Why am I here? What is my purpose? Who am I? Am I living to my full potential?
This can help you.

What is this thing for?
We see many possibilities for the site, but we’re interested in how you use it, and suggestions you have for us. Right now, the site maps the connections between roughly 100,000 influential New Yorkers and over 2,500 New York organizations. It shows how influential figures are connected through pictures, and very soon, through creative work. The site allows you to navigate between public events, organizations, and the people that are affiliated with them. It gives you a rough approximation of who is getting talked about in the local media, who is out on the town the most, and for what.

Most importantly, it puts all the artists, capitalists, fashionistas, filmmakers, actors, socialites, journalists, architects, and businessmen in the context of the same network. We don’t really see these separate scenes, or the varying levels of attention on different names, as being a material distinction. We all deal with the final product of our culture.

What significance does mapping these scenes have?
The data represents the networks of capital, influence, and attention that drive NY’s cultural economy. Providing universal access to that information, and making the sharing/usage of it social and participatory and relevant to a broader range of cultural participants may facilitate new connections between people, new ideas in culture, more party invitations and real world socialization, and a livelier public-cultural space.

What is the “attention” chart next to everyone’s picture?
Famegame’s Attention Index is an approximation of the attention paid to individuals from four different sources: industry parties, blogs, select New York media institutions, and other influentials they’re connected to (people they’ve been photographed with). The chart is a chronological representation of the composite data over a three month period. Though imperfect, the algorithm is a well-reasoned calculation for relative ‘fame’ in NY.

The features we plan on adding over the coming months will serve to make this metric more participatory, allowing for community intelligence to start complementing the machine generated data that currently informs it.

note: the vertical axis represents a person or organization’s percentile rank (in terms of our composite “attention” metric) relative to everyone else in the network.

Why are we tracking people’s ‘fame’?
Well to start with, a little history: This website grew out of a documentary film that was investigating the celebrity media space in New York. We were interested in why celebrity news was steadily creeping into mainstream media, why boldface names dominate our national discussion, and why everyone seemed to criticize talking about Paris Hilton…and yet continue to do it anyway. We found many reasons for this (we’ll be releasing parts of the video on this site in the future), but one overarching conclusion we reached was that our culture could benefit from a higher degree of transparency, especially when it comes to the production and proliferation of media.

It is our hope that the knowledge of how cultural production works, once shared, will enable a greater number cultural participants to join in the fray, which will benefit both brands and people involved in media making. So, in sum, we track people’s fame to convey our cultural climate with greater transparency. In hope of renewal. That’s what we call Optimism!

What’s with the typos and misspellings?
As an open prototype, the site will likely be messy and contradictory for a while. We are collecting data from different sources to build a meaningfully-curated, collaboratively-edited database of cross-linked profiles. Its a big job and we’re just getting started.

As you may have noticed, there are some profile pages on the site that don’t belong. Because these pages are auto-generated, we tend to pick up a fair amount of unwanted information. We’ve got multiple names for the same person, profiles for cartoon characters, and even some dogs in there! We’re trying to put everything in the right place. We just wanted to get the ball rolling.

Web 2.0? or….3.0(gasp)?
God, can’t we call it something else? Like “The Matrix” for example? And enough with the pastel bubbly logos already!

Interventionism?
Yes.

What about Tactical Media?
Here is a good summary of THAT situation.

Profit?
Currently, yes. We began this as a cultural investigation but quickly learned that there was a service to provide for the advertising/pr/promotional and cultural industries in New York.  We have accepted investment capital in order to stay competitive, as well as cooperative, and though we do host adverising we’re not out for blood. We aim to bring returns for both our economic and cultural stakeholders.

Business Model?
We are attempting to bring NY’s Warhol Economy online. The hope is that we can create the right environment for creative producers, influential social figures, and luxury brand managers to play together, dramatically improving their ability to execute visionary projects.

Concretely, this means that we are exploring a business model based on transferring to members the economic benefits of their profile pages and content. In essence, any profits would be shared with the community.

Are you guys crazy?
You ask that like its a bad thing.

I’m Greedy.
That’s not a question.

9 Responses to “FAQs”

From T Code
I find this site so insulting that I think I will continue coming here. P.H. snatched my champagne glass at your last party and T.M. lifted my girlfirend's purse (but she keeps a Rat Trap in there just for that purpose, and so T.M. came back all blistered and smarting---Ha-ha). And why are all the guys gay on this site? Must you be gay? I can act "enthusiastic" if that's the criteria.....? But oh well I digress. And tell the F.G. Intern to stop with the Harssing Telephone calls! It seems that he mixed me up with someone named "Alphie the Leather Guy" at your last shindig, and wants some sort of action I cannot even fathom. Bad form. So let me just say that you're all going to be famous on this site!---FAMOUS I tell you!! There is ROOM for everyone in Battlecab of the Big Round (but you'll probably have to be arrested a few times first though). And so let me just take this opportunity to say: "Congratulations as you read about yourself in Page Six in Jail!!" Don't drop the soap. Damn I love this fame stuff........
From flotson
I object to your premise that, for example, luxury brand managers have visionary projects to execute. Or that luxury brands make a contribution to culture. Or that luxury does. But then I note that you have not offered a definition of culture or a description of its purpose. What you imply, however, is empty and cold.
From Joris
Excellent! Great visibility for the more outre cultural tete-a-tetes like the Watermill benefit and the Muchado launch party for Stallion Portable (wherein I found myself and many friends pictured--Christine Cachot's dress was to die for BTW). Keep that culture coming!
From Peter Zeller
Experience does matter. Your incredible plethora of words amost make up for your paucity of content
From Kristy Phipps
Hi no offense but this is outrageous and feeds upon the shallow, insecure narcissistic minds of so many "wanna be" New Yorkers. I mean, really this is just the epitome of someone who is desperate to be known by any means. I had to see it to believe it, a group of people at my club were discussing this and thought it was just so, tasteless. I give it a month.
From Dean Treadway
I find this site incredibly fascinating, in a perverse sort of way. I have to agree with an above post, however, that this is all less about culture and more about starfucking and keeping the party going, which I am not against in and of itself. But when strfkg starts getting in the way of true cultural reportage, then I wanna saw my own head off and dejectedly hurl it into the Hudson. Unfortunately for me, a man of substance, this is nevertheless the state of so-called entertainment reporting today; rarely is it concerned with the work people do. It's all about how they look while they're promoting it, or who they're pitching or catching for when sextime comes around. (perhaps this is because these are the two things that play to the star ego.) I do, however, agree that the machinery in this process needs to be examined. As Mickey said at the end of his starmaking cross-country murder spree "Y'see, the media is like the weather, only it's man-made weather." So let's get some mediarologists out there to see how it's whipped up, for fuck's sake.
From M
Any plans of this going beyond NY?
From Ronnie Segev
Interesting charity events you have listed. It's a great way for these charities to get exposure. -- Ronnie Segev.
From Maruska
very interesting, i can't wait to move to nyc and meet you all face to face