Crowdsourcing Gone Wrong: The Guy Behind “Print Some Stuff” Answers Some Stuff

We were intrigued by Guido Tamino’s idea to have strangers send him images with messages to print as part of a crowdsourced online project called Print Some Stuff. Anything was allowed, no controls or rules were set, and while it started out with some interesting and thoughtful submissions, in the time it took to get these questions answered via email, it seems the experiment in harvesting the creative potential of the “hive mind” has degenerated into something far darker and more abusive—perhaps inevitably so—and has been shut down. At least, for now.

The Creators Project: What made you come up with the idea of having strangers print stuff on your inkjet printer? And does it feel weird or intrusive?
Guido Tamino: Well, the first idea I came up with was about inviting people from all over the world to turn on and off a small set of LEDs in my room. I was excited by the idea of getting a physical signal of “presence” from these people by just looking at a mosaic of lights. I find the idea of a passive, subtle, and physical way to communicate more interesting than the traditional forms we’re used to. The kind of thing that just gets to you, that physically happens without you doing anything and dissolves itself in the ambiance of where you’re living.

It took just a little to move from the light world to the print one. Not only is it physical, it’s also permanent. Once you’ve printed something, it does exist, it will last (almost) forever. The paper thing was intriguing and since part of my education comes from the world of graphic design, the crowdsourced book idea came quickly to my mind.

Since the very first tests, I found it addictive to stare at the printer sending out random stuff. You never know what to expect and this also makes the printing process an extremely pleasant and exciting thing to look at. I guess it’s incredibly satisfying as well for people to see their page actually coming out of the printer, to have proof of its existence—that’s why I started sharing the live stream with everyone.

What’s been your favorite print out so far?
That’s hard to say, but I am going to make a quick selection:

I got this one from a girl in the US, she printed out a picture of a blank page from her notebook and invited me to “reuse” it. Apart from being aesthetically pleasant, I think it’s great because it’s a reflection on the process itself. The same here and here.

This one is a picture from the graduation day of a girl in Hong Kong. She chose my book to save a memory, which is fantastic. The idea of using my project as a place to set down relevant thoughts was widely diffused. Some people used it as a way to convey messages, like a love letter between two guys from Sweden.

There are a lot of extremely beautiful, sentimental pages. I am going to pick one from a guy in the US I’m not sure, not yet [below]. It really feels kind of suspended in time and poetic to me.

Often the internet plus anonymity means abusive messages. But looking at the gallery, they’ve mostly been amusing, thoughtful, whimsical. Why do you think that is?
This is a critical point. The first 400 pages people printed are much more interesting than I could ever have thought, featuring a perfect balance between the bright and the dark side of the internet. Suddenly, after 48 hours, the project took a different direction. The link ended up in the wrong places and the wild, unconsidered, puerile, brutal side of the internet took over. It’s not really about the porn or the jokes, it’s mainly about the lack of thought. I didn’t expected people to print only interesting and beautiful, creative stuff, I knew what I was dealing with, but I wanted the people to think just a little before printing something. When I took the decision to shut down the website it was because people started to print things for the sake of it, without thinking for even a second about what they were doing. Porn, vandalism, jokes, and other offensive stuff were bad for me and also for other people who started feeling uncomfortable. Most of all, the overall quality began to decrease and I felt like I’d collected enough prints to consider this first experiment done.

Back to the central question: I know it’s obvious, but in most cases it all depends on where your project ends up and what people your project meets. At first, when it was featured on Creative Applications, people printed nice things and challenged themselves to do better. But when it started spreading wildly over the social networks, I couldn’t do anything but hope to be lucky enough to find those “abusive” people as late as possible. Mine was a fragile project and 20 people were enough to cause serious damage, but controlling the interaction is possible and I am confident I’ll take better precautions next time.

How long do you intend the project to go on for and what are your expectations for it?
The first chapter of the book is done. It’s a 48-hours-long experiment about printing stuff anonymously over the internet. I’ve got 400 pages printed, more than 10,000 visits to the website and a social sharing fever that is responsible for both the success and the conclusion of the project itself. I am now thinking about doing a second chapter. It will be similar except that I am going to exert some different rules, forcing people to be more responsible and more thoughtful about what they print. What will be the differences between these two opposite approaches? This is exactly what I hope to find out.