Questions & Answers
Project by Scott Murray
Important: You will be asked whether or not you trust this website. You must select trust or yes, and also allow Internet access. Otherwise, you will just see an empty, black screen. It could take 10-20 seconds for the project to load.
Concept
Asking a question reveals something about oneself. Through the act of asking, we give clues into our interests, personalities, priorities, and concerns. What do we want to know, and why? What can be inferred about our identities as a result? How we respond to others' questions, too, is revealing.
Questions & Answers is designed to encourage exploration of the vast range of questions that people ask (and answer) online. Question/answer data from Yahoo! Answers and colors from ColourLovers are presented in a fluid, minimalist interface, allowing the user to focus on the content and pursue the subjects that interest him or her.
I hope that, through using the project, people will develop their own questions about the nature of questions online, such as:
- What is the value of posing a question to anyone willing to read it?
- How personal is too personal? How much about oneself should be revealed (or concealed) through the process of asking or answering?
- How can the questioner — who, by definition, does not know the correct answer to the question — effectively evaluate the knowledge and expertise of the answerer? How can we know whether the answer is right or not, and does it matter?
- Given the pseudo-anonymity of the online environment, how much trust can we bestow upon answerers, especially when the answers propose taking actions that will have real-life consquences (e.g. cost money, influence relationships)?
- Are there any kinds of questions that should be off-limits in this space, or restricted only to trusted answerers, such as real-life friends, family, and experts?
Stills
An intimate question speaks to the questioner's comfort with sharing highly personal information online.
Choosing a topic category.
Keying in a search.
A related question...
...and its answer.
Colophon
- Powered by Yahoo! Answers
- Colors from ColourLovers
- Built with Processing
- Uses ColorTools
Project posted May 9, 2009.