I'm medically observing your feelings. That's right, I have a Mood-Ring-Stethecope.

After being introduced to, and subsequently amazed by, Jonothan Harris and Sep Kamvar’s social explorationn project We Feel Fine in Lori’s Tuesday Lecture, I was left in two minds. I was impressed but apprehensive, touched but alienated: is this initiative the long-awaited proof of technology’s power to draw humanity closer together, or is it yet another case of technology’s ability to diminish the individual to nothing more than data? Is We Feel Fine simply a disturbingly impersonal route by which to take on the traditionally rejected role of voyeur? Has voyeurism become the expected norm?

The project’s mission statement, as viewed on the We Feel Fine website, does little to confirm either view. The statement opens with a description of the project as “…an exploration of human emotion on a global scale”, and goes on to explain in a distanced voice the scientific methodology behind the site’s operation. Terms such as “demographic slices” are tossed around in moderate excess, and promises to answer such pressing questions as: “Do women feel fat more often than men?” are offered freely. While not rude, exactly, the site’s description of its mission feels incredibly light and detached- like we are about to have the pleasure of watching cute little animals scurry about in a cage, free to toss them food pellets or tickle their bellies through the wires, only to go home in an hour never to think of them again.

It is the final message, however, that I feel overcomes all other voices:

At its core, We Feel Fine is an artwork authored by everyone. It will grow and change as we grow and change, reflecting what's on our blogs, what's in our hearts, what's in our minds. We hope it makes the world seem a little smaller, and we hope it helps people see beauty in the everyday ups and downs of life.

At first I was hesitant towards the initial science, the measurements and data, and the sometimes unfair analysis of the blogger’s feelings in this website. However, I see from this closing statement that We Feel Fine as an honest effort to show the amazing possibilities technology holds to explore, and connect us through, the human condition.

My own experience drifting though the feelings was pretty reflective of my daily interactions with those directly around me. Some I laughed with, pitied, or was irritated by, some I didn’t understand while some I understood completely… some I saw a lot of myself in and some I judged with eyebrows raised.

Acey