Andrew Norman Wilson got a lot of attention last year for his Workers Leaving the Googleplex video, which depicted a little known group of contractors at Googles HQ, charged with doing the scanning that feeds Googles mission to digitize every book that it possibly can.

While Wilson lost his own contractor job in video production at Google as a result of the film, that hasnt stopped his fascination with Googles ScanOps, a supposedly marginalized group of workers who dont get the same perks that many other workers in the Googleplex receive (although to be fair, they are contractors).

The latest manifestation of Wilsons interest is ScanOps, a collection of images from the Google Books collection, many of which accidentally show the hands of the workers who scanned them (such as this example), manipulated in various ways to create works of art.

Up to three results from the Google Books index may be displayed, if relevant, above other search results in Google Web Search.

Wilson explains:ScanOps is based on Google Books images in which software distortions, the scanning site, and the hands of ScanOps employees are visible.

Through varied analog presentations of these images, the material resources and processes that compose the digital are emphasized.

These re materializations are treated as photography – therefore they are framed to become image sculptures, will be compiled in an art book, and presented in a live lecture.

  ScanOps has been presented at Reed College in Portland, OR, and is due to be shown at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Images Festival in Toronto and the Threewalls gallery in Chicago.

Meanwhile, Wilson says that he has grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Dedalus Foundation to shoot an extension of the original video, which weve included below.

Wilson says that his Google focused work examines the transformations and continuities in arrangements of labor, capital, media, and information.

That impulsive duck-face kissy photo you took of yourself and your friend at the Apple store to test out the new iPads camera may be destined for an art gallery wall.

That is if you happened to snap it at any of the Apple stores visited by Irby Pace.

On a daily basis people are leaving their portraits behind on iPhones, iPads and iPods, says Pace who in late 2010 retrieved over 1,000 images from Apple products in stores across Texas and New York City.

Pace, who is coming to the end of his photo MFA at the University of North Texas in Denton, began lifting the images by e-mailing and texting them to himself from Apple stores.

Later, we discovered a device to directly download massive groups of images straight to our own iPad, he says.

From the huge cache of images, he has edited down a series of portraits and enlarged them for gallery exhibition.

Last year a similar art project by Kyle McDonald called People Staring At Computers used software that McDonald installed on Apple store computers to detect faces and capture an image every minute.

Over 1,000 captures were automatically uploaded to McDonalds computer and then posted to a (now shuttered) Tumblr account.

But where McDonalds stunt garnered him a home visit from the FBI and got his laptop and flash drives confiscated, the only question hanging over Pace seems to be whether the images he extracted are the legal property of Apple.

Pace said Apple store staff were not particularly vigilant: None of them seemed interested at all in what we were doing.

Aside from the fact McDonald installed spyware on property he didnt own, he also implicated members of the public without their stated permission.

Without his subjects choosing to click the shutter, McDonalds People Staring At Computers was ethically dubious; a great stunt but truly a violation of privacy.

Pace argues that the people in his reclaimed images represent themselves however they chose, and without scrutiny.

To reuse the anonymous portraits is hardly seditious but no doubt Unintended Consequences will make some people uncomfortable.

Unintended Consequences (Feb 5th–10th) will be on show at the Cora Stafford Gallery, 1120 W.

Unintended Consequences explores changes in behavior for those people who have not considered how these images may be used, says Pace.

Pace feels justified in his actions and believes he broke no ethical rule.

Inasmuch that Paces subjects posed and captured the image themselves, the individuals in Unintended Consequences could be said to be willing participants.

In the majority of cases, it seems they snapped their portrait in a performative manner and Pace has created an exhibition of them.

The project gives these abandoned images more prominence than they probably deserve, but there is wit and illusion to Unintended Consequences too.

Just because these people go up on a gallery wall doesnt make them significant in any way; Pace plays with the aggrandizing that can often go along with white cube galleries.

- – – – – – – -Unintended Consequences (Feb 5th–10th) will be on show at the Cora Stafford Gallery, 1120 W.

That impulsive duck-face kissy photo you took of yourself and your friend at the Apple store to test out the new iPads camera may be destined for an art gallery wall.

That is if you happened to snap it at any of the Apple stores visited by Irby Pace.

On a daily basis people are leaving their portraits behind on iPhones, iPads and iPods, says Pace who in late 2010 retrieved over 1,000 images from Apple products in stores across Texas and New York City.

Pace, who is coming to the end of his photo MFA at the University of North Texas in Denton, began lifting the images by e-mailing and texting them to himself from Apple stores.

Later, we discovered a device to directly download massive groups of images straight to our own iPad, he says.

From the huge cache of images, he has edited down a series of portraits and enlarged them for gallery exhibition.

Last year a similar art project by Kyle McDonald called People Staring At Computers used software that McDonald installed on Apple store computers to detect faces and capture an image every minute.

Over 1,000 captures were automatically uploaded to McDonalds computer and then posted to a (now shuttered) Tumblr account.

But where McDonalds stunt garnered him a home visit from the FBI and got his laptop and flash drives confiscated, the only question hanging over Pace seems to be whether the images he extracted are the legal property of Apple.

Pace said Apple store staff were not particularly vigilant: None of them seemed interested at all in what we were doing.

Aside from the fact McDonald installed spyware on property he didnt own, he also implicated members of the public without their stated permission.

Without his subjects choosing to click the shutter, McDonalds People Staring At Computers was ethically dubious; a great stunt but truly a violation of privacy.

Pace argues that the people in his reclaimed images represent themselves however they chose, and without scrutiny.

To reuse the anonymous portraits is hardly seditious but no doubt Unintended Consequences will make some people uncomfortable.

Unintended Consequences (Feb 5th–10th) will be on show at the Cora Stafford Gallery, 1120 W.

Unintended Consequences explores changes in behavior for those people who have not considered how these images may be used, says Pace.

Pace feels justified in his actions and believes he broke no ethical rule.

Inasmuch that Paces subjects posed and captured the image themselves, the individuals in Unintended Consequences could be said to be willing participants.

In the majority of cases, it seems they snapped their portrait in a performative manner and Pace has created an exhibition of them.

The project gives these abandoned images more prominence than they probably deserve, but there is wit and illusion to Unintended Consequences too.

Just because these people go up on a gallery wall doesnt make them significant in any way; Pace plays with the aggrandizing that can often go along with white cube galleries.

- – – – – – – -Unintended Consequences (Feb 5th–10th) will be on show at the Cora Stafford Gallery, 1120 W.

From the decaying European streets of Buenos Aires to the smoky punk clubs of Beijing, rad stuff is happening everywhere.

Rom the decaying European streets of Buenos Aires to the smoky punk clubs of Beijing, rad stuff is happening everywhere.

Also by JO BRADFORDIncredible treescapes by photographer Jürgen HeckelIf you go down to the woods today you may come across photographer Jürgen Heckel.

Known for his hauntingly sparse landscape photography, the photo series Wald explores seemingly vast and primeval forests so devoid of human intervention that you could believe he may be the first person to visit there.

Huge tree trunks are silent sentries; shafts of light illuminate copper leaves, casting spotlights on moss-covered ground in his silently brooding ‘treescapes’.

Read moreJo Bradfords Constructing Space photogramsConstructing Space began when we realised that NASA hand-colour their images of space.

Disillusioned, we created our own space images that, like NASA’s, were a little bit truthful and a little bit fake.

We paint with light in our darkroom, making colour photograms of 4,565 billion year-old meteorite particles.

Their trace on the light sensitive photographic paper creates the stars in our ‘galaxies’.

In 2011, a digital copy of one of these photograms went into space on board NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Read moreBrilliant animation for the song Two Against OneCheck out this great new animated video for the song Two Against One from the album Rome by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi.

Directed by Chris Milk and Anthony Francisco Sheppard, its a great accompaniment to the vocals of the music maestro himself, Mr Jack White.

WE’RE SUPPORTINGTrip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrows retro illustrations, we love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor.

Read more WE’RE THINKINGIm really digging Los Angeles-based illustrator Jon Hans textured, colourful, almost scientific work.

We find it particularly refreshing how Han frequently eschews most of the physical detail within his tiny figures, which lends itself all the more to further enhancing the diagram like quality of his work.

Omahas Tilly and the Wall are kitsch-cool-camp-vauderville meets pop-folk-flamenco, with a tap dancer for a drummer and some serious, serious charisma for a calling card.

WE’RE TRAVELLING TOFoster + Partners has declared that the walled city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi will be the worlds first zero-carbon and zero-waste city.

Read more WE’RE READINGShorpy is a great blog dedicated to digitally restored photos, mostly from the first half of the 20th century, but some from as early as the 1840s.

Read more WE’RE LISTENING TOThe slow building melody and delicate folktronica production of London-based James Yuills This Sweet Love is the perfect soundtrack to a lazy Sunday morning.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip.

WE’RE WEARINGIt’s all about juxtaposition for the fashion duo Anzevino & Florence.

With William Anzevino hailing from the East Coast and Richard Florence from West, they find inspiration in opposing forces.

Read moreWE’RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BESTCookie Boys creative cookie designsI dont eat cookies, so good thing Cookie Boys cookies are little pieces of art too pretty and cute to eat.

Read more Never ever, ever, ever, ever park hereSome friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply dont get it, or street art.

Honest Food Preparation InstructionsYes, weve all been there: the chinese food from last week that still looks edible amongst the bare surrounds of an empty fridge.

Read more Joe KievittIts refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns.

Read more The return of the Brionvega rr226Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965.

The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.

SHOPIn 2008, graphic designer Becky Edgington and illustrator Sarah Beetson created two limited-edition packs of playing cards featuring images from Beetson’s exhibition, 50 Bucks: Bring On The Sluts.

The images were selected from almost 500 small artworks created on moleskine paper, inspired by vintage pornography and a trip to Japan.

Read more WINEast Ninth Brewing are running a competition to find the final member of their team to head to New York.

And I wonder … are all those zen-inspired blogs really built by budding Buddhists.

Or could it be that some of them — not all, but some — look plain and uninspired simply because their owners are struggling to figure out how to inject a little personality?.

And one of the fastest ways to distinguish your blog — minimalist or otherwise — is to inject your personality with a few strategic design decisions.

That minimalist site of yours will look more cozy and inviting if you add a little color to the background on either side of the content area.

When they get to the end of each line of text, your reader’s eyes have to make the trip back to the beginning of the next line.

With no background color to give them a signal that the end of the line has been reached, they just continue on, sort of floating into your white background.

When you remove the “edge” from your content area, you’re setting your reader adrift.

Anything that creates an edge and shows your reader where the content area ends will improve their reading experience.

Adding subheads to your posts help your reader process your information.

Colored subheads stand out from your body text and immediately add personality to your page.

If you wait to do it when you’re done with your post and ready to hit Publish, it can be hard to find the motivation to do an image search.

But if you’re not taking time to add a compelling image, you’re leaving readers on the table.

If you’re watching expenses, use the resources available to you in the vast collection of Flickr images available under a Creative Commons license.

As long as you’re permitted to use it, credit the photographer and add a link back to the original photo.

To easily find Creative Commons Flickr images, try compfight.com which is a search engine designed expressly to uncover Creative Commons-tagged treasures in the Flickr archives.

That means your visitor’s eyes hit the top left corner of a web page, and work their way across to the right side.

But if the top of your site has a plain text header, and the next site does, too, and the site after that … don’t you think they’ll all blend together in reader’s memories after a while?.

At its simplest, it can be a matter of finding a good-looking font and applying it to a colored or patterned background.

An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature.

Negotiate with your designer for the right to re-use the image as an email header, email signature image, and more.

Your site can still have that open, airy feel without settling for boring, forgettable design.

If your current site design is a little too zen for your tastes, choose one of the tweaks from this post and apply it today.

About the Author: Pamela Wilson helps small businesses build enlightened brands at Big Brand System.

Get her free Marketing Toolkit for more great tips on marketing your business with a memorable visual brand.

Turn your Android device into the ultimate, take-anywhere canvas with Drawing Pad.

Your options include realistic textures, vibrant colors, and even under water and moonscape scenes.

Sticker ManiaDrawing Pad also features a fun mix of stickers to add to your art.

For those artists who like to show off their new creations, in-app options let you share the images using e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook.

All these are stored in a virtual drawer that runs along the right-hand side of the screen for easy access.

Select a small-, medium-, or large-size eraser or opt to erase everything and start over.

You can choose from crayons, markers, paint brushes, colored pencils, and more all in a wide variety of rich colors.

The left and right arrows at the top of the menu bar are undo/redo options that allow you to easily correct any mistakes or go in a different direction with your design.Save and ShareOnce you’ve completed your work of art, simply tap the USB stick icon with your finger to save it.

(Quick tip: The drawer can be closed to see the full canvas by tapping on the drawer handle.

This complete mobile art studio delivers a beautiful, easy-to-use interface, a robust range of artistic tools, and high-definition graphics that allow artists to create the next masterpiece, designers to sketch out ideas, and the rest of us to doodle away to our heart’s content.Drawing PadUtilize brushes, crayons, markers, and stickersEnjoy a full range of colorsTools GaloreDrawing Pad has all of the tools you would have in your own art studio.

It’s as easy as finger-painting.Truly Easy to UseNovice artists and kids will find Drawing Pad easy to use, while professionals will be satisfied with the range of tools and authentic output, from the grainy line of a crayon to the smooth strokes of the various paint brushes.

The stickers run the gamut from planes, trains, and automobiles to lions, tigers, as well as funny faces, flowers, sea creatures, and more.

Just choose your style of tool and your colorto start creating right away.

Tap the handle again to open the drawer.)Once you’ve selected your tool and color, choose which background paper to use.

Pinch on the screen with two fingers to scale or rotate the stickers, and use the floating sticker toolbar to stamp them on the background, flip them, bring them to the front, lock them into position, or delete them.Erase OptionsIf you goof up, tap the pencil eraser icon to erase your work.

Suzanne Tucker told a wonderful story of “a couple of years ago she opened up her house for a party.

Suzanne Tucker, of Tucker and Marks Design, commented on Dodie’s “masses of unique style” and that she was “one of a kind.

Her brave individual style, her great curiosity for art and history and her joie de vivre emanated from her.

She celebrated and supported their talents as much as they brought to life her visions for the elegant mansion on Broadway, the India inspired “Jewel Box” in Paris and the grand whimsy of the Palazzo Brandolini in Venice.

Kathy Gennoe, an employee of Dodie’s for 38 years, said, “I am the luckiest person I know to have worked for Madam” (as she called her).

Dodie worked and shared friendships with design legends, Michael Taylor, Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson.

Dodie brought art to life in what she wore and into the worlds she created.

8th and 9th in New York City, Sotheby’s will auction off art and antiquities from the collection of the late San Francisco grande dame, Dodie Rosekrans.

I was lucky enough to know Dodie and her husband, John Rosekrans, growing up and the wonderful thing is that as “larger than life” as she was, as they both were to me, it was her down-to-earth quality, generous spirit and kindness that made her so grand.

She admired a necklace of a huge green rock, only to discover at a closer look it was an uncut emerald.

For us this week, we can dream big and bid and possibly take home some of the magic and artful eye of our San Francisco legend, Dodie Rosekrans.

Ed Hardy, longtime friend and art dealer, recalled being with Dodie and a woman coming up to them.

As San Francisco interior decorator, Suzanne Tucker, commented to me, “We should all be so lucky to live so largely and so artfully.

In the same way that Isabella Stewart Gardner had an international flair and elevated the cultural life of Boston, Dodie infused the culture of San Francisco with her style and worldy presence.Dodie made homes in three of the world’s most beautiful cities, San Francisco, Venice and Paris.The Rosekrans Willis Polk Broadway house, the Paris apt. and the Venetian Palazzo were celebrations of life and reflected not only Dodie’s deep understanding and appreciation of art but her creative and rich spirit.She was a great supporter of the arts in all these cities and made an impact in each of them.

Dodie was a native San Franciscan, though, so all that she cultivated had a beginning, middle and end in her hometown, San Francisco.

It turned out she had worked at I’Magnin’s, (a now-closed San Francisco luxury department store) and wanted to say ‘hello’ and to say how much it had meant to the store when Dodie had loaned some of her couture clothes to them for a display.

I remember going into the most esteemed Paula Anglin Gallery and, upon entering, Dodie’s eye immediately went to a bronze sculpture that was a rock pile with a feather coming out of it.

In Paris, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur for her many contributions to French culture and society.

Like all great synergetic creative partnerships, they worked collaboratively, making dreams come true.