Project Proposal:
A Website to Explore the Phenomenon of “Sonder”
Chris Chu
Kelly Skye
FDM 20C
3/2/13
Description:
While the word “sonder” is completely fictitious, the website I wish to create will be
focused around exploring and providing the exact concept of “sonder”. The website will do this
by revealing to the user a busy street as people pass each other, only giving a single glance as
they walk off, never to see that person again. It will be from the view of a street camera, similar
to Google’s “Street View”, and each of these people will be accessible to the user, revealing to
that user who they are as a person. The setting, and what the user is interacting with will be
completely fabricated by me, and I will design these personalities that people will viewing. The
street will act as it would in real life, as it progresses from day to night, season to season. The
idea behind it is that people will realize the immense complexity around people in general, and
hopefully make feel people a bit special in themselves as well. One main goal that I wish to
accomplish with this project is just that, when people interact with this website, then they realize
that every person, every soul has a story, and has deep interconnecting roots that tie itself to the
world. If you rip out one of these roots, then parts of the plant of life will wither and die.
Everyone is important, and in the macro and hustle of bustle of the day to day, when people walk
across a busy street, they may just forget that.
Visual Examples:
This is an example of a busy street that would be showcased on the website, here you can see
shops that people visit or can interact with, people handing out flyers on the street, people on the
phone, and tourists. Generally these people will see a hundred faces and not think twice about
any of them.
While the image above is a picture, my goal is to have the street more interactive such as google
maps on street view. You can view streets from a multitude of angles and while you can’t click
on people or places, the goal for my website is to allow access to that.
Long Description
My project’s main goal is to force upon the viewer the idea of “sonder” which is the
realization that everybody in the world that you may pass by without even noticing have as vivid
and complicated lives as your own. Hopefully with this project, people will learn to appreciate
other people more, and not take not them for granted, or simply make themselves feel special and
intricate. By clicking and seeing the stories and lives of those on the street, I was inspired by
Luis Borges’, Garden of Forking Paths, a short story explaining the “branching narrative” that is
present in my project. While there is less consequence with my project, I am eager to explore
stories told from more than one perspective and set path. The user will be able to choose
whoever they wish to view and learn more about that person. Where Luis Borges’ story details
how a character may create “diverse futures, diverse times which themselves also proliferate and
fork” (Borges, pg.7) the story I wish to create has the same diverse futures, but with multiple
human beings and the user can view through them at will. My story will still detail human choice
and its consequences, only differentiating in not allowing the user to view the different paths and
their outcomes. Another thing I believe this project ties into, is the concept of networks in
society. Everything is interconnected and it is surprising how often the phrase “small world”
comes up. Everyone is connected in a distributed network where everyone is connected to one
another. There is no central unit to the faces that we see as we pass by them on the street, they
are all individuals and their friends and family are also each individuals. The major difference
between the people you would see in my project and those in a swarm group would be mostly
that the individuals each have their own actions, which have the potential to influence those
around them, however are not bound to the actions of those around them. People lay down roots
wherever they go, and they have a “high connectivity between the sub units” (Kelly, chapter 2).
People could also see how people connect in this project as well, for despite people having
incredibly diverse lives that are separate from each other, their lives may connect without them
even realizing it.
Resources Needed:
1. Computer
2. HTML/CSS Editing Software
3. Final Cut Pro
4. Camera
Milestones:
-Start: Brainstorm stories
-Write stories of individuals
-Create a web of connectivity
-Begin coding
-Advertise for actors
-Cast actors
-Film video for some individuals
-Edit video
-Finish website
-Turn in!
-Advertise website and project for public
Budget:
The budget for this project would be estimated around 1000 dollars, for a camera and
access to Final Cut Pro, whereas the computer I already have access to.
Works Cited:
1. Kenta. Busy London Street Scene. Digital image. Nikonian. Nikonian, 30 Apr. 2011.
Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
2. Lenssen, Philipp. Google Street View Hong Kong. Digital image. Google Blogoscoped.
Blogoscoped.com, 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
3. Sonder. Digital image. Niel De La Rouviere, 5 June 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.