Visualizing John

a data project by Amy Lee

      THIS DATA PROJECT is a reflective response to my personal experience as a new media artist. What sets apart the New Media Artist from other types of artists, is data. By collecting and calibrating the massive influx of data found in the digital archives generated from our daily lives, new media art seeks to evoke an image that is born of the relationship between technology and the artist. Thus, the artist receives a place in the world as we know it today, a place that is modernized and mechanized, only secondly for environmental concerns and standards of convenient living, while foremost for the beautiful and delicate impressions that emerge, and the expressions of truth and force of honest emotion, that is the job of the artist to discover.

      I SPENT A YEAR SKETCHING out ideas for the individual icons, line by line. I'd gone off in search of a greater meaning. I found it in scripture. But the life of discipleship wasn't for me. I had affairs left previously unsettled. I was rebellious, a streak of wild. Yet what I found there while I lingered on my days in The Word of ageless wisdom was a story of limits, a history of triumph. I found a reason to doubt what you're told, and to learn by heart the things I can't see. I saw a narrative played out in earnest, and played out in bitterness, one of envy, terrible strife, but also of understanding, returning, and unconditional fraternity. Most of all, there was poetry. Song and image, there were beautiful sentiments amidst an abiding cleanliness--a purity of vision, a grace. The passage I selected is the very first chapter of John, the first 39 verses, a second beginning.

      BEYOND THE VISUAL design of this artwork, I created a web script to compress the 430 logographic icons from data image files into Scalable Vector Graphics. This creates a computer script, which easily handles the vast amount of image data as simple lines of code. To put it in perspective, if a single image file is 4 MB, the entire HTML file containing 400 coded images is now 4 MB. However, the process is tedious, mind-numbing, and endless. There is very little reward for completion of each line, only more segments to follow, and in totally equalized formats--meaning, there is no rhythm to the thing, it occurs with unrelenting regularity. Yet still, the process inherits a tradition of victorious achievement rooted in human intellect. So it is a small trial to bring to life this idea of strings and numerals. It delivers a sort of giddy wonder that makes the science of technology attractive, and appealing to the artist. In fact, artists and programmers are increasingly working together through open source networks to discover ways and means of sharing collaborative collateral both visual and functional. Two such programmers whose code experiments I play with are Gabrielle Wee and J Scott Smith. I also use the code libraries by Michał Sajnóg and Daniel Eden.

      INSTRUCTIONS FOR NAVIGATING the operations I've programmed into this artwork: The icons are designed to animate when the scrollbar is activated, and upon page load. This occurs automatically. The verse numbers should be double-clicked to reveal a line of text. The text is visible for only a few seconds before vanishing. Not to fear, the verse numbers can be clicked off and on again. Some of the text remains animated, and that is intentional.

      ** last updated on: January 17, 2021

Data Visualization Society's Information is Beautiful (IIB) 2022 awards entry.

In the beginning

was

the Word,

and the Word

was with God,

and

the Word

was God.

He was

in the beginning

with God.

All things

were made

through Him,

and

without Him

nothing

was made

that was made.

In Him

was life,

and the life

was

the light of man.

And

the light

shineth

in darkness,

and the darkness

compre-
hended it not.

There

was a man

sent from God

whose name

was John.

The same

came

for a witness,

to bear

witness

of the Light,

that

all men

through him

might

believe.

He was not

that Light,

but

was sent

to bear witness

of that Light.

That was

the true Light,

which

lighteth

every man

that cometh

into the world.

He was

in the world,

and

the world

was made

by Him,

and the world

knew Him not.

He came

unto His own,

and

His own

received Him not.

But

as many as

received Him,

to them

He gave

the right

to become

children

of God,

to those

who

believe in

His name:

who were born,

not of blood,

nor

of the will

of the flesh,

nor

of the will

of man,

but

of God.

And the Word

became

flesh

and dwelt

among us,

and

we

beheld

His glory,

the glory

as of

the only

begotten

Father,

full

of grace

and truth.

John

bore

witness

of Him,

and cried,

saying,

"This

was

He

of whom

I spake,

'He

that cometh

after

me

is preferred

before me:

for

He was

before me.'"

And

of His

fullness

have we

all

received,

and

grace

for grace.

For

the law

was

given

by

Moses,

but grace

and truth

came through

Jesus

Christ.

No one

has

seen

God

at any time.

The only

begotten

Son,

who is

in

the bosom

of the Father,

He hath

declared

Him.

Now

this is

the testimony

of John,

when

the Jews

sent

priests

and Levites

from Jerusalem

to

ask him,

"Who

are

you?"

He

confessed,

and

did not deny,

but confessed,

"I

am not

the Christ."

And they

asked

him,

"What then?

Are you

Elijah?"

He said,

"I

am not."

"Are you

the Prophet?"

And

he answered,

"No."

Then

they said

to him,

"Who

are you,

that

we may

give

an answer

to

those

who sent us?

What

do you

say

about yourself?"

He said,

"I

am

'The voice

of

one

crying

in

the wilderness:

"Make

straight

the way

of the Lord,"'

as

the prophet

Isaiah

said."

Now

those

who were

sent

were from

the Pharisees.

And

they asked

him,

saying,

"Why then

do you

baptize

if

you are

not

the Christ,

nor

Elijah,

nor

the Prophet?"

John

answered them,

saying,

"I baptize

with water,

but

there stands

One

among you

whom

you do not know.

It is

He

who,

coming

after me,

is

preferred

before me,

whose

sandal strap

I am not

worthy

to loose."

These things

were

done

in

Bethany-

beyond-

the-Jordan,

where

John was

baptizing.

The next day

John saw

Jesus

coming toward him,

and said,

"Behold!

The Lamb

of God

who

takes away

the sin

of the world!

This is

He

of whom

I said,

'After me

comes

a Man

who is

preferred

before me,

for

He was

before me.'

I

did not

know Him;

but that

He

should be

revealed

to Israel,

therefore

I came

baptizing

with water."

And

John

bore witness,

saying,

"I saw

the Spirit

descending

from heaven

like

a dove,

and

He remained

upon Him.

I did not

know

Him,

but He

who sent me

to baptize

with

water

said to me,

'Upon whom

you see

the

Spirit

descending,

and

remaining on Him,

this

is He

who baptizes

with

the Holy Spirit.'

And

I have seen

and testified

that this

is

the Son

of God."

Again,

the next day,

John

stood with

two of his

disciples.

And looking

at

Jesus

as He walked,

he said,

"Behold

the Lamb

of God!"

The two

disciples

heard him

speak,

and they

followed Jesus.

Then

Jesus

turned,

and

seeing them

following,

said to them,

"What

do

you

seek?"

They

said

to Him,

"Rabbi,

(which

is to say

when

translated,

Teacher),

where

are You

staying?"

He said

to

them,

"Come

and

see."

They came

and saw

where

He was

staying,

and remained

with Him

that day

(now

it was about

the tenth hour.)