Nebulae Website

In a collaboration project with Matthew Johnson, a graphic designer, we have been building a website that exists to explore different online systems.  Whereas most websites are linear and webbed (it gives you an option, you follow it, you can click ‘back’ to return to the previous page), our website attempts to try a new system.  The aim is that the website is not clearly or easily navigable, but instead tries to decipher the emotions and interests of the viewer by presenting them with a tangled mass of options, and then loads selected pages from a cache that deal with their selected interest/emotion.

It sounds complicated, but the upshot is that the website will constantly present the viewer with new information which will interest him/her, but the viewer does not have control over which pages are loaded.

The nebulae website is still a work in progress, but here are some of the pages that will be used.

Environmental Time Capsule (2050)

2050 is turning into a deadline year for the planet.  Scientists predict that if global temperatures rise above 2°C by 2050 (which is a probability) then we will witness unalterable climate change, mass extinctions and sea level rises.  Governments have been planning strategies to make sure that a 2°C temperature rise will not happen, but this process has been hindered by international disagreements.

The time capsule contains booklets that simply record predictions of global warming and our methods of combating climate change.  When it is opened in 2050, future generations will be able see where their predecessors triumphed and failed.  The capsule is buried in the grounds of Bath Spa University, on the slope towards the lake, just down from the Italian Gardens.