Kickstarter

Crank the Web USB Toy! is a small, desktop hand crank with accompanying Firefox plugin that anyone can use at the office or at home to crank their internet download speed. The project is a new, portable, USB version of the original Crank The Web!, an art installation by Jonah Brucker-Cohen from 2001.

The idea behind Crank the Web is to combine ancient forms of automation with today’s digital telecommunications technology. All bandwidth should be free and everyone should have access to the fastest speed connection. It is up to you to physically crank your bandwidth so that your internet connnection will rely on your personal strength, not personal wealth.

System diagram:

Users type in a URL in the broweser and hit “ENTER” and a blank browser page appears. The page they entered is read into a buffer and using the crank, they send a bit of data at a time to the computer which then unloads the buffer (containing text, images, animation, sound, etc..) into the open window. The page loads according to how fast they turn the crank. There is an indication on screen of the approximate bandwidth speed they are cranking.

Photos from Crank the Web! art installation:

Exhibitions of the original project: Crank The Web!

1st Prize Winner at the Fourth International Browser Day, March 29, 2001 at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, NYC.

Interface Explorer Conference, October 18 – Nov. 9, 2001, Vienna, Austria.

Transmediale 2002, Feb. 5 – 24, 2002, Berlin, Germany.


Media[tion] exhibition, 2/16/04 – 4/12/04 @ Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery, Doncaster, UK.

OBORO, 9/16/06 – 10/21/06 @ Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

ArtLabs: Connectivity Show, 10/20/07 – 11/3/07 @ Sibiu, Romania.

EADI (The European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, 12th Annual Conference / Exhibition – Global Governance for Sustainable Development, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 6/24/08 – 6/28/08.

MAKE:CRAFT
, October 2, 2010, “ December 4, 2010, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA.