completely understand his or her own archetype or shadow, and the anima and the animus. Therefore, after resolving the conflict at heart, a person will be able to enter the stage of the Self that is individuation.
Jung used the term Mandala to express the perfection of Self. According to Jung, the state of individuation has to include completeness and wholeness at the same time. Thus, individuation is expressed by the perfect symbol of Mandala. When a person has reached the realm of Mandala, he or she can freely shuttle back and forth to pick up information and receive messages from the conscious and unconscious minds. Therefore, the person has become the so-called mystic predictor with the sixth sense. This collective unconscious can be interpreted as the so-called spirit or ghost. Human bodies will disappear rottenly after people die, yet the one thing that still remains in the universe is the collective unconscious. Synchronicity Synchronicity is the term used by Carl Jung to describe the “temporally coincident occurrences of casual events.” Jung spoke of synchronicity as an “acausal connecting principle,” i.e. a pattern of connection that cannot be explained by direct causality (wikipedia). For example we often have a kind of feeling that when a real incident occurs in the real world, we somehow know that the incident seems to have appeared in our dream some time ago. Or we dreamed about a relative or a friend whom we have not seen for a long time, then received the news that this person has passed away after a few days of our having the dream.
Synchronicity is an explanatory principle. According to its creator, Carl Jung, synchronicity can be explained as “meaningful coincidences,” such as a beetle flying into a room while a patient was describing a dream about a scarab. The scarab is an Egyptian symbol of rebirth, noted by Jung. Therefore, the propitious moment of the flying beetle indicated that the transcendental meaning of both the scarab in the dream and the insect in the room was that the patient needed to be liberated from her excessive rationalism. Jung’s notion of synchronicity is that there is an acausal principle that links events and gives them a similar meaning by their coincidence in time rather than sequentially. He claimed that there is a synchrony between the mind and the phenomenal world of perception (The skeptics dictionary).
Jung’s theory of synchronicity differs from coincidence in that it implies not just a happenstance, but an underlying pattern or dynamic that is being expressed through meaningful relationships or events. It was a principle that Jung felt encompassed his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious, in that it was a descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlay the whole of human experience and history — in their social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual settings. Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidences were due not merely to chance; he suggested instead that they were the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances which reflected this governing dynamic (wikipedia).
In the book Synchronicity: an acausal principle, Jung offered many examples to illustrate meaningful coincidences. One was a fish incident dated on 1st April 1949. On that day, things that happened around him and people who he came across were somehow all related to the topic of fish. According to Jung’s note, on that particular day, he had fish for lunch, and at the same time his friends talked to him about fish. Also, he was thinking about one of his male patients who had not come to see him for almost a year. But, very interestingly and coincidentally, this male patient appeared and came to talk to him about his dream, which was about fishes and lakes. Therefore, Jung believed that this must be a case of meaningful coincidence which cannot be mere chance. We could assume that events in general are related to one another; that is, on one hand as causal chains, and on the other hand by a kind of meaningful cross-connection (C. G. Jung 1972, pp. 14-16).
According to Fu Ya Shu in his book titled “The culture of prayer in the ancient China: The initial notion of spirit was born on the basis of the understanding of death” He indicated that a grave from the Old Stone Age, located on a mountain top in Zhoukoudian near Beijing, contained some sprayed red iron powders around the dead body. This grave was regarded as evidence of the notion of existent spirit in ancient times. However, the phenomena of utilizing the symbol of blood or of fire and the burial of articles were not only found in ancient China. It has happened in everywhere around the world, such as the Sarlat village in the middle part of Dordogne in France; Two small islands close to Morbihan in France; Brno in Czechoslovakia; a village in the south of Wales in UK; a cave in Kenya in Africa, and Lake Mungo in New South Wales in Australia. This kind of social custom existed in different regions and different nations, but it could cross over the restriction of space-time to reach at the same notion of human spirit. The notion of “Cultural dissemination” and the standard of cause and effect rule are both inadequate to interpret this phenomenon. The only explanation is the phenomenon of synchronicity (Long Yan, pp. 6-7).
These phenomena do not have any contact with each other and yet they can get the same experience or information from each other, this can be explained through the perspective of synchronicity. Regarding the origin of these phenomena, they can be interpreted in terms of the notion of the collective unconscious. Due to the existence of collective unconscious, time and space can restore human experiences from the past. We could refer to the aspect of mysticism as human soul and ghost, yet it also refers to a kind of invisible collective unconscious in terms of psychological perspective. According to the theory of synchronicity, everything in the universe is parallel in space and time, and yet it is believed that there are certain orders in the existence of things. For some unexplained reasons, our personal unconscious can come close to or connect with the collective unconscious at times. As a result phenomena will travel through the time and space, and somehow will create two or more incidents related to each other. That is the reason that we have mixed phenomena caused by the blurred boundary between the spiritual and the real world. For example, sometimes we meet people or see scenes in real life which have appeared in our dreams, or a certain friend who always runs into you in different places coincidentally. All these happenings are not merely acausal coincidences but also meaningful coincidences.
Jung claimed that once a person can communicate between his or her conscious and unconscious minds, the person will be able to travel to the personal unconscious, seeking for some answers for him/herself. Besides, the person also can go to the collective unconscious through the personal unconscious; that is how the super energy is being generated and how people can predict the future and know the past. Nevertheless, due to the time, the place and the ethnic group the person was born in, everyone has got their own type of personal unconscious. Therefore, everyone’s personal unconscious is connected with the collective unconscious at different points. The personal unconscious includes the memories and experiences that have been forgotten or hidden from the conscious mind, which makes the unconscious more complicated.
We can understand some of the complex aspects of the unconscious with the help of another person by deploying some objects to connect the other person and ourselves. The two people’s unconscious minds will be able to connect through the physical object, such as tarot cards and the drawing of lots. We can see the rationality of prediction from Jung’s theory of collective unconscious and the theory of synchronicity, especially the synchronic incidents shown in Jung’s book, and the collecting of coincidence events by Paul Kammerer in his book “The law of the series”. All these examples could be interpreted as: Forms of existing things and turns of events in the universe have a profound harmonious dynamic net, which associate people with the Universe. Paul Kammerer postulates that all events are connected by waves of Seriality. These forces cause what we perceive as just the peaks, i.e. groupings and coincidences (Wikipedia). As such, when we draw lots, or pick up one tarot card, somehow we can retrieve message from our unconscious through the connection of these prediction instruments.
Whether from the aspect of Jung’s psychology or the viewpoint of numerology, there is one thing that applicable to both: They all connect to unconsciousness through physical objects or events, beyond the communication between consciousness and unconscious, and people have the capacity and possibility to understand themselves better from the past to the future. “Concentration” is the main factor that affects the accuracy of the prediction and the perspective of numerology. The purpose of conducting the ritual before starting the prediction is to help seekers concentrate on their question (Xie Da Hui 2006). According to my interviews with the 12 fortune-tellers, this is what they called “a sincere heart influenced by the spiritual world”.
2-2 The I Ching and binary code This passage attempts to justify the relation between the hexagrams of the I Ching and computer binary code by studying Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s invention of binary arithmetic, together with Shao Yong’s number system of the I Ching. The original I Ching was invented by legendary Chinese ancient philosophers; it started spreading its influence in western philosophy in the 16th century. To date, have been a great number of scholars researching into the philosophic implication of the I Ching and its rational possibilities of prediction in terms of scientific laws. Research into the contemporary I Ching can be divided into six branches: 1). The history of the I Ching, 2).The interpretation of the hexagrams of the I Ching, 3). The philosophy and the dialectic of the I Ching, 4). The relation between the I Ching and Chinese characters, Chinese history, Chinese philosophy, Chinese medical science, astronomy, agriculture etc., 5). The impact on western society and science through the I Ching, 6). The manner of prediction of the I Ching (Li jiang Zuo 1999, pp. 3-4). The focal point of this passage is to indicate the relation between the I Ching and modern science, paralleling with a study of the analogy between Shao Yong’s number permutation of hexagrams of the I Ching and Leibniz’s binary arithmetic, thus attempting to justify the rationality of prediction in using computers.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a synthesizer of ideas, a deep religious thinker and an avid Sinophile. Leibniz sought a characteristica universalis, or universal language, that would assist his quest to order all human knowledge (Frank J. Swetz 2003a, p. 276; Franklin Perkins 2004a, p. ix). Leibniz had a lifelong interest in Chinese culture, (E. J. Aiton & Eikoh shimao 1981, p. 71), he was interested in Neo Confucianism and the relation between Chinese Natural theology and the Creation of Christianity, he published in 1697, with a second edition in 1699, under the title Noissima Sience. In the preface of this book Leibniz developed his theme of a universal culture, claiming that the Chinese and European civilizations were complementary, the Chinese excelling in ethics, politics and natural theology, the Europeans in speculative philosophy and the natural sciences (E. J. Aiton & Eikoh shimao 1981, p. 72). Not withstanding the differences between eastern and western societies, there are a lot of scholars making great efforts to probe into the correspondence between binary arithmetic and the hexagrams of the I Ching.
The French Jesuit missionary Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) was the one who discovered the correspondence between the I Ching and Leibniz' binary system and who first theorized that the Diagram was a remnant of forgotten ancient Chinese science (James A. Ryan 1996a, p. 61). Bouvet had strong background knowledge of mathematics; he first entered China in 1688 and remained for nine years. Bouvet there read the first edition of Noissima. While he was in Paris on furlough from his Chinese Mission, he wrote to Leibniz on October 18 1697 and expressed his admiration for the publication and shared some “recent China news” (Frank J. Swetz 2003a, p. 283), which began the correspondence between Leibniz and Bouvet. When Leibniz developed his binary arithmetic, a system based only on zero and one, he realized that it provided an illustration of how God could create all things out of unity and nothingness. Thus he sent a medallion inscribed with numbers in his binary system to Duke Rudolph of Brunswick in 1697, writing:
“After all, one of the high points of the Christian faith, which agrees least with the philosophers and is not easy to impart to pagans, is the creation ex nihilo through God's almighty power. Now one can say that nothing in the world can better present and demonstrate [this power] than the origin of numbers, as it is represented here through the simple and unadorned presentation of One and Zero”. (Julia Ching & Willard Oxtoby 1992, p. 72).
At the same time of Leibniz’s submission of that paper, Bouvet was working on the I Ching, convinced that it held some secret knowledge because of its connection to Fohi’s eight diagrams and the Biblical (Franklin Perkins 2004a, p. 116). In a 1701 letter, Leibniz explained the binary system (shown in Figure 2-1) to Bouvet in some detail. In a response, Bouvet demonstrated the following correspondence to Leibniz. Taking broken lines to be equivalent to zeros and solid lines to be equivalent to ones, the first hexagram at the bottom of the Diagram seems to denote zero as the binary system would. If one overlooks the fact (of which neither Bouvet nor Leibniz was aware) that the Chinese read the hexagram lines from the bottom up, rather than from the top down, the rest of the binary numbers proceed in the Diagram as follows. Reading counter clockwise, , and so forth. As Leibniz indicates, the binary system can be seen starting at the bottom of the circle, proceeding counter clockwise to the top and then again clockwise from the bottom to the top. The double geometric progression can be discerned in the Diagram as well as in Leibniz' binary system. That is, the broken lines (yin) are gradually filled in (replaced with unbroken yang lines) from the outside to the inside. Beginning at the bottom and moving counter clockwise, the first hexagram has five innermost broken lines; the next two hexagrams have four innermost broken lines ;the next four have three innermost broken lines; the next eight have two; and the next sixteen have one. A similar pattern continues from the bottom clockwise to the top (James A. Ryan 1996a, p. 61).
The demonstration for the assumption that internet and computers may be equal to the predictive power which I have brought out in the previous chapter has emerged from the discussion of all the possibilities between binary arithmetic and the hexagrams of the I Ching indicated in above passages. However, the computer is the basic tool of communication for the Internet, and yet the binary code is the basic structure of computers, that is to say: a basis of scientific terms does exist in the relation between the I Ching and computers. According to Gorai Kinzo: we see Leibniz's stroke of genius in the idea of expressing all numbers using zeros and ones. The idea of expressing the entire universe by two symbols, yin and yang, in the I Ching, also needed a flash of genius. The two geniuses contacted and recognized each other through a universal and intuitive method of mathematics, and shook hands. Leibniz brought the two civilizations closer. His binary arithmetic and the I Ching were two hands symbolizing a meeting of the eastern and western civilizations (E. J. Aiton & Eikoh shimao 1981, p. 76). Zero and one form a universal language for the dynamic world, and a number is thus a basic metaphysical figure, as it were, and arithmetic is a kind of static of the universe by which the powers of things are discovered (James A. Ryan 1996a, p. 64). Thus, we may say that the power of the computer binary code equals the universal language, and yet the computer plus the internet could be the powerful other dynamic world, which mankind can not yet explain in scientific terms.
2-3 The mind and machines The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program at Princeton University, is internationally renowned for its extensive study of the influence of the mind on physical reality. The purpose of the program, established in 1979 by Professor Robert G. Jahn and John C. Valentino, over its more then a quarter-century of activity is a controversial issue; PEAR has completed its agenda of basic research and closed its physical facilities at the end of February 2007.
PEAR has focused on two major areas of study: anomalous human/machine interaction (MMI), which addresses the effects of consciousness on random physical systems and processes; together with remote perceptions, wherein people attempt to enquire about distant locations and events. Using random event generators (REG), that is, computers that spew random output, and the PEAR lab participants have focused their intent on controlling machines’ output. The enormous databases produced by PEAR provide clear evidence that human thought and emotion can produce measurable influence on physical reality (Robert G. Jahn & Brenda J. Dunne 2007).
According to the experimental results provided by PEAR, there is a strong correlation between output distribution by means of a variety of random binary process and the pre-stated intention of human operators. There is very little that the researchers understand about the phenomenon, but they do know that results aren't affected by distance or time. Participants, for example, can have the same effect on a machine from outside the room or across the country. They can also have the same effect if they have the intention before the REG is turned on or even if they read a book or listen to music while the machine is running. Moreover, environmental conditions, such as room temperature and location distance between participant and machines, also do not matter, but the participant’s mood and attitude do. It helps, for example, if the participant believes he or she can affect the machine. Resonance with the machine is another important factor; PEAR allows their deployment in a variety of group environments, such as ritual ceremonies, artistic performances, sporting events, business meetings, diagnostic and therapeutic counselling, etc. From such field applications, it appears that those venues that engender strong collective resonance among the participants show larger deviations of REG output sequences from chance expectations than those generated in more pragmatic or mundane assemblies. Furthermore, long-term experimental results showed that gender affects the influence of the REG output. Men tend to get results that match their intent, although the degree of the effect is often small. Women tend to get a bigger effect, but not necessarily the one they intend. For example, they might intend to direct balls in the random cascade machine to fall to the left, but they fall to the right instead. Results are also greater if a male and female work together, but same-sex pairs produce no significant results. Pairs of the opposite sex who are romantically involved produce the best results (Kim Zetter 2005; Robert G. Jahn & Brenda J. Dunne 2005).
In a nutshell, what the PEAR people claim to have discovered is a new force in nature, perhaps the elusive “fifth force.” And that force is, well, me and you, and everyone else. All of us, it seems, have the ability to influence physical events with our thoughts. That is, we can “will thing” things to happen the way we would like them to by simply concentrating (Matt Neuman 1998, p. 1). But experiments in the PEAR lab have shown that mind can affect about 1 in every 10,000 random events, that is too small an effect to make anyone a killing in the gambling casinos. Although the effect is small, Jahn and Dunne have conducted so many experiments that they believe their data have been verified, when people concentrate together. Jahn and Dunne say that collective will affects the random process even more (Shankar Vedantam). In the PEAR lab experiment, participants were selected randomly, especially without any training on concentration exercise; their purpose was to demonstrate the possibility of mentally affecting material/physics from every human being. However, the effects gained were small, which may be attributed to the non training process. Otto Scharmer a professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that all human and social entities have a variety of sources and attention fields they can operate from, and that the crises of our time relate to not being aware and not fully actualizing this variety of sources and qualities of attention. Otto Scharmer calls this THEORY U, named for the shape of the journey it takes us on (Otto Scharmer 2005). Otto Scharmer indicated: At the heart (or the bottom) of Theory U lies the following assumption: that each of us isn’t one but two. Each and every human being or social entity is two. One is the person that we have become through the journey of the past. That’s the one we know well. The other one is the person that we could become through our journey toward the future—it’s our highest future possibility. That one isn’t as apparent as the first person is. It’s a dormant possibility that is waiting for us (Otto Scharmer 2005).
The Theory U is the process that helps us to learn about ourselves from the future. If we knew the domination of the future self, our present situation would have been different from the one we now live in. Otto Scharmer coined this process of learning as Presencing, a term that blends the two words “presence” and “sensing”; it means to sense and bring into the present one’s highest future potential- the future that depends on us to bring it into being (Otto Scharmer 2005).Supposing the Theory U works for our learning ability, it may be able to answer the small effects of the PEAR lab’s experiment; since they did not train participants in any specific manner for doing concentration.
Based on the contention of PEAR, the existence of correlation between mind and machine (binary) is positive. Hence, this contention is applicable on the hypothesis of my research: The internet and computers may be equal to the mysterious power, which can predict mankind’s future, afterward utilizing net art creation to present this notion, specifically utilizing the form of collaborative creation. Supposing the correlation of MMI does exist, and we do believe it, the question is still, how to explain its operation? Is it really the power of nature? Does every one of us have paranormal abilities? To date, notwithstanding that some researchers have noticed that this kind of nature force seems to be there in our real life, yet not one can interpret the phenomenon in scientific terms. The controversial phenomenon of MMI is identical with the Chinese prediction manner of the I Ching. People know about casting trigrams and hexagrams in order to interpret the message of people’s doubt, albeit unable to explain the operation’s inner possibilities. According to my interviewers, who are reputable fortune-tellers, the concentrated mind has a strong faith in efficacious prediction are the mind factors that effect accurate prediction (Chen Yu Wen 2006; Lin Jin Zhu 2006; Xie Da Hui 2006; Zho Jin Liang 2006). That is to say: The factor of concentrated mind applies to both fortune-telling and experiments of PEAR. The power of human mind does exist, but in such a way that we can not explain it in scientific terms. Our science, however, is based upon the principle of causality, and causality is considered to be an axiomatic truth. But a great change in our standpoint is now emerging. What Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason failed to do, is being accomplished by modern physics. The axioms of causality are being shaken to their foundations: we know now that what we term natural laws are merely statistical truths and thus must necessarily allow for exceptions (C.G. Jung 1968, p. xxii).
2-4 Case studies I have selected certain projects to be my study cases based on their issues, which are similar or relevant to my hypothesis: that the internet and computers may be utilized to perform as a fortune-telling’s machine. I then utilized net art creation powers to present this notion, with particular focus on the extension of collaborative creation on the internet. In order to obtain a broad idea with precise intention, I am looking at two perspectives from each case study; these are Concept and Structure. Then I will analyse and integrate these two perspectives into a conclusion.
◆Concept: The study of a central idea for each project, understanding the meaning or implication that is embodied in the project.
◆Structure: The interrelation or arrangement of parts in an entity; the way in which parts are arranged or put together to form a whole, which is precisely how the project works.
◆Conclusion: Analysing the concept and structure of each project, compounding and integrating from the perspective of my creative project, finding out the features and advantages of each project together with its similarity to my creative project.
(A).Project title: Agent Ruby, by Lynn Hershman Leesonhttp://agentruby.net
◆Concept: “Agent Ruby” transferred users’ interaction into the reference value of an artwork. “Agent Ruby” created by AI (Artificial Intelligence) explores the relationship between human beings and computer virtual beings and an impact form the growing up of the spontaneous reproduction of the fictitious biological on mankind.
◆Structure: The display of “Agent Ruby” is very simple. There is only one virtual agent, called Ruby, who is an emotional lady agent. As the “communicating” frequency increases, Ruby learns more methods and techniques of human’s natural language and memorizes the dialogue contents and personality of every communicating person. So, Ruby becomes more human-like and even has different emotions changing with Internet speed. This characteristic of learning real human intelligence put Ruby’s role somewhere between the virtual and the real world. There are four stages in the design of “Agent Ruby”: the first is word interaction on the internet, the second is allowing users to download Ruby to PC or PDA, and to interact more directly with Ruby; the third allows users to communicate with Ruby by voice, so Ruby begins to have different emotions; the fourth is via GPS induction and voice distinction to make the communication between Ruby and users more human-like.
◆Conclusion: “Agent Ruby” was born in the digital world, through the internet media she communicates with human beings on broad topics, at the same time learning the emotional reactions and delicate deliberate thoughts of human beings. Owing to its intelligent learning system of human behaviour, “Agent Ruby” has generated a kind of thought reaction response that surpasses its computer digital system. Thus, when users converse with “Agent Ruby” they experience and travel across the boundary between actual and virtual worlds. The space between virtual and actual is the significant state that I am engaging with in my creative project. However, I understand that the audience is supposed to "converse" on the Internet, not with an AI chatbot. Thus, making my program too advanced will actually defeat the purpose.
(B).Project title: From the great beyond, by Fang yu Linhttp://a.parsons.edu/~linf/projects/beyond/
◆Concept: “From the great beyond” utilizes the huge resources characteristic of the Internet, probing into the essence of the Internet itself. In his previous interview, Fang Yu Lin indicated that: if the internet is an individual, it should have individual characteristics, so I can talk to it, and it can reply to me as well. The significant discussion about this project is whether the Internet is really borderless. The possibilities of the Internet seem to go beyond the range that mankind can understand despite the fact that it is constructed by human beings. An audience who visits “From the great beyond”, passes the interface of the typewriter, attempting to pierce the value of human existence and discover the secret of human nature from the Internet. Thus, as someone inquires into the puzzlement of emotions, someone also probes into the idea of God, and even more, someone has a fantastic idea to turn a dog into a cat. These messages seem more fascinating than our actual mundane life, yet the strength of the Internet seems to exceed the range that mankind has been able to understand so far; perhaps this is the essence of the internet that Fang yu Lin intends to represent for his audiences.
◆Structure: Fang Yu Lin combines the outdated typewriter with the modern host computer, through the basic service of an Internet search engine, which conveys the audience’s signal from the outdated typewriter to the Internet in order to find relevant materials. The final stage of its procedure is to print out the relevant findings in text or ASCII format through an outdated printer. This project utilizes a simple technical comparison between the finding resource and its keyword in the Google search engine. It searches for a meaningful sentence from the Internet to respond to audiences’ input, and prints them out as if the message were from the Internet. Owing to the queer questions that audiences have input, the Internet has answered in a very paradoxical way, which reinforces the sense of the Internet as having a complicated and confusing nature.
◆Conclusion: According to Fang Yu Lin’s observation from the exhibition, it caused the audience's strong curiosity and interest because the paradoxical message from the Internet returns the audiences’ input. Many audiences regard it as a fortune-teller, and ask it various kinds of weird questions. Thus it has strengthened the characteristic of the internet which Fang Yu Lin intended to represent. However, this so called “the characteristics of the Internet” is exactly the issue that I attempt to discover and demonstrate in my research that the Internet and computers have embedded a magical strength, yet we can only see the surface of its component powers through its operations. But we can not see whether the Internet has generated a kind of special operation function due to the participation of human beings, and that function of operation cannot be explained in scientific terms. It is as if the Internet has the ability of knowing the future for human beings.
(C).Project title: Blessed Bandwidth, by Shilpa Guptahttp://www.blessed-bandwidth.net/
◆Concept: “Blessed-bandwidth” acts as a space for visitors to reflect on religion and its role in a world that is often divided by faith. The site juxtaposes real and virtual worlds and encourages visitors to consider how these worlds might overlap and merge. Here, the user can print out a certificate of blessing, even selecting the decorative border. But this blessing is not necessarily 'real' - the artist, Gupta never deems that the blessing should be literally accepted. Gupta also does not define the act of blessing as metaphorical. So what is a blessing? Gupta suggests that the 'real' nature of the blessing is dependent on the belief and investment of the user. In this sense, the 'truth', the individual and the personal commitment, are parts of the elements unavailable for public scrutiny (Heidi Reitmaier, 2003).
◆Structure: “blessed-bandwidth” invites visitors to log on, choose a religion and get blessed. After selecting from a range of faiths, visitors can view photographs and video of the artist. With an internet cable, they can visit the relevant place of worship to be blessed by a priest or the authority figure. The website offers its users the chance to receive their own blessings online and obtain a certificate to mark the occasion. To attain a mystical experience, the user must follow these instructions. 1). Sit down. Don't lean. 2). Bend slowly forward. Concentrate. 3). Now touch your forehead to the computer screen on the spot x.' At this point, a pop-up window appears, asking 'would you like to certify this blessing?
◆Conclusion: According to Theory U, that Mind may affect machines, mentioned earlier, the attitude and faith of the participant will affect the result of their experiments. “Blessed Bandwidth” has incorporated the ritual and the religions for the user to experience the whole project. This concept of using custom and ritual is in accordance with the idea of my creative project. The main idea of “Blessed Bandwidth” is not really about an online temple, but about the behavior of how people use religion, and how the Internet may replace the function of religion in the actual world. Therefore human faith and the possibilities of the Internet are two relevant focuses for my research issues. Attempting to blend them with an artistic creation is the significant endeavour of my research.
(D).Project title: Ouija 2000, by Ken Goldberghttp://taylor.ieor.berkeley.edu/ouija/end.html
◆Concept: “Ouija 2000” is an on-line Ouija board with its planchette mounted on a robotic arm. It answers a slate of questions pertaining to users’ lives in the next millennium. Goldberg created “Ouija 2000” as a critique of conventional notions of contemporary spirituality. He presents a pseudo-history of the Ouija board, claiming that, “although their workings and origins remain shrouded in mystery, “talking boards” are the world's oldest telecommunications devices.” In this project, Goldberg couples epistemology with another esoteric source: mysticism.
◆Structure: “Ouija 2000” is open 24 hours a day, and users come together via the Internet to “play” with up to 20 users at a time. Before entering “Ouija 2000”, users have to follow all the instructions made up by the artist, such as moving your keyboard away, placing your mouse and mousepad in front of the screen, turning off the lights in your room or office, etc. Once users have entered into “Ouija 2000”, each remote player places both hands on his or her mouse. Minute mouse movements are detected and transmitted back to a central computer in Goldberg’s Berkeley laboratory. The computer combines the inputs and moves a telerobotic arm to respond. Thus, the answers to questions will appear as if by “magic” or “mystical intervention”, as no single user can control what the answers will be.
◆Conclusion: “Ouija 2000” draws on both special characteristic of the Internet medium: virtual reality and collective interaction, making up a fictitious Ouija board story so as to attain identification from its users. “Ouija 2000” utilizes the robotic arm as the terminal movement control station in the laboratory, and it involves the numerous users who operate in step with each other through the internet, resulting in an uncanny movement. Thus the mysterious strength of the Ouija board seems to become truth without rhyme or reason. The relevance of “Ouija 2000” to my research is: The mysterious net and the ritual before entering the main web page, includes collective unconscious, synchronicity, and the unique fusion of the Internet’s nature in both the real and the virtual world. However, in my creative research, I perform on the structure of the I Ching, which was created collectively by ancient Chinese philosophers many centuries ago. The aim of my research is to combine the I Ching with unique features of the Internet, to bring out the possibilities of collaboration between the internet and human beings to answer our uncertainties about our future.
(E)Project title: Public Mood Ring by Will Pappenheimerhttp://www.publicmoodring.thruhere.net/
◆Concept: “Public Mood Ring” recorded the interaction between Internet users all over the world on this website, and sent this data back to an exhibition at the San Jose Museum, USA, to let the museum reflect internet users’ interaction immediately, Will Pappenheimer discusses the spatial concept moving between the virtual net and the actual world. According to the artist, the idea of “Public Mood Ring” comes from the notion of the mood ring: the colour of a mood ring changes with the mood and temperature of the ring wearer, so the colour symbol can signify the wearer’s mood. Here the “Public Mood Ring” explains the sum of new “user” colours, and the virtual sum is the content of the exhibition in the museum.
◆Structure: When users enter the website, the system links to Yahoo’s global news web automatically and shows in turn recent news titles and photos in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen. Users can draw the news titles to the analysis platform to the right of the screen to read detailed news content. Once a user chooses a news item, he can set a cultural color for his mood, including Islamic- Sufi, Cherokee, Western Biblical, Zulu Beadwork, Doppler Radar, Feng Shui, Tibetan Buddhism, and Mood Ring, each implicating a different culture. After the user chooses the colour, the screen will appear in the colour and title integrated by the user’s option and the news, and in the bottom-right of the screen will appear the webcam of the change of colour at the San Jose Museum. There are LED bulbs of various colours in the museum. After the colour analysis of news by Net users, the system will send back the colour information to the corresponding LED bulbs in the museum. Thereby, the lighting colour in the museum changes with the interaction of Internet users.
◆Conclusion: “Public Mood Ring” employs the concept of mysticism, utilizing the internet’s public resource masterfully to combine the phenomenon between reality and the virtual world. Both the notion of “Public Mood Ring” and my research angle are rather similar; they are not only involved in culture and Internet users, but use the Internet search engine as tools to obtain the needs of resource materials as well. Due to the scope of my research, net art is the principal creative medium to conduct this research, with particular focus on the extension of collaborative creation. Hence, the outcome of my research did not have a concrete display but followed the strict format of net art conventions, including the notion that net art is art that cannot be performed in any other medium or in any other way than by means of the network (Brogger Andreas 2000).
3-1 The fortune-telling in Taiwan Fortune-telling has been very popular in Asian countries, especially in Taiwan. Following the advances of technology, such devotional behaviour is superficially labeled by people as “superstitious”. In reality, there are indeed many so-called “modern people” who still aspire to predict the future through these pseudo-religious ceremonies. With the development of computer technology, a host of religious rituals have started to flourish on the Internet. Using an input instruction on the keyboard, one can predict one’s own future. The fortune-teller has turned into a program package. For example, clicking a mouse with a random computerized probability, one could toss the sticks and ask for his or her prediction. Anyone who wishes to switch on a Blessing Light could simply click on a few buttons from a temple webpage and the blessing could last for the whole year. The phenomenon here seems to illustrate an interesting relativity in that, faith is in fact an expectation for oneself and one’s future; and rituals are a kind of confession of one’s innermost being. Differences in cultural background also affect religious rituals. In Taiwan, there are various fortune-telling practices, including birds, turtles, date of birth and eight characters of the horoscope, face profiles and palm reading, not to mention heaps of other unrecorded rituals.
Youth Want, a local questionnaire centre in Taiwan has commissioned an academic questionnaire to study “The social behaviour and system of trust based on the usage of online fortune-telling in year 2005”. According to the questionnaire, 62% of interviewees think that what is predicted as going to happen, will happen in the end (YouthWant 2005a). The result that has emerged is that a great number of Taiwanese are believers in fatalism. In the same year, Youth Want carried out another survey titled “Untie the mystic veil of fortune-telling, research on social behaviours of fortune-telling”. In this survey, 57% of the interviewees admitted that their behaviours would be affected by the fortune-teller if the prediction were negative (YouthWant 2005b). They would feel sad or depressed, or even experience a psychological pressure and burden. Simultaneously, a great number of the interviewees think that fortune-telling can be deemed a kind of psychotherapy, which can help people to find comfort for their soul and spirit.
Everyone seems to have doubts about their unpredictable future. Even if people cannot justify whether future telling is a reliable science or an occult practice, they are still affected and depressed by negative predictions in fortune-telling. In the course of the interviews with 12 fortune-tellers from Taiwan, it is probably no coincidence that they all indicated that during the process of telling fortunes, they always highlight the good things to their clients. If they see any bad sign about the client’s fate, the fortune-teller will convey the message indirectly to their client. Based on the above mentioned surveys and my own analysis of interviews, the conclusion is that: Regardless of the degree of accuracy in fortune-telling, most people believe that fortune-telling is a kind of psychotherapy which also includes finding comfort for one’s anxieties and hopes.
The Federal Government of Australian has announced that The Future Prediction Association of Australia will regulate the industry by requiring any person or organization purporting to predict the future to undergo a year-long process of accreditation during which their ability to predict the future will be tested. Some predictions by fortune-tellers have had devastating effects on the lives of the people they are supposed to help. For example: when an Adelaide grandmother visited a psychic in late April she received ominous news of a death or serious illness to an immediate family member. After three weeks of sleepless nights worrying about the health of her family, she won first prize in a lottery and her family continue to be in good health (Chica Loca 2006, 29 May). The message emerging from this news is that predictions by fortune-teller indeed affect their clients.
There is a strong correlation between the enormous vogue of fortune-telling and the unique political structure of Taiwan. The notions of time and space are the main ideas in Chinese cosmology, interacting with folk culture and religion, such as destiny, feng shui or the Chinese horoscope. The extension of fortune-telling culture spreads through all Chinese society, particularly in Taiwan, which not only shows the increasing impact of religions permeating Taiwanese society, but serves as a symbol of the real society. Owing to the essence of the economic society, the system of hierarchy and changes to the political structure have made a great change for the religious faiths of Taiwanese. In Taiwan, in the face of national anxiety, many people believe in the efficacy of prediction. No matter what their professed religion, the folk faith of Taiwanese is in a benevolent God who grants what people pray for. Because social change has caused a sense of uncertainty in Taiwan’s people, the belief in an efficacious God turns into a kind of force, driving the relations between folk faith and social change toward each other (Wu Hui Giao 2005, p. 32). In a research article titled “the observation of religious society in Taiwan” Wu hui giao has analysed three important attitudes of religious faith among the Taiwanese: A).People rely on a broad practice system, emphasizing the doctrinal notion. B).People put their hope for various realistic desires on their religion, thus enhancing the social base of the worship of several Gods. C).Both the folk religion and social life have had an impact on every kind of association, driving the social function of the religion to be fully embodied. (Wu Hui Giao 2005, p. 37)
Since the 16th century, Taiwan had been colonized by many different nations continually until the 20th century. Even if Taiwan has now its own government, it is still unable to stand at an international level due to the sensitive relationship between mainland China and Taiwan. These political factors have caused a lack of security and the fear of a puzzling future for Taiwanese, so people base their hopes and wishes on their religious faith. Since people believe that fortune-telling has the supernatural power to predict the future and answer doubts perhaps fortune-telling is a kind of religious therapy that helps free people from their worries.
Fortune-telling seem to be a kind of marginal knowledge, as an extension of the extreme materialism of early forms of contemporary science, practices that traded in the invisible were marginalized, relegated to the position of superstitions or amusements(Ken Feingold 1995, p. 399). But fortune-telling qualifies as a major stream in Taiwan still, for example in the naming of a newborn baby, the Feng Shui of buying a new house or office, marriage, education etc. From upper class to common people in Taiwan, it seems impossible for all Taiwanese to leave the major stream of doing fortune-telling. The following photos show the emerging of fortune-telling in Taiwan.
(This is a fortune-teller who sets his business in a night market street every night.)
(This is an underground passage in Taipei, where one can find every kind of fortune-telling service. Many Japanese visit this place and approach the fortune-tellers to seek their fortune. Thus, most of the shops here provide Japanese interpretation services.)
(A Lonely Planet program broadcast on Australian SBS Channel on 11th August 2006, showed how fortune-telling has become popular in Taiwan. )
(In Taiwan, there are many different kind of TV programs showing the daily forecast of constellations. )
(One TV program broadcasts the methods of palm reading, leading audiences to compare with their own palm prints while watching the program.)
(This TV program leads its audiences to participate in psychometric activities, such as Tarot or Mandala predictions.)
(A Japanese TV program introducing the culture of fortune-telling in Taiwan.)
The eight characters are used in a similar way to how western astrologers calculate a client’s horoscope according to planets’ positions at their time of birth. Pairs of characters (from the list of heavenly stems and earthly branches-天干地支) are ascribed to the time, day, month and year of birth, which shows the “Eight characters.” The eight characters prediction is the most popular form of fortune-telling used by Taiwanese people, especially for senior fortune-tellers. The eight characters are like a kit of passwords, every one has got their own numbers, and they can be formulated into a table to predict one’s fortune and analyse one’s personality according to their position on the table. With reference to ancient Chinese astrology, each year, month, date and time has its own special numbers as its weight or value. Therefore, a birthday tells the destiny of one’s whole life through adding the year, month, date and the time of the birth.
In general, people will send a copy of their eight characters to their future in-laws before getting married. In earlier times, if problems were found when the characters of the prospective bride and groom were “unmatched”, this could be taken as a reasonable ground for breaking off the engagement. In current practice, eight characters prediction has been used as part of the pre-wedding ritual. If there appears to be some incompatibility of characters, the marriage ceremony will be made as simple as possible.
Generally speaking, Chinese people have three characters for their full name: the first character follows the family name, and the other two characters named by their parents serve as a given name. For prediction purposes, the surname is designated “ innate”(先天) while the given name is “acquired”(後天). In telling one’s fortune by names, there is always an unseen meaning behind these three characters. To read the meaning of the name, we have to consider the calculation of the number of strokes used in writing the character, and to discover the characters of the five elements within the name, such as Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, which are ascribed to concepts of I Ching. In fortune-telling, the name represents the character of its owner, and has an impact on their future. Thus, nowadays in Taiwan, there are many people have changed their names in order to have a good fate for the rest of their life.
Generally, the Chinese name consists of three characters: the first character is the family name, representing the relationship between the individual and his parents. The second character represents the personal characteristics of the person who owns the name, and the last character represents the relationship between a person and his or her offspring.
Feng Shui is the location of a person's house and (or) ancestral grave, supposed to have an influence on the fortune of a family and his or her offspring. It is a traditional Chinese method of connecting the human and social worlds in an auspicious alignment with the forces of the cosmos, including “Qi”(氣) and yin-yang. Specialists, who are also called diviners, use a compass as an instrument to determine the exact cosmic forces affecting a site. An appropriate site will be chosen particularly in relation to bodies of water and mountains. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica online, Feng Shui affects the interior design of a house, a building or an office.
The Feng Shui compass is used to indicate the right direction and ideal position to place things belonging to a person. This special compass does not merely show the direction of east, west, north and south, but also encompasses factors of the five elements, which is ascribable to the concept of I Ching. The I Ching provides each hexagram with a name, activity, state, situation, quality, emotion or relationship, as well as a “judgment” and a “prediction”. According to a newspaper article, on the average, 70% of bosses have spent about $NT 920,000 (A$32,800) to change their Feng Shui conditions. (Chen Su Ling 2004).
The manner of prediction using the Chinese horoscope is based on the “eight characters”, which are arranged in a table (命盤) and used to fathom other characters are added in the “mansions”(宮) around the central table. These mansions cover such aspects as basic fate, health, occupation, family, and moving home. The constellations and planets play an important part in each of the mansions (Caltonhill Mark 2002b, p. 31). There are 14 main planets and 94 auxiliary planets, so 108 planets in total influence people’s destiny. Each planet has its own character. Some planets represent good luck and auspicious fortune. Simultaneously, there are some planets representing bad luck and misfortune(Yisuan). Therefore, the arrangement of these planets classifies people’s fortunes by distributing both auspicious and unlucky planets into the position of each mansion. Chinese Horoscope prediction can predict very tiny things relating to people’s fate, for example, the skin color of one’s husband, the number of children one could have, the figure of one’s future wife, etc.
There are 12 mansions in the Chinese horoscope table. The 108 planets may be distributed into 12 mansions ascribable to a person’s name and to his or her eight characters. Because each planet has its own character, and each mansion represents the variable aspects of person’s destiny, the interpretation of prediction by Chinese horoscope will therefore be read according to the position of these 108 planets in the table of mansions. 3-2.5 Body features(人相)
There are many classifications which branch from body features, such as facial feature interpretation, palmistry, prediction by voice, or even making a prediction by touching one’s body in order to read a figure of bone. Reading body features can reveal one’s past, present and future, concerning all matters related to one’s life. For instance, diagnosing one’s personality, predicting fortune, reading relationships between family and friends, describing one’s career development and so on. This kind of prediction focuses on the observation of people’s complexion. Its sounds easy, but in actual fact, it is the most difficult part of prediction. The reason is that the prediction needs to consider every matter related to a person’s complexion, and to do this, the practitioner needs time to accumulate experience to be able to make a sound and accurate prediction.
Prediction fortunes by facial features is common in Taiwan. The use of facial reading depends on the size or proportions of the facial features. There are many features that can be read as a message of a person’s destiny. For example, the size of the mouth is a metaphor of a person’s emotion. If the mouth is big and the lips are thick, it means the person has a strong susceptibility. On the contrary, if the lips are thin, it means the person maybe heartless. Besides, each portion of the facial features represents the age of the person. The reading starts from the forehead, and ends at the chin. The forehead represents the age before 30, and the portion between eyebrows to the end of the nose means the age from 30 to 50, from the philtrum to the chin stands for the age after 50.
The position and the colour of the moles on a person’s face represent different aspects of a person’s fate. Moles located in an auspicious position can bring good fortune to the person. Similarly, the wrong position of moles can bring bad luck to the person as well.
Palmistry is the reading of character and telling the future through the interpretation of lines and undulations on the palm of the hand. In palm reading, there are four kinds of shapes which guide palm readers to interpret people’s personality: the earth-shaped hand, the wind-shaped hand, the fire-shaped hand and the water-shaped hand. Besides these four shapes, there are four main palmistry lines to indicate people’s features, such as life line, head line, heart line and fate line. Palmistry has existed for thousands of years. Due to an increase in the knowledge of genetics and advancement of the scientific recognition system, many people now believe in lines emerging from both hands as representing the psychology of oneself. Palm lines are interpreted to reveal behaviour, emotion, life direction, health, intelligence, and profession. In addition, these lines change gradually due to time and changes in one’s personality. Therefore, when people have an optimistic and positive mindset, they will think that they hold their fate in their own hands. In contrast, there are also many people who do not have an optimistic view. They believe in fatalism and they think that destiny controls everything in their life.
3-2.6 Practicing prediction by the I Ching: There are sixty four kinds of changes based on the basic prediction of I Ching, also known as The Book of Changes. This is a complex calculation, using methods of an ancient science by bringing the basic elements into a variable application which cannot be explained in modern scientific terms. The Book of Changes is, according to one noted scholar, “an assorted and jumbled compilation of omens, rhymed proverbs, riddles and paradoxes, snatches of song and story, drawn from popular lore and archaic traditions of prediction. “The Chinese character “易” means “change,” and the annotated hexagrams are said to represent the images or structures of change in the universe. Their interpretation therefore provides an understanding of these changes, future as well as past (Caltonhill Mark 2002a, pp. 30-31). However, the ancient science is sufficient to explain the rhythms of the universe, of the past, present and future.
There are many kinds of prediction using different instruments such as birds, tortoises, ancient coins, leaves, etc to predict answers for people. In fact, almost everything can be used as an instrument for making a prediction (Chen Yu Wen 2001, pp. 12-13; Xie Da Hui 2006). The practice of prediction by tortoise or bird is a basic prediction method for asking a single question at one time (Chen Yu Wen 2001, pp. 12-13). This method is useful when the client has a doubt in their mind, and has difficulty making a decision. For example, moving home, changing their jobs, getting married, or making an investment decision. Following is a video shows a great diversity of practicing prediction by the I Ching.
3-2.7 Chinese Graphology: Chinese Graphology is a form of fortune-telling through studying a Chinese character written or chosen by the client. To predict a question by Chinese graphology, the client has to write down one word as a clue for the prediction. At the same time, the predictor tries to say what is the person’s doubt and to navigate a direction for the client. In practice, Chinese graphology will ask the seeker to give the first and foremost impression of that word during the process of prediction. The concept of this action can be interpreted thus: while the thought of asking for prediction emerges, the mystic power is being switched on, and somehow there is a muse who delivers a message from a mystic power.
3-3 Fortune-telling vs. the digital age Nowadays, in a highly developed digital era, face to face is not the only way for doing fortune-telling; digital technology is often used instead. For examples, inputting the key word “fortune-telling” in the Google search engine results in about 1,500,000 relevant pages. Inputting the Chinese characters of fortune-telling “算命”( pronounced “suan ming”) in the Google search engine, about 6,950,000 results appear for this key word, not to mention heaps of other relevant key words.Owing to the convenience of access to internet media, and its advantages over individual ability, online fortune-telling has emerged as a great marketplace for high-tech people. It may sounds strange in a so-called scientific society, but it is a real phenomenon in Chinese society, particularly in Taiwan. According to a report on the investigation of contemporary superstitions, there are approximately 30% of students who believe in fortune-telling and psychometrics, considering it as a supernatural phenomenon with rational scientific validity. Furthermore, 38% of students have used fortune-telling services, and about 40% of students deemed that using fortune-telling in the manner of I Ching is a constructive part of Chinese traditional culture, regarding it as an unknown science. According to this report, investigators named this behavior as “hi tech superstition” (Shan Chun Gang & Chen Xiao Hu 2005).
An academic questionnaire from YouthWant shows that 96% of the interviewees have used online fortune-telling services, and that most of them have used a fortune-telling service once a year at the least. However, that questionnaire also shows that even if the numbers of those using online fortune-telling service are rising, interviewees are still in doubt about its validity. (YouthWant 2005a). Furthermore, the questionnaire that I have constructed for this research shows more or less the same result as the foregoing; nevertheless, most of my interviewees indicated that they do not believe in fortune-telling completely, but have respect for it, no matter if it is online or face to face. According to the results of my questionnaire, 60% of the interviewees will do rituals that the online fortune-telling program requests them to do, even if most of the interviewees think that the motivation of searching help from fortune-telling is for fun only. In addition, 80% of the interviewees strongly agree that going to fortune-tellers is a private matter, and the less people know about it the better (Yueh Hsiu Giffen Cheng 2006). As we can see from the research outcomes, fortune-telling online has considerably more advantages than traditional face to face fortune-telling, because it is easy to reach and ensures privacy for internet users.
Following are three case studies on fortune-telling websites which are all located in Taiwan. They are not only famous and running well, they are doing a real business online and gaining big money from internet users. As we can see, the fortune-telling culture in Taiwan has established its incredibly successful marketplace in both the traditional and the internet market. Here I am looking at two perspectives from each case study in order to analyze the special manner of online fortune-telling practice, such as the type of fortune-telling, and the nature of its interface design; I will then analyse and integrate these two perspectives into a conclusion.
◆Fortune-telling practice: a brief introduction to each website, and a list of every kind of fortune-telling practice from that site.
◆Interface design: the study of the visual design of each website, together with its interaction between users and each of its fortune-telling practices.
◆Conclusion: Analysing the practice of fortune-telling and the interface design of each project, compounding and integrating from the perspective of my creative project, I will then find out the features and advantages of each project to draw on the development of my creative project.
◆Fortune-telling practice: This website is considered one of the biggest online fortune-telling services in Chinese society. It contains many kinds of fortune-telling practice, such as star signs, Tarot, Numerology, Body features, The I Ching, The Eight Trigrams, Feng Shui, Nameology, Transforming fate, Alternative prediction, prediction by foreign practice, prediction by Short Message Service (SMS), and prediction by phone numbers.
◆Interface design: Relaxed and graceful is the first impression from Fateasia dot com; it consists of a pellucid structure together with a mild color strategy, such as light blue, mauve, rose pink and light green etc. Perhaps this is because the majority of its customers are female. However, the visual design creates a harmonious virtual environment for its internet users. Moreover, most of the fortune-telling practices on this website are creative and contain good interaction with its users, in terms of interface design, such as icons, items and a game perspective to induce users’ motivation to participate. Following are some screenshots from Fateasia dot com, interpreting the quality interface and interactive design of its online fortune-telling.
◆Conclusion: Being stylish and creative seems important for an online fortune-telling practice, hence being a successful online fortune-telling agency is not merely about the accuracy of its predictions, it is also relevant to its interface and creative manner of fortune-telling; in the case of Fateasia dot com, such as Alternative prediction, prediction by foreign practice, prediction by Short Message Service (SMS), and prediction by phone numbers. Furthermore, based on my observation, due to defects of internet media, such as its distance from its users, there are some fortune-telling practices which are not perfect for use on the Internet, such as Feng Shui and body features. On the other hand, prediction by the I Ching has unexceptionable features for use online, in the sense of its natural characteristics of mature interaction with its user.
◆Fortune-telling practice: HeroIT is a website which emphasizes a scientific approach to its fortune-telling through high tech media, such as computers and the internet. Chen cheng shu, the director of HeroIT, has a lifelong interest in researching on the scientific perspectives of Chinese Horoscope, and he is famous for this concept, particularly in this digital era. There are seven kinds of fortune-telling practices utilized in this website: Chinese horoscope, Numerology, Tarot, Numbers, the I Ching, pre-existence and Chinese graphology.
◆Interface design: The major colors used by HeroIt web pages are purple and blue, creating a sense of high technology for its users, which may be attributed to Chen cheng shu’s practice of emphasizing fortune-telling in a hi-tech manner. However, the visual design in this website is not particularly creative or visionary in terms of its interaction and interface design. Most of its interaction with its users merely requests users to input information to the website, such as names and keywords.
◆Conclusion: Seeking for efficacious beliefs is a popular custom for the majority of Taiwanese, therefore people believe in spiritual prediction, such as pre-existence, supernatural powers and ESP. However, the director of HeroIT website Chen cheng shu claims that his fortune-telling practices stand on scientific truth. However, he still uses the concept of pre-existence to induce users to pay for inquiring into their previous life and next life, even though we know that is not to up to date “science”. In this case, perhaps we can assume that online fortune-telling practice attempts to suit the needs of its users, due to its broad marketplace. Moreover, the interface design of HeroIT attempts to draw its reality from traditional fortune-telling practices, for instance, the turtle shell and the tai chi sign. There is also a similar style for the majority of online fortune-telling websites, which may be considered as online traditional fortune-telling.
◆Fortune-telling practice: The director of the VeryName website, David Lin, is the master fortune-teller of the particular specialty of Nameology, hence the majority of fortune-telling services offered on this site are based on the practices of Nameology. However, the VeryName website utilizes question types instead of fortune-telling types in its main page, such as marriage/ love affair, career/ wealth, yearly fate/ Chinese horoscope. Nevertheless, the foregoing fortune-telling practices are all combined with the basic manner of Nameology.
◆Interface design: the visual design of the VeryName website consists of cute versions of Chinese painting, utilizing red, blue and brown colors which are considered as the symbolic colors for traditional Chinese painting.
Regarding its interactive design, there is not much creative interaction with its users, perhaps due to its focus on Nameology practice, which is not like prediction by drawing lots or the I Ching, which require strong interactive tasks from their users.
◆Conclusion: the director of the VeryName website, David Lin, has two Master’s degrees in electric machinery and commerce. That seems the trend for fortune-tellers: they do not follow the old-fashioned practices for fortune-telling, but rather do fortune-telling with hi-tech and fashion. It is normal in Taiwanese society that highly educated people and company leaders seek help from fortune-tellers, thus fortune-tellers have to upgrade themselves in order to remain credible to their clients, especially in online fortune-telling services. Moreover there are three special sets of fortune-telling services offered by the VeryName website: Love affair, Marriage and Career. We may infer a conclusion from these offers, that love affairs, marriage and career must be the top popular questions that most users have inquired about on this website. In reality, this inference is in line with my interviews with fortune-tellers and internet users, love affairs and careers no doubt are the most popular questions for fortune-telling.
3-4 Conclusion and future work The great development and massive common practice of fortune-telling culture in Taiwan has generated a great effect upon the operation of Taiwanese society, becoming a well known feature of Taiwan. To combine with the perspectives of both art and culture, I therefore chose this folk convention of fortune-telling as the theme for my creative project. According to the large numbers of participants who have ever sought for fortune-telling help, utilizing the theme of fortune-telling perhaps will enhance the motivation of internet users to participate in my creative project, at the same time pointing out such special phenomena of Taiwanese culture to an international audience, as a form of artistic creation.
With reference to the foregoing online fortune-telling case studies, there are variations in prediction practice which have been invented due to the development of the digital era, such as prediction by cell phone number or SMS. However, based on my investigation and analysis on the operations of doing fortune-telling behind the scenes, most of these creative prediction manners can be ascribed to the calculation of the I Ching. Perhaps the practices of online fortune-telling in the digital era can be a creative extension of traditional fortune-telling. For examples, the notion of feng shui inside one’s computer desk, such as locating icons on the desk, taboos about cataloging files in computers, rituals for managing finances through computers, and so on. In short, these possibilities of creative online fortune-telling practice will be taken into account for my creative project.
In sum, in terms of the characteristics of interaction and the rationality of prediction by computers and the internet, the manner of prediction by the I Ching applies better than other kind of fortune-telling practice. Thus I chose the I Ching as the concept for my creative project. According to the analysis of my interviews with twelve famous fortune-tellers, in prediction by the I Ching it does not matter what media or tools one uses. A strong faith in the efficaciousness of the I Ching is important for getting an accurate prediction. Therefore, all the rites before starting prediction are merely actions purposing to help users gain a peaceful mind and generating their faith in prediction. Thus, the research into all kinds of fortune-telling instruments and rites that I have written in the early section of this chapter will serve as reference materials for the interactive concept of my creative project.
