Idea - Origins

So I am going to discuss how I got the idea.

I may have gotten this idea from when I was in secondary school, where I wrote down sentences (or sentence fragments) that were purely random ideas and thoughts that popped into my head. Studying Psychology and Sociology reinforced my idea that people have a lot of little thoughts (fleeting random ideas) that are forever forgotten, but no matter how strange they are nor how much you think others don't have them, somebody usually does.

I kept a book, a green composition notebook and the last pages were filled with sentences not only from me, but from others. This is how I kept myself occupied during classes that didn't interest me. It was also entertainment for others, as well as a way for me study others (yes, that sounds strange... I'm an observer, what can I say?). It got me interested in sociology, social theory, communication, linguistics, and so on and so forth. I may be an engineering student, but [to me] people and societies are more interesting.

This was just a random bit that I came up with while telling people about the project. People ask me why I got this idea, and I think it sprouts from these past experiences.

Number of responses: about fifty, basically one per day (works with the 1-1 theme, heh)

Languages

Here is a list of the languages that I translated or got help from my friends to translate/correct. I know that most people speak English, so I could have easily just left the instructions only in English. I do enjoy languages (studying and polishing a couple at a time), so a) I wanted to show that each language has important, b) English should not be considered the only language that important, and c) I wanted to encourage others to use their native/fluent language to answer the survey. I could have translated it to Swedish, Irish, etc. or gotten translations from friends of each language, but that would be slightly overwhelming. I know that I cannot hit all demographics and so forth. I am advertising on Facebook, friends, xkcd fora (geeks and nerds like me), flashback.info fora (Swedish), and Deviantart (place for art).

If you know of other places I can show this idea (I'm not going to blatantly advertise (CLICK THIS LINK ROFLCOPTER)). I just want to spread the idea. But anyway, here are the four languages that I thought would get a lot of people to help out: English, German, Spanish, French. (Wish I had Mandarin or Japanese...)

1 English

So this is a short introduction to what I want to do, and it would be great if you helped me out. For an art project, I am asking people to write one sentence in any language they speak fluently or very well. This sentence should be about you - a tiny description about yourself. One sentence doesn't have the ability to describe everything about you, so choose something that truly holds meaning to you (and maybe others). It could be as simple as: "I love the smell of freshly cut grass." or more along the lines of "I go to the supermarket just so I can watch people, and be amused at their materialistic philosophy, yet knowing that I am part of the problem of the destructive nature of overconsumption." Simple or complex, it's up to you.

The survey will literally only take about five minutes. For more details on what I will do with the answers go here: http://tellemyoursecrets.blogspot.com/ (only in English)

2 Deutsch

Hier ist eine kleine Einführung in mein Kunstprojekt und es würde mich freuen, wenn du mitmachen würdest. Die Aufgabe besteht darin, einen Satz über dich selbst zu schreiben. Der Satz kann in irgendeiner Sprache sein, aber bitte nur, wenn du sie fließend sprichst oder sehr gut kannst. Natürlich kann man dich nicht in einem Satz perfekt beschreiben, aber na ja, deswegen muss er wirklich eine Bedeutung für dich haben. Er könnte so einfach sein, wie "Ich liebe den Geruch von frisch geschnittenem Rasen" oder vielleicht lauten "Manchmal gehe ich in den Supermarkt, um Leute anzugucken und amüsiere mich über ihre materialistische Philosophie, obwohl ich weiß, dass ich teilweise auch Schuld an ihrem destruktiven Überkonsum habe". Simpel oder komplex, es liegt bei dir.

Diese Umfrage wird nur ungefähr fünf Minuten dauern. Wenn du weitere Informationen zu meinem Projekt möchtest und wissen willst, was mit den Antworten geschieht, dann kannst du hier nachsehen: http://tellemyoursecrets.blogspot.com/ (nur auf Englisch)

3 Español

Esto es una breve introducción de lo que quiero hacer, y seria genial si me ayudaras. Para un proyecto de arte, le pido a la gente una frase en cualquier idioma que domine o hable bastante bien. Esta frase debe ser sobre uno mismo - una pequeña descripción de uno mismo. Una sola frase no es capaz de describirte completamente, así que debes elegir algo que tenga un significado especial para ti (y quizás otros). Puede ser tan sencilla como: "Me encanta el olor de césped recién cortado." o mas extenso como:"Voy al supermercado solo para ver a la gente y reírme de su filosofía materialista, aunque se que soy una parte del problema de la naturaleza destructiva del consumismo." Sencilla o compleja, tú decides.

Esta encuesta te tomará, literalmente, sólo cinco minutos más o menos. Para más detalles acerca de lo que voy a hacer con las respuestas, mira aquí: http://tellemyoursecrets.blogspot.com/ (solamente Inglés)

4 Français

C'est une courte introduction de ce que j'ai envie de faire, et ce serait génial si tu pouvais me venir en aide. Pour un projet artistique, je demande aux gens d’écrire une phrase dans une langue qu’ils maîtrisent couramment ou très bien. Cette phrase doit porter sur toi, et être une description succincte de toi-même. Une seule phrase ne peut prétendre pouvoir te décrire complètement, alors choisis quelque chose (ou plusieurs choses) qui a (ont) une signification particulière pour toi. Cela peut être aussi simple que : « J’adore l’odeur du gazon fraîchement tondu. » ou bien plus dans l’esprit de « Je vais au supermarché juste pour voir les gens, et m’amuser de leur philosophie matérialiste, maintenant que je sais que je fais partie intégrante du problème de la surconsommation destructrice. » Simple ou compliqué, c’est à toi de choisir.

L’enquête ne prendra pas plus de cinq minutes. Pour plus de détails sur ce que je vais faire avec les réponses, allez ici: http://tellemyoursecrets.blogspot.com/ (seulement en anglais)

Update 1

First off, for the survey go here.

So I have gotten a good amount of responses, but still need a lot more. I would like to get 1000, but that would take a lot of time. I am not sure how exactly I would advertise this project other than to friends and forums. If you have ideas, you can let me know (that would be great).

There have been some interesting responses so far to the survey; some of them are quite surprising and thought provoking.

Some nice ones include:

• Ich fühle mich wie ein Baum ohne Blätter.
• I love being a girl, and that's something I never thought I'd be able to say.
• Ik besta grotendeels uit water en koolstofverbindingen.
• Me siento ahogada por mi familia.

Spoiler HTML w/Js Code by Skrap

Anyway, I'll keep you updated and hope to get more responses. Next post will also include where I actually got the idea for the project.

Cheers