Translation as Movement

We propose an alternative to the technocratic idea that translation-is-decryption. We will design a Translation Map to support an understanding of translation as movement across and between networks and territoires. Construction of the Translation Map will entail four pieces of work:

(1) The design and implementation of a new peer-to-peer network protocol that will "piggyback" on Gnutella and AOL Messenger.

(2) We will design two ways of visualizing the movement -- the "translation" -- of language carried by the network protocol across the globe. One visualization will show -- from a global perspective -- a trace of the geographic movements of each of the message packets as they move out from a sender to one or more receivers.

(3) Our second visualization will entail the development of a means to watch the movement and transformations of each piece of a message as it moves through the network. Each message routed through the protocol will be divided into pieces and then sent as a set of independent packets. Each packet of the message will make its way from sender to receiver along a potentially different route (i.e., as a packet moves in TCP/IP). Thus, we understand the current state of any given message in movement as a "collage" in which each packet of the message has a different status and location. At every move a packet will "call home" to report its status and location. At "home," i.e., at the sender's end a collage will be assembled so that the message can be viewed as an assemblage of packets, each potentially slightly or very different in form and location from their original form and location.

(4) We envision our prototcol as a means for messages to flow within but also between networks. Consequently, we have been working on designing the means to allow messages to flow out of the digital networks and into the physical world. Most plainly we envision some messages being printed out and carried by hand to people who do not have computers and/or network access. But, we want the printed messages to be something interesting and special. Thus, we will develop a means to print out the collages of point (3) as folding paper "sculptures," e.g., a sort of origami form of output. We want to print out the collage/messages on 8.5 x 11 paper with dotted lines and folding instructions so that the message recipient and/or message carrier can fold the message into a little origami-like figure.