Leader of the Zombie World is locative media game that uses Zombies as a vehicle to explore the creation, and use of avatars within mobile and ubiquitous networks.

The Zombie metaphor provides a satirical look at technological de-humanization.  In the early age of cinema and folk lore, the Zombie has been a symbol of the loss of humanity.  No longer living as a human, the Zombie speaks to the loss of control and independence.  The Zombie becomes a slave to its un-relenquishing thirst for brains.  In some cultures, the Zombie is slave to the bidding of its master.  In more recent cinematic representations (Zombie Land, Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead), ‘the master’ or ‘controller’ role has shifted to something beyond human understanding.  No longer is it another human commanding the zombie, but the zombie becomes a slave to its own undying thirst for ‘brains’, in order to perpetuate its existence (Dawn of the Dead).

In contemporary times, the Zombie can be conceived as a cyborg figure.  The loss of humanity which has given way to technological control or dependence.  The cyborg interpretation looks to assimilate - as in star trek’s ‘borg model’ - instead of eating brains.  The cyborg assimilation of technology and humanity drives the growth of the the network, decreasing independence and re-enforcing interconnectivity and sameness.  See, A Cybourg Manifesto (Harraway, 1991) for a reference to the effects of this from a feminist perspective.

The project uses the Zombie metaphor as a starting point to explore interactivity within shared, mobile spaces and networks.  After the recent project, (dis)location  (Shamash, Horton, 2009) and the completion of my documentary media thesis Zen in Motion (Horton, 2009), I needed to get back into some of my own creative explorations with technology.I am interested in the interplay between mobile users and their networks.  The project involves researching various opportunities to connect and share media information between mobile users regardless of their hardware choice.  In particular I have been exploring locative media and its transformation into hyper-media through participatory and sharing practices of mobile users.

Research Questions:

• How do we facilitate mobile media sharing?  How do we control, regulate and or distribute mobiel media.
• What is the value and role of ‘play’ within participatory culture?
• What are the options for database, user-flow, and systems architectural models that support the above requirements?
• How are mobile spaces different than mobile networks - can we create temporary, ubiquitous spaces where mobile users can interact?
• How can the tactile physical sensing properties of devices like the iphone, or itouch be leveraged to create immersive or experiential media.