Leonardo Electronic Almanac / Volume 13, No. 4 / April

ABSTRACT
This article describes the digital artwork *Timeline [Who
writes the history?]* by Petri Raappana. The work is a reaction
to the ways of the media today with the dominating media
conglomerates and attempts to promote alternative media. The
article addresses questions concerning economic gains, media
reform, and the role of the Internet.
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INTRODUCTION
*Timeline [Who writes the history?]* was created by Petri
Raappana. It was shown for the first time on the art website
http://www.artnode.org in 2004.
The work is a reaction to the ways the media work today. It can
be claimed that mainstream media are increasing in power and
decreasing in quality, all of which can potentially be fatal for
democracy. The deficient coverage of the mainstream media is
being countered by alternative media that, however, are not as
well known and do not have the recognition and familiarity of
the mainstream media.
*Timeline [Who writes the history?]* aims at being more than
just an artistic comment on society and functioning as an
internet community for the gathering of links to alternative
news media.
THE STRUCTURE AND THE PRINCIPAL IDEA
The work consists of a Shockwave file and a database. The
Shockwave file starts out with a timeline that mimics the
timeline in video editing software. On the timeline are logos
from the mainstream news media. By moving the timelines curser
the logos move horizontally back and forth in unison. If the
timeline is stretched, a ‘swarm’ of logos from alternative news
media shows up moving vertically across the timeline. If the
user clicks on one of these, the chosen site opens in an
external window. The user can also click his or her way into an
“icon maker”, where an icon can be designed. When the user
starts creating icons, a question mark appears next to the icon
maker. When clicking on it a new window appears with the
question “Who writes the history?” and a form appears where the
user can add an alternative news media (URL, description and
category). The user can also view the list of links provided by
others. When the user returns to the icon maker and clicks the
button ‘OK’, the provided link is added to the swarm. The icons
themselves are not saved; their function is merely symbolic. The
link will stay on the list though.
The swarm is a metaphor for a number of different players who
together are creating a (hi)story. The movement of the swarm of
alternative news media also gives the timeline a static and
uniform look. The swarm consists of a number of sites. The user
can thus participate with a subjective contribution to the
writing of history.
BACKGROUND
Through an extensive selection of news media on the Internet,
we have the possibility to follow what goes on in the world from
our computers. Most of us will click onto the well known news
APRIL 2005 VOL 13 NO 4 LEONARDOELECTRONICALMANAC 40