Website of Owen Mundy, new media artist, designer, and programmerhttps://owenmundy.com/https://owenmundy.com/blog/author-talk-critical-web-design-mit-press/https://owenmundy.com/blog/author-talk-critical-web-design-mit-press/This Friday, September 18 at 10:30 AM, I’ll be joined by co-author xtine burrough (UT Dallas) for an author talk on our new book Critical Web Design, published this year by MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262053167/critical-web-design/ xtine and I come to this project from complementary directions. She is a media artist and prolific author working across electronic […] Read More… from Author Talk — Critical Web Design (MIT Press)Tue, 15 Sep 2026 03:45:15 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/bells-and-whistles/https://owenmundy.com/blog/bells-and-whistles/I’ve been following the cycling-influenced illustration work of Dave Walker for a while now. When he posted this recent compendium of bells and whistles I wanted to respond creatively. It was a chance to explore how to make sound both interactive and visual. It was also a lot of fun interpreting the depths of Dave’s […] Read More… from Bells and WhistlesMon, 24 Aug 2026 03:55:15 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/critical-web-design-the-book/https://owenmundy.com/blog/critical-web-design-the-book/As of today, the textbook I wrote with xtine burrough is now available! Published by the MIT Press, “Critical Web Design” is an innovative, learn-by-doing textbook that teaches how to design for the web while engaging a critical lens on the technoculture that sustains it.” A very warm thank you to xtine for the collaboration, […] Read More… from Critical Web Design, the bookTue, 21 Jul 2026 11:14:20 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/convert-a-php-mysql-site-to-jamstack-and-host-on-github-pages/https://owenmundy.com/blog/convert-a-php-mysql-site-to-jamstack-and-host-on-github-pages/One of the first items on my sabbatical to do list last year was to convert the Camp La Jolla Military Park website to a static Jamstack site hosted at Github Pages. This post documents that process. I originally created the site as a research tool using PHP and a MySQL database for data entry, to […] Read More… from Convert a PHP/MySQL site to Jamstack and host on Github PagesMon, 17 Nov 2025 13:36:46 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/diy-bike-wheel-hub-end-cap-puller/https://owenmundy.com/blog/diy-bike-wheel-hub-end-cap-puller/How to make an end cap puller using a leftover piece of carbon bar and some hose clamps. Carefully place a piece of carbon (or metal) bar into a vise. Make two cuts along the length, removing about 1/4 in. (~5mm) to make room for the piece to tighten around the end cap. Slide the […] Read More… from DIY Bike wheel hub end cap pullerMon, 06 Oct 2025 09:40:19 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/escape-from-music-subscription-services/https://owenmundy.com/blog/escape-from-music-subscription-services/Like the rest of the world, I’ve moved on from CDs for music. However, since I’ve converted all my discs to digital format, and I’m not likely to pay for a smartphone that can hold 140 GB of audio, my music collection has only received attention while I’m bleeding MTB brakes in my garage. Since […] Read More… from Escape from music subscription servicesTue, 05 Aug 2025 10:10:15 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/scoreboard-control-134-basketball/https://owenmundy.com/blog/scoreboard-control-134-basketball/If you know me then you already know I have little patience for bad interface and user experience design. Like most users, I leave websites when they fail to provide intuitive paths to the information I need. However, the physical world is full of bad design you can’t escape. Take this device. The MPC Control […] Read More… from Scoreboard Operator’s Instructions (Redesigned) MPC Control (Model Code 134 Basketball)Thu, 28 Dec 2023 19:56:14 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/algorithmic-lifestyle-roehrs-boetsch-zurich/https://owenmundy.com/blog/algorithmic-lifestyle-roehrs-boetsch-zurich/I haven’t posted here for a while, as I’ve been busy with projects and returning to teaching. I am proud to share that I Know Where Your Cat Lives is in a show opening today in Zurich. The statement is below. GROUP EXHIBITION – ALGORITHMIC LIFESTYLE 31. 8. – 13. 10. 2018 We click, we […] Read More… from Algorithmic Lifestyle @ Roehrs & Boetsch, ZurichThu, 30 Aug 2018 11:09:45 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-xx-the-stasi-archive/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-xx-the-stasi-archive/After some traveling and conferences and development sprints on other projects I have time this week to come back to the Stasi work. The first post is about the Stasi Records Agency (BStU), whose full name (in English) is the impressive, “Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 28 – The Stasi Archive and BStUSun, 25 Jun 2017 21:58:20 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-27-exhibits-on-surveillance-at-museum-fur-fotografie/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-27-exhibits-on-surveillance-at-museum-fur-fotografie/Yesterday I headed to the Museum für Fotografie to see two exhibitions on surveillance. The Field Has Eyes. Images of the Surveillant Gaze includes 75 prints, books, photographs and examples of optical apparatus to present a visual and cultural history of the controlling gaze from the 16th to the 20th century. I don’t have many […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 27 – Exhibits on surveillance at Museum für FotografieMon, 19 Jun 2017 00:50:04 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-26-gedenkstatte-berlin-hohenschonhausen/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-26-gedenkstatte-berlin-hohenschonhausen/This week has been full of work on this project, including research in the BStU reading room, and making photographs at the archives at the former headquarters and the Stasi Museum. Today, for the first time, I visited The Memorial to Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, a large former prison complex which includes a former Stasi detention and interrogation […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 26 – Gedenkstätte Berlin-HohenschönhausenSun, 18 Jun 2017 23:50:21 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-25-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-opening-letters-with-sensitive-materials-using-hot-air/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-25-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-opening-letters-with-sensitive-materials-using-hot-air/Heißluftgebläse. Credit: Museum in der Runde Ecke The next artifact in my list is the “Heißluftgebläse”—a hot air blower constructed by the Stasi for opening envelopes and packages sealed with rubberized self-adhesive tape. Unlike the various steam methods the Stasi employed, which only worked on water-based glues and could potentially damage the contents of letters, […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 25 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: Opening letters with sensitive materials using hot airTue, 13 Jun 2017 19:08:49 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-24-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-opening-letters-with-sensitive-materials-using-cold-steam/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-24-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-opening-letters-with-sensitive-materials-using-cold-steam/Credit: BStU Since hot steam could damage sensitive contents like photographs, the Stasi used the C-83 (“Cellophan 83”) “cold steam” generating device to open those letters. Produced in Hungary, the C-83 used a special film (cellophane) stretched over a tray filled with distilled water. Up to 25 letters could be placed on the film, flaps […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 24 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: Opening letters with sensitive materials using cold steamMon, 12 Jun 2017 23:19:19 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-23-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-work-table-for-hot-steam-opening-system-532/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-23-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-work-table-for-hot-steam-opening-system-532/Credit: Museum in der Runde Ecke If the “W”-shaped, two-letter steam distribution grid was an “upgrade,” then the ultimate “deluxe” Stasi steam device for manually opening letters with hot water vapor is the “Arbeitstisch der Heißdampf-Öffnungsanlage 532” (English: Work Table for Hot Steam Opening System 532). This modular table was constructed for Department M by […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 23 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: Work Table for Hot Steam Opening System 532Sun, 11 Jun 2017 19:48:37 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-22-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-dampfentwickler-made-from-cooking-pot/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-22-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-dampfentwickler-made-from-cooking-pot/Credit: Museum in der Runde Ecke Like other devices constructed in the 1970’s and ‘80s by Department M and the Stasi OTS, this “Aufdampftopf” (“steam pot”) was fashioned using a basic household appliance as a starting point. Starting with a “cooking pot,” as it’s called in the Museum in der Runde Ecke index, the vessel […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 22 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: AufdampftopfSat, 10 Jun 2017 20:05:18 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-21-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-kleindampfentwickler-with-nozzle/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-21-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-kleindampfentwickler-with-nozzle/The Museum in der Runde Ecke in Leipzig has an amazing collection of devices found in the Leipziger district administration office (BVfS) during the dissolution of the Stasi. These are listed online in a thorough index with photos and descriptions. Their images are much better than those I was able to make through the glass […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 21 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: Kleindampfentwickler with nozzleFri, 09 Jun 2017 21:09:06 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-20-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-kleindampfentwickler/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-20-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-kleindampfentwickler/Department M, along with the Stasi OTS (Operativ-Technische Sektor), developed and implemented numerous technical tools, intelligence checks, and operational activities to speed their postal surveillance in the GDR. By the 1970’s, the department was already using various modified household appliances or industrial devices to assist in steaming open and closing letters. One example is this […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 20 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: KleindampfentwicklerTue, 06 Jun 2017 02:46:46 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-19-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-the-pid-trap/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-19-automation-in-stasi-postal-surveillance-the-pid-trap/In the beginning of the 1970s most of the work of Department M was performed by hand. This labor included sorting and selecting suspicious mail, manually steaming it open, examining the contents, transcribing, copying or photographing the interior or exterior of the letter, in some cases, examining the letter for conspiratorial or stealth writing, resealing […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 19 – Automation in Stasi postal surveillance: The PiD TrapTue, 30 May 2017 19:49:10 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-18-stasi-department-m-postal-surveillance-diagram/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-18-stasi-department-m-postal-surveillance-diagram/Today I made this diagram to describe the manual labor and flow of mail from the Deutsche Post stream through the Stasi’s Department M surveillance operations. It’s a fairly boring flow chart but gets at the heart of the organizational processes and divisions of labor they developed to speed their work. […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 18 – Stasi Department M postal surveillance diagramMon, 29 May 2017 23:14:32 GMThttps://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-17-stasi-networks-and-facebook-social-graph/https://owenmundy.com/blog/stasi-facebook-big-data-daad-day-17-stasi-networks-and-facebook-social-graph/Similar to how Facebook uses a user’s connections to determine information about them, the Stasi considered all information they could gather about a person in their intelligence campaigns. They incorporated not only the contents of a target’s mail, but information about professional and personal relationships, love affairs, and organizations to which they belonged. (Reinicke, 106) […] Read More… from Stasi / Facebook / Big Data DAAD Day 17 – Stasi networks and Facebook Social GraphSun, 28 May 2017 20:41:20 GMT