Source Database: 
ELMCIP
Source Entry URL: 
Source Entry OAI-PMH Identifier: 
oai:elmcip.net:4738
Author(s) of the Source Entry: 
Patricia Tomaszek
Source Entry Language(s): 
English
Description(s): 

Missed Connections is a 2-Channel internet-aware software piece that continuously fetches the latest posts in the "missed connections" section of Craigslist.org. Each post is presented one at a time, and is filtered by looking for so-called stopwords. Computer Scientists define stopwords as those words that do not convey the meaning of a message. In essence, they are considered signal noise in the stream of potential information. Each post is presented simultaneously in two ways: one just with stopwords, the other with non-stopwords, and in both cases the filtered words are displayed as dashed lines, akin to the way words are presented in the game Hangman. Thus, both posts present the same "graphical" structure, but have the potential for very different readings. Source: work description at author's website