While access to the internet is helping to destroy indigenous cultures, a robot is using the internet to preserve them.
The Preservation Robot, unveiled at SXSW this week, is the creation of J.Walter Thompson Amsterdam and photographer, Jimmy Nelson. It continues the work launched by the pair in December last year.
J. Walter Thompson & photographer, Jimmy Nelson, fight against an insidious killer
The robot continually places images of indigenous culture into the open spaces on the internet, using free social networks and Cloud platforms to make sure that these images are highly visible and help to keep indigenous cultures alive.
https://youtu.be/Vvd-88aCzSY
Jimmy Nelson has spent the last thirty years traveling to the farthest corners of the world to visit and photograph some of the last indigenous cultures still alive. His work has subsequently been used to gain support and help restore a sense of pride around indigenous ways of life. Nelson believes that exposing the world to the richness and range of indigenous peoples is the way to safeguard not only their traditions and ways of life, but also to bolster one of humanity’s greatest values – cultural diversity.
He has witnessed the sharp decline in cultural diversity in the last decades and realised that he needed a far-reaching approach to tell people about this global issue.
The Preservation Robot is his effort to reverse this decline. By turning the internet against itself. Literally.
“The decline of cultural diversity would perhaps seem a less urgent problem than some of our other global issues. However, the erosion of cultural identity throughout the planet and the loss of traditions and customs has far-reaching and profound effects on all of us. Indigenous culture is visually underrepresented – and often misrepresented. I’m taking a stand by launching The Preservation Robot. Using technology to invert homogenization,” Nelson commented.
Jimmy Nelson
Bas Korsten, creative partner, J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, added, “It’s probably fair to state that Western culture has a stranglehold on the world. We, the people working in tech and advertising, are propagating that same culture. If not as the agents – then certainly as the enablers. This is why the idea of using technology – the very thing that threatens cultural diversity – against itself to promote cultural diversity is so compelling. This is the aim of The Preservation Robot. A robot to help humans preserve their cultural identity.”
Bas Korsten
The images that The Preservation Robot is distributing throughout the web are photos of some of the most glorious, yet threatened indigenous cultures across the world. For now, this is Jimmy Nelson’s own work, but in the near future these will also be images made by other photographers, via the Jimmy Nelson Foundation, a group which finds, supports and enables new talent to photograph and document indigenous cultures from their own perspective.
How The Preservation Robot works:
The Preservation Robot is an autonomous technology that continuously increases cultural diversity online in a bid to combat homogenisation.
- Finding open spaces
The Preservation Robot autonomously creates free open spaces to upload pictures of indigenous culture. Open spaces on social networks like Reddit and Twitter. And free cloud platforms like IMGUR and TinyIMG.
- Creating accounts
The robot uses these accounts to upload images of indigenous cultures in all their glory.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
The script that the robot executes is developed in collaboration with SEO experts, which means that the uploaded photos will pop up more and more in online searches all over the world.
- Real-time progress
As soon as an upload is finished, it sends a ‘ping’ to The Preservation Robot website preservationrobot.com with information including the image URL, geo-location of the specific server the image was uploaded to and more. This information is used to update the globe with real-time progress of The Preservation Robot.
- Platform set for growth
The robot is developed as a platform that will improve itself in all its uploading, sharing and SEO capacities.
“We spend a lot of time blending the digital and the physical when it comes to interactive experiences and we like to think we push the limits of what is possible. But it’s not every day we get briefed to design a robot. So we’re pretty proud to show our latest bold foray into the world of interactive experiences and robotics. The Preservation Robot project represents a synthesis of interactive design, development and fabrication techniques in the aim of helping Jimmy Nelson preserve indigenous cultures,” stated Kev Mayo, creative technologist, SuperHero CheeseCake.
“With the Preservation Robot we have laid the foundation of an ingenious learning platform that is able to constantly upload and spread content to change the world. The Preservation Robot is unique in that it will be able to expand and optimize on many fronts in order to increase its power and relevance on the future web,” noted Salim Hadri, chief executive officer, Milvum.
Credits:
Client: Jimmy Nelson
Photographic Artist: Jimmy Nelson
Public Relations & Partnerships Manager: Marit Hoog
Project Manager: Coco Box
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam
Creative Lead: Bas Korsten
Senior Art Director: Tunchan Kalkan
Creative: Marius Gottlieb
Creative: Jasper Korpershoek
Digital Producers: Reinier Slothouber & Hans Dekker
Producers: Charlotte Lilly & Anne Cliff
Design and Photography: Robert Harrison
PR Director: Jessica Hartley
Digital Partner: SuperHero CheeseCake
Managing Partner & Director of Technology: Rian Verhagen
Managing Partner & Head of Production: Niels van Esch
Creative Technologist: Kev Mayo
Lead Creative Developer: Mathijs Peerboom
Creative Developers: Stan van Oers & David van Ochten
Interactive Art Director: Antoine P.Kostadinoff
Senior Digital Designer: Raphael Ferraz
Motion Designer: Joris van Raaij
QA: Carina Schutte
UX Designer: Pim van Daelen
Senior Digital Producer: Bas Schutte
Technical Partner: Milvum
Chief Technology Officer: Arvind Jagesser
Developers: Kaj Oudshoorn, Tim de Jong, Albert ten Napel & Jelle Licht
Production Company: Tim Arnold AV
Editor & Film: Tim Arnold
Motion Graphics: Tim Arnold
Sound Design: Tim Arnold
