Chapter 1 Introduction

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.

1-3 Methodology

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.)