Where we tweet

At last, heartache on Twitter has been narrowed down.

That's right.  Tracked to its source.  That is to say, a project named Geolocations has taken various tweets and tracked them to their points of origin (or close to it) via public domain GPS metadata.  The originators of the project see social media as a type of "telepathy."  As quoted in the link on Discover: social media  "echoes of thoughts across the American landscape.  In this way our digital life can give another layer of detail about our lived reality--what the writer Clive Thompson called "ambient awareness." "

What do the landscapes look like where a tweet is composed?  What do these localities say about the origin of the tweet itself?  About us?  Well, one look at the photo above might lead you to think that dismal surroundings inspire one to tweet, that social media gives us outlet for our modern malaise, the lagan of the sea of our lives?  These sprawls of urban decay that are the cathedrals of our devotion?

Hard to say.  Still, I find this to be a fascinating project.  The intersection of art, philosophy, composition theory, technology, and so many other things.  If I were a visitor/invader of our society, surveying the cultural landscape, I believe I might learn much from this study.  It's mostly a visual study, so I will quit writing and allow you to drink it in with your eyes.  Here's the link.  

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