aiyyo.io

The Hacktivist’s Toolkit

Interaction Design / Video / Creative Coding

2020
Cranbrook Academy of Art

Tools
Adobe XD
Adobe Premiere Pro
Wekinator
Processing
Adobe Illustrator
Video

Link to the full video
Vimeo (part 1)
Vimeo (part 2)

The Hacktivist’s Toolkit is a series of gesture controlled interactive physical experiments. Together they contribute to a pair of short videos that explore scenarios that might arise in the life of a “hacktivist”, someone who uses computer based techniques to bring about social and political change.

The story and props presented were inspired by various government whistleblowers as well as representations of hacking in popular culture.

Using gestures for these products provides easy ways to trigger them, even during tense situations that may arise.

The props shown were created using 3d modeling software, then printed and fitted with electronics to make them appear functional. They were linked to a desktop computer and webcam to allow for gesture recognition to trigger the interactions.

D3adr0p
An encrypted file drive triggered using a “zip your lip” gesture.                It takes the form of a miniature safe that can be plugged into a computer.



PAL 6900
A home monitoring system that takes the form of a prop from “2001 : A Space Odyssey”. 

unplu6
A motorized device that can unplug internet cables to physically help a hacktivist “go dark”.



Desktop  Environment
Taking cues from representations of hacking in popular culture, custom animations were created to represent the laptop screen on the hacktivist’s computer.