THIRD ANNIVERSARY
by Joanna Gilman Hyde
To My Devoted Followers:
My 1984 Rooftop Painting
At The Former World Trade Center In New York
Titled Self Organizing Galaxy
Can Be Seen In An Hour Long Video
Uploaded Onto YouTube
Three Years Ago
By My Friend Big Andre
& Has Reached 3,154 Views
Joanna Gilman Hyde 
Awesome ! Big Andre’
Not sure if you recall, but a while back we had a short exchange here in comment-land re how to potentially up the # of views of the S.O.G. and the “This is your Mother …” videos. Have you considered perhaps editing the Wikipedia page for 5WTC and adding relevant content and links there? I checked page statistics and it appears that page gets thousands of hits monthly. No need to publish this comment. Just wanted to pass that thought along. —CC
Thank you for your suggestion but I have looked at that page and do not see where there is an appropriate section to mention my painting. It seems to be mostly about the NEW #5 WTC. I do wonder about linking my site to the social media but am not sure how to go about it. However, I do want the world to know that I feel my art project was influential to 9/11 and any further suggestions you or my other readers might have would be very welcome.
Respectfully, not sure I wholly agree with you on the lack of opportunity to insert your content. There is a network of pages related to WTC and the constituent buildings that comprised the complex that offer up various possibilities. Even the 5WTC page, though as you say more focused on the new, does have a short History section where such can be inserted. Worst-case (best case?) perhaps create SOG wikipedia page and link in and out?
When you say that your art project was influential to 9/11, what do you mean?
best – CC
Thank you for writing back with your suggestions. My daughter has just helped me to enter a very short write-up, including links to Cooper Union and “Self Organizing Galaxy” (the video), at the end of the history section of #5 WTC Wikipedia Page.
As for my conviction that my painting spawned 9/11, I feel that my work may have been seen by Arab extremists when I sent a copy of the video to my father in Saudi Arabia in 1984 and he never received it. Any material depicting western women in western dress would not go through the regular mail, he said. I feel my video may have been confiscated and used as a demonstration of Western women’s most powerful attributes which seem to threaten many factions of the Muslim world. I feel that there are numerous prophetic references to the downing of the Twin Towers unwittingly depicted throughout the entire subject matter of the video which could have instigated both the bombing in February of 1993 and the ultimate disaster of 9/11.
“Self Organizing Galaxy” needs to be watched closely.
I am happy to hear of the new content being added.
Thank you for your thoughts regarding the significance of the work with respect to 9/11. I will re-watch “Self Organizing Galaxy” with this perspective in mind.
I just checked the #5WTC Page and have discovered that my daughter’s write-up, including links, is not there. I do not know what could have happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Five_World_Trade_Center&action=history
Click on the August 13, 21:07 entry and see your daughter’s edit. Note in the history log though that that there were subsequent Undo actions against that entry. Perhaps use this history trail to follow up – maybe interactive live chat at Wikipedia? – to understand why. Format or content or …?
I thought the edits you made were spot on. —CC
Eliza found that my Youtube link was not considered appropriate by the auto bot on Wikipedia and was removed.
The bot is programmed to do that on first pass as your hyperlink was in-line rather than in the citation form found at the end of most wikipedia articles. You’ll notice a gentleman’s name at the top of the history log who then restored the page to its original form. You can contact him directly through his Talk page. I believe you are experiencing lack of savvy with wikipedia edit protocol rather than inappropriate content. Consider taking a day or two perhaps to acquaint yourself with the preferred editing approach and I think you will be successful in the long run. I am happy to point you to some of the relevant material on-line, but it is relatively easy to find tthat here on wikipedia. I feel a bit imposing here taking up so much of your comment space. Simply yell Uncle and I will back off. 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:EL#What_can_normally_be_linked
Thank you for all your time with this — I had my daughter read over what you are suggesting and we both feel it is more than we can handle. I don’t think I’m copping out — I just am not comfortable with trying to do it — dare I ask that if you know what to do with my video link then go ahead?
You are very welcome. It certainly is not all that intuitive. I am honored that you would ask; I will give it a shot. Allow me till mid week or so. I will retain the original verbiage that your daughter provided and will adjust to link out to the YouTube video in their preferred manner. I will report back. Till then. —CC
Thank you CC — I am grateful. I hope it makes a difference. And I feel supported by you!
Chatted with the good folks at Wikipedia after having my edits reverted both by bots and humans. Here is where we are: they are OK with the insertion of your content as first authored, but they ask to drop the Cooper Union reference and disallow the YouTube link. They do think a link to the NY Times article re the project is appropriate though. I have done nothing to advance the edit based on this new understanding, deferring of course to you on the topic.
We did discuss an interesting option. Wikipedia has various portals that you can access through the home page. One of those is the Arts Portal. Within Arts there are various subcategories – e.g. Women and the Arts/Artists. It is possible to create an entry there for you – see Christine Tamblyn for example. From your page you could then link to other wikipedia pages (5WTC) and to external content.
As an option to YouTube, note that in Tamblyn’s external links she directs to a video library called Video Data Bank
http://www.vdb.org/
VDB’s About Page says this: Founded at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1976 at the inception of the media arts movement, the Video Data Bank (VDB) is a leading resource in the United States for video by and about contemporary artists. The VDB Collection includes the work of more than 550 artists and 5,500 video art titles, 2,500+ in active distribution.
Let me know your thoughts. Hopefully this brings greater clarity and a new set of options.
CC
Thank you so much for all your effort. My daughter helped me send the Youtube SOG link to the Video Data Bank but maybe they don’t post Youtube material even though German Television is credited? If there is anything else you could help me with that would be wonderful.
You have my permission to link the NY Times article anywhere. There was also an article in the June 14th 1984 editions of The Daily News, The New York Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal. Also a front page article with photo appeared September 16th, 1984 in The Rockland County Journal News.
I will edit the 5 WTC page with the links I can gather as per your mentions. Do you have rights to the original video? Consider if actual upload of the video rather than linking is appropriate. Have you ever considered a pared down version of the hour plus for more potential placement opportunities of the work? CC
Thank you SO much for all this. May I ask you one more thing: send me a link to the 5 WTC page when you are finished so I can see it?
I believe the original of SOG is in the public domain as I have just mentioned to Lindsey at the Video Data Bank to whom I have replied. She may be submitting it to their selection committee.
I would not consider paring down the hour plus version as I think all of it is important. People will just have to take their time for it, and if it doesn’t fit somewhere I guess I am just limiting myself.
Again, thank you for your help and attention.
Joanna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_World_Trade_Center
Includes the mention of you and the work in the upfront history section plus a citation to the NY Times article of SEPT 5 1984. I was unable to find the other news items on line.
Again, consider adding a brief bio of yourself to the Art Portal. You can then link from 5 WTC out to your page and from there to the SOG video.
best – CC
Again, thank you so much for this CC, but once again, I’m afraid I do not understand what the Art Portal is and how it hooks up to the 5WTC page which I have just viewed. I am sorry if I seem so inept. Should I write my brief bio here and have you transfer it?
Provide me with a starter bio. If there are references to your art work on line, either solo or as collaborator, provide that as well. We can iterate from there. Pursue the VDB posting of SOG as we know for certain they accept links to that site. Also if you can get the big Andre post to also reflect your name or some mention of your approval of the post, that would be good as it establishes a more credible source. Hello World is also a viable citation here. Consider as well the potential for posting pix of your art to your WP blog if you seek an expedient way to get material on line.
CC
My bio is written in the “about section” of my blog joannagilmanhyde and I think I want to stick to that. Other artwork of mine, paintings etc, are on another blog called Jackie Blair and/or pointsthruprose. When you mentioned Hello World, did you mean “Good Morning, World!”? I cannot say enough how grateful I am for your help. I am going to write to Big Andre right now to tell him about the 5WTC page with citation.
Dear Chagall: I have written a couple of times to the Video Data Bank after receiving an initial response but have not heard since.
Dear Chagall: Another prophetic note to Self Organizing Galaxy is that at 43 minutes I walk into the door of #5 WTC WHICH HOUSES A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE READING ROOM. Their sign is visible to the right of the doorway.
Permanence and impermanence dance a jig while laughing hysterically.We spectators as is if unimpressed whilst secretly …
I’m so glad to have you back, Ben!
Sorry. My “life” get’s so busy. Nothing personal I assure you.
Have you seen my WIKIPEDIA ENTRY? I love my life. Welcome Back.
Active link?
There’s an active link for 5 World Trade Center in my WIKIPEDIA ENTRY. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_World_Trade_Center