Hey all, the online survey is now availible for my thesis project, so please go to [link] and complete it there. Also, please invite and send it to as many people as you can to also fill out the survey. This is for my thesis project and I need as much data as possible to make it a compelling project. It is an information design project and depends greatly on a diverse pool of data, so let your friends family, coworkers, or whoever know about this so they can contribute. Below I have posted a poorly written mission statement so you can gain a little bit better understanding of what my project is about.

Mission
Het`er`o`gen`e`sis
n. 1. (Biol.) Spontaneous generation, so called.

2. (Biol.) That method of reproduction in which the successive generations differ from each other,the parent organism producing offspring different in habit and structure from itself, the original form, however, reappearing afterone or more generations; opposed to homogenesis, or gamogenesis.

Heterogenesis is generally a project about race, class, and any other form of classification that both groups and separates people. The reason the name Heterogenesis was picked for this project is the fact that it implies that the parents of a certain offspring differ from that offspring fundamentally. At a metaphoric level, this principle can be seen simple that each generation of people is different from the previous. This is not meant to suggest a genetic difference, but a difference in the way each generation thinks. This project is designed to allow people from various generations to add their own point of reference as well, and data collected from people of varying generations will also play a key role in the manifestation of the project.

The most important part about this project is providing people a space in which they can self-identify. Self-identification is important in that too often in our society we are placed in to preexisting boxes. This identification is accomplished through a survey, which allows people to express certain aspects about themselves and their family, all of which are nearly as arbitrary as skin color or gender. By using these questions to connect people, the project aims at showing some of the shortcomings of basing social classifications on negligible factors.

In order to collect this data it is still important to have a constrained structure to funnel this information into. Although the questions do seem rigid, they are very open, and will help draw links between people of different races through seemingly mundane cultural tendencies, physical traits, etc. In that sense this project shows a type of integration and a sort of web of interconnectedness from seemingly different people. This project will culminate in a sculptural presentation of the data, which will be displayed in April of 2009 in the Mason Gross Galleries at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Besides the overarching component that will be displayed in the gallery, each week information design projects will be created from the corresponding data. Please check back weekly to see what projects have been produced starting in January 2009.