Presentation at CityU HK

1. Wi-Fi Colour in Real World and Cyberspace
Cyborg Identity in Urban Wi-Fi Networks
Jung-Hua Liu
University of Leeds
29/05/2013

2. My Background
Majored in anthropology and archaeology in Taiwan
PhD in Fine Art
Software Developer

3. Data Visualization

4. Before 100 Years – The Starry Night

5. Data in The Starry Night
Space: The distribution of stars and their styles
Time: When stars appears
Scale: The view from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

6. Now – Wikipedia Edits

7. Data in Wikipedia Edits
Space: The pages in Wikipedia
Time: After one page was created
Scale: Petabyte data in this image

8. Aim
Visualizing landscapes of urban Wi-Fi (wireless
connection) networks as a hybrid of art, statistics and
anthropology
Pushes the boundaries of art via bridging different
disciplines.

9. The Motivation
Taipei City began its urban Wi-Fi plan since 2005
As an anthropologist: how Wi-Fi networks shape
citizen’s life.
As an archaeologist: how Wi-Fi networks create material
culture.
As a web developer: how web programming can visualize
Wi-Fi networks.
As an artist: how I can combine the above concerns to
create a creative artwork to explore the boundary of art.

10. Why fieldwork?
Limited access to commercial/open-map Wi-Fi data
only, e.g. Skyhook, WiGLE. and they focus on
hardware information
Observing the interaction between Wi-Fi facilities
and social/cultural aspects
I went to London, New York, Chicago, Taipei, and
Hong Kong to collect data from 2007-2010.

11. But……
My works did not cover all access points because Wi-
Fi devices are still growing and abandoning in cities. 
I can only present the complete features of contemporar
y societies via their incomplete and heterogeneous comp
osition.

12. When you see these, there’s Wi-Fi
Taipei Hong Kong
Machine Box
Notice Board

13. When you see these, there’s Wi-Fi
Chicago
New York
Notice
Public Library

14. When you see these, there’s Wi-Fi
Chicago
New York
London
Notice
Venice

15. And… in Venice
Notice

16. Because My Background……
I took Wi-Fi users as native cyborgs as natives in
anthropology field.
House societies theory was applied to study and visualize
Wi-Fi networks.

17. Three Metaphors
Metaphor can bridge different objects even they belong
to different categories.
Wi-Fi Users as Cyborgs
Wi-Fi APs as Houses
Unique Wi-Fi Identifier Codes to Colours

18. Wi-Fi Users as Cyborgs

19. Wi-Fi users as cyborgs
CYBernetic ORGanism
Combination of human beings and machines
Two dimensions of cyborg in this project:

20. Cyborg Identity
Cyberspace is a ‘real’ world, not a
‘virtual’ world.
Wi-Fi devices build the connections
that allow users to exist in an
invisible sphere.

21. Cyborg Identity (Cont.)
Wi-Fi devices as Wi-Fi users’ myths in that they provided
structures consisting of cyberspace and the real world
where Wi-Fi users lived.
These structures identified Wi-Fi users as a hybrid of
human beings and machines. Therefore, Wi-Fi devices
‘tell’ users who they are in much the same way myths
explained ‘what a human being is’ to native people,
differentiating themselves from others.

22. Wi-Fi APs as Houses

23. House Societies
Claude Lévi-Strauss pointed out that
houses are the elementary social unit in
some societies, as opposed to blood-
related organizations, such as lineages
and clans.

24. House Societies (Cont.)
Houses have material and immaterial wealth ‘which
perpetuates itself through the transmission of its
name down a real or imaginary line, considered
legitimate as long as this continuity can express itself
in the language of kinship or of affinity, and most
often, of both.’

25. House Societies (Cont.)
People claimed membership via tangible and
intangible wealth in the houses in which they lived.
Houses in this kind of society constructed
relationships via their positions in real and imaginary
lines.

26. House Societies (Cont.)
The house becomes a reference that helps humans locate
their position and relationship in society. Unlike family
bonds, the house provides a vehicle for changing
identities, such as an outsider becoming a house member
via marriage.

27. Wi-Fi Access Points as Houses
Wi-Fi APs are similar to houses in house societies
because APs represent material (the machine itself) and
immaterial (users’ names, internet connection) wealth to
mark users’ identities.

28. Example
For example, a school’s Wi-Fi APs allow its students to
access the internet because they are members of the
school, and this represents ‘the real line.’
Wi-Fi devices are ‘the imaginary line’ because students as
cyborgs access wealth-like APs by applying and claiming
that their machine parts (personal Wi-Fi devices) are also
members of the Wi-Fi APs.

29. Unique Wi-Fi Identifier Codes
to Colours

30. Unique Wi-Fi Identifier Codes to Colours
Challenge:
The work should present both individual AP and Wi-Fi
networks to display Wi-Fi networks in a holistic view.
The visualisation should break the boundaries between
statistics and art to create a new view to push art to
unexpected fields.
Solution:
The distribution of Wi-Fi APs are landscape portraits. This
type of landscape portraits are composed of residents (Wi-Fi
users as cyborgs), houses (Wi-Fi access points) and societies
(Wi-Fi networks)

31. Colour Squares/Grids
Inspired by the ‘relational’ colours experiments in Josef
Albers, I converted AP codes to colour grids to express
complicated ‘relations’ of house-like Wi-Fi APs.
‘[C]olor is the most relative medium in art,’ and adopted
simple shapes to reveal how, from a human’s perception,
colours change their appearance when placed next to
neighbouring colours’

32. Josef Albers
Homage to the Square, Luminant (1958)

33. Medium and Tool
Gathering Data: netsh in Windows Vista, Wi-Fi scanner
app in iPod Touch
Processing File: PHP, server-site language
Storing Data: MySQL Database
Generating Data: PHP
Layout: CSS, HTML
Medium: Web Colours

34. From Codes to Colours
Every Wi-Fi AP has unique codes as its identifier. The
code is composed of 12-digit numbers (0 to 9) and
characters (a to f, case insensitive). The first six digits are
the vendor’s code and the last six digits represent the
serial number from the vendor’s factory. This unique
code can be seen physically as the AP itself, so it is
suitable as an element of the artworks.

35. Visualise APs as Houses
The bottom part, which is the colour charts as shown
above.
 The top part, where the Wi-Fi AP name and area appear
in the final six-character colour background.
 The border that surrounds the top and bottom parts,
which is the first six-character colour.

36. Visualize APs as Houses (Cont. )
The bottom part of the colour charts represents the
codes from the vendor’s code to the serial number in the
factory.
Most houses in cities were built by construction
companies, which is why they seem so similar to one
another.
To house members, however, their houses are unique.
Wi-Fi APs have similar attributes, as they are constructed
by manufacturers, but every Wi-Fi AP is different for
users. The colour transition can be seen in Wi-Fi
networks that contain both personal and public access.

37. Visualize APs as Houses (Cont.)
The background colour of the top part was translated
from the factory number. Because the factory number for
the Wi-Fi AP is ‘personal,’ I combined the colour with
the Wi-Fi AP name and area to mark the personality of
the Wi-Fi AP.
The border signified the Wi-Fi AP’s degree of openness.
Borders are like the walls of houses constructed by
construction companies.

38. Visualize Space and Time
Space:
Arranging Wi-Fi AP according to my routes not geographic
locations,
These Wi-Fi landscapes are what I saw and passed by as a
cyborg native in the real world and cyberspace.
Time:
Because Wi-Fi APs will be replaced, abandoned, added in these
cities, these landscapes portraits are time-specific and
irreproducible.

39. Hong Kong

40. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
House Metaphor of Hong Kong Wi-Fi

41. Urban Wi-Fi Landscape
House Metaphor of Hong Kong Wi-Fi from a Bird’s-eye
View

42. Taipei

43. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
House Metaphor of Taipei Wi-Fi

44. Urban Wi-Fi Landscape
House Metaphor of Taipei Wi-Fi from a Bird’s-eye View

45. London

46. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
House Metaphor of London Wi-Fi

47. Urban Wi-Fi Landscape
House Metaphor of London Wi-Fi from a Bird’s-eye View

48. New York

49. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
House Metaphor of New York Wi-Fi

50. Urban Wi-Fi Landscape
House Metaphor of New York Wi-Fi from a Bird’s-eye
View

51. Chicago

52. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
House Metaphor of Chicago Wi-Fi

53. Urban Wi-Fi Landscape
House Metaphor of Chicago Wi-Fi from a Bird’s-eye
View

54. Wi-Fi Urban Landscape
 Cyborg in Wi-Fi London, Performance and Exhibition

55. Wi-Fi in Different Cities
LondonChicagoNew
York
Hong
Kong
Taipei
Similarities1.Popular in households, schools, hotels, companies,
restaurants;
2. International Wi-Fi companies: FON, Boingo
Differences1.Transport system: Metro/Bus (Taipei, Hong Kong);
Train(London)
2.Government Policy Suspended/BOT/Non-profit
3.Geographical uses:
Road(Taipei)/Booth(H.K/London);Café(ALL)
4.Wi-Fi Facilities: Machine box(Taipei)/Symbol(All
others)
CharacterServiceHouse House ServiceInfra-
structure

56. After colour – Hong Kong Wi-Fi song

57. Beyond Wi-Fi Art Project
Wi-Fi Orchestra
http://fireant.itaiwan.net/20120123/show_colour_p3.php
Neon Lamp
http://fireant.itaiwan.net/20120123/show_colour_p2.php
London Wi-Fi Landscape
http://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Wi-Fi-Landscape/dp/B004YZGN3U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369544127&sr=8-1&keywords=jung-hua+liu
Colour Textile
http://fireant.itaiwan.net/dac2012/float.php