Group of the potato in the grid: PRINCESS
Kate, Juliane, Nicolas, Gijs, Stamatia, An

* Who is it? game to 'find' a potato
* longest way to traverse the feral trade db, to show ambiguities


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Looking at feral trade (Kate's db)
* mysql 
key = ID of shipment (combination of numbers only), is unique in mysql
-> primary keys are unique in mysql (if you remove them, they leave empty space, but are never replaced); you can also use only secondary keys to introduce ambiguity
'normalisation': you only store each data once

K uses it more as storage, not for processing data/counting
the db doesn not check to see if everything is coherent before adding a new element

regular expressions to find different spellings of street/names to force it ack into 1 field of database

At some point another supplier for the coffee, unwanted ambiguity in the database.

The history of shipments is kept, so the system knows the original source for a type of coffee. Because of this the database can't deal with ambiguity as it would confuse the original source.

An: do you keep your sources and contact information? As it would be a side that's less familiar to us

No, keep this information out because of security.



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create a mock-up of an economical model (Juliane)

"edges" of the fetishized db
decisions on every level
1/ collectioning by sensors (cfr scarcity) 
2/ filter/selection process: where things fall out / being taken out
3/ 'memory': how memory is being structured & changed -> show/research limits within the db (cells/table)
3/ how output of db/chosen data decides what is used as a narrative upon which people act

want to optimize space using on disk, want to make search as fast as possible
-> create optimized types: what is entered should be coherent with type of data in db
relational dbses (sql 70): mathematical layer on top of db that forces out ambiguity, when you stay in the standard, all operations you do are mathematically proven, aim: exclude ambiguity
huge benefit: if you need to rely on data to be coherent, it is; ex money transactions, health care, space traveling (set theory)
-> all constraints are functioning very well with bureaucracy
-> but it still in the db: f;ex. artists in db of employment services
-> enter a human as a potato

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Start
-> (in)completeness: what does it mean
what to do that doens not confirm the practice/db that are there
what is absent & how to deal with it

-> start from concrete potato on the table: what is there/not there, where does it come from, what can you do with it, who does it belong to...
map how it travels
it resists the database, tradition to do things by hand; object brings a whole series of references/attachments that do not fit a db (everyone has different sizes, weights, shapes...)
db is way to make abstract concepts
claim the emotionalality, and to make sure emotionality is absent
-> would be different if we put a laptop, would not impose the same clear opposition
= water, bacteria, air, soil / is not recognized in the db
'the physical body' is not included: that's where privacy starts

--> can get lost in the grid!
f;ex; recording size of a potato, Smallest size would be 4 blocks, means that some get lost
where is the entrance door? how to make visible what stays out?
without extending the limits of the db, cfr economist study scarse rssources, ex. pebbles on the beach are not studied, air only recently became studied --> everything that comes into the scope of economics is a failure (adding to the equilibrium process)
talking about closed system = talking about equilibrium (because ressources are infinite) - ecological economists propose to break these
earth: open system with limited ressources
-> what we fear from the db is not its limitation but the potential to grow; they're not so closed as we think...
-> look at a 'record', one entry into a db: what gets in/what gets lost; it is about the properties (what data do we record?)
-> can we create a db where 2 potatoes become 1; or entry a stone as a potato? break down the db from within when it is going over the edges of the square - waste
-> entering fake data is speaking about the borders....? ex image recognition given false faces -> way to recognize/get to know the algorithm
ex entering a potato field in db/scifi potato, what does it aggregate with
'we can make the document say anything'

-> how to desing limits & how to show what's outside as something dynamic

K: interested in what is not visible/present in db - data in Africa
the story is the only information, deduced or not from an irregular line....
scatterplots = mainstream, has infiltrated every social science, not an interesting approach to data

Outputs
mapping
S: listening to music, searching for patterns -> making sounds
http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tuneR/
tuneR listens for pattens for you :P
reproduce numbers in colors/shapes of painting

Nicolas: interested in searching/curiosity about the numbers, how they trigger fantasies
is exciting until we have the answer, ex. why did Poland reduce the production of potatoes
whole process is exciting - would not be if we would have the answer
'our ignorance is bliss'

Juliane
visual, paintings, graphic allows for a 'quick idea'

names for pesticides - meaningless, complex
can be brand names, practise in pharmaceutical industries to safeguard the content
E-numbers are designed to make it easy -> being allowed, protocol to safety (legal poison)
natural & artificial fertilizer - different focus (soil/plant)

names given to potatos = poetic, a lot of female names
vs datastream about the potato
-> name of product is only 'life/sentiment' element in a graph + names as protocols for safety -> each one has a geography
-> gender & potato
'la pomme de terre' vs 'nen aardappel' (male in Dutch)
'patana' (naples dialect for potato & female genitals in slang)

look at structure of databases - trace the edges, ...
protected area / national parks for data