Road across Controversy
The Transborder Immigrant Tool is a transgressive application. In its short life, it has managed to provoke journalists, congress folk, university regents, and average citizens, even instigating an investigation in EDT's Ricardo Dominguez. It is a form of what Rita Raley calls "tactical media," and yet its politicization has long preceded its completion.
According to micha cardenas, the controversy began with news coverage from a Vice magazine story. Soon other journalists were calling to write essentially the same story. However, when popular geek culture blog Boing Boing picked up the story, the project entered mass media attention.
March 2nd, Dominguez launched a hoax website on which UC President Mark Yudof announces his resignation. Tabs on the page offer navigation to "Anti-Capital Projects," "Occupy CA," and "Occupy Everywhere." News of the hoax traveled quickly across the Internet, including the Huffington Post. March 4th, Dominguez staged a virtual sit-in against the UC President's actual homepage. It is worth noting that this cluster of projects were expressions of protest against UC practices, such as layoffs and tuition increases, rather than border issues.
In March 7th, 2010, EDT and California Representative Duncan Hunter (R) presented dueling editorials about the merits of the project and whether or not it deserved funding. The Tool caught the attention of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News website with an article by Joshua Rhett Miller. In the expose, Hunter (R) expresses his feelings on the project in person and through a spokesman, saying,
According to micha cardenas, the controversy began with news coverage from a Vice magazine story. Soon other journalists were calling to write essentially the same story. However, when popular geek culture blog Boing Boing picked up the story, the project entered mass media attention.
March 2nd, Dominguez launched a hoax website on which UC President Mark Yudof announces his resignation. Tabs on the page offer navigation to "Anti-Capital Projects," "Occupy CA," and "Occupy Everywhere." News of the hoax traveled quickly across the Internet, including the Huffington Post. March 4th, Dominguez staged a virtual sit-in against the UC President's actual homepage. It is worth noting that this cluster of projects were expressions of protest against UC practices, such as layoffs and tuition increases, rather than border issues.
In March 7th, 2010, EDT and California Representative Duncan Hunter (R) presented dueling editorials about the merits of the project and whether or not it deserved funding. The Tool caught the attention of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News website with an article by Joshua Rhett Miller. In the expose, Hunter (R) expresses his feelings on the project in person and through a spokesman, saying,
I don’t think it’s an appropriate use of technology....If other governments did this and tried to tell people ways to sneak into the U.S., I’m sure the Department of Defense would take issue with that. But because American universities are doing it, there’s not a whole lot of outcry about it.
The final conclusion is based on our review procedures. We concluded that neither the university funds nor effort were used inappropriately during the development of TBT or the project. (Morlan)
| Previous page on path | performance, page 2 of 11 | Next page on path |
Discussion of "Road across Controversy"
Add your voice to this discussion.
Checking your signed in status ...