Survey

My finals project, although still developing in some sense, focuses on the post-digital concept of online reviews. Before the internet, reviews were much less accessible to the general public, and were less of a factor when deciding to make a purchase. Now, online reviews are a huge factor into whether or not one decides to purchase a particular product. In a simple text based format, I will take online reviews of a particular object and replace that particular object with “the internet.” To clarify, I would take a preexisting review, on say, blenders, and in rewrite the review view in such a way that it might refer to a user's experience using the internet. I aim to change the original review as little as possible, as well as gather a multitude of interesting reviews and perspectives for the item I end up choosing. I also hope to show through the complexity or at times, simplicity of reviews, that writing an online review might be considered an art on its own, and perhaps it may even be considered “electronic literature.” Somewhat similar to a “poor image” in appeal, poor reviews, some of which are badly written, hilariously misguiding, or both, are perhaps the most memorable and can, ironically, lead to even more sales of a particular product. Meanwhile, a massive amount of flowing reviews with no negatives may lead to suspicion, as companies have been known to pay individuals or hire actors and even bots to give their praise. Ultimately, I hope to show that the online review is a simple and often overlooked concept, yet its developmental process is complex and its impact on the consumer profound.