https://meghag.com Megha Goel Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:53:07 +0000 https://meghag.com en https://meghag.com/Overview Sun, 13 Nov 2022 06:00:17 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Overview Researcher and maker. Working at the edge of what language can carry.&nbsp; <img width="1544" height="1058" width_o="1544" height_o="1058" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c4ad832a8f9e64b3fb5e50e3e1e89bd60e531c7de4dab6746271017849e9dec/IMG_3575.JPG" data-mid="247446040" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2c4ad832a8f9e64b3fb5e50e3e1e89bd60e531c7de4dab6746271017849e9dec/IMG_3575.JPG" /> I’m Megha Goel, a UX researcher with 7+ years of practice across AI, culture, and cross-cultural communication — and a maker of objects, installations, and language experiments that ask the same questions differently. My work lives at the intersection of AI systems, cultural meaning, and the limits of representation.&nbsp; Working &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I'm a UX researcher with seven years of experience working with companies like Google, Spotify, and Meta -- leading language and AI research across 20+ countries, in contexts where what the system doesn't understand has real consequences. See working -&gt;Investigating&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The questions that drive me are older and stranger than any job title: what does a system learn when it learns from us? What does it miss? And who pays for that gap?&nbsp;Tell me -&gt; I run experiments that make those questions concrete. I asked an AI to reconstruct me from our conversation history alone. What it produced said more about the defaults built into the system than anything it had learned about me. That's not a glitch. It's an argument about what intelligence is being built to see.&nbsp;See investigating -&gt; Making&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I also build things. if-words-were-enough.org is a living archive that stress-tests AI on culturally-loaded, untranslatable words — the kind of meaning that doesn't survive encoding. It won the Creativity Prize at the Global Dialogues Challenge. It's also a dataset. &nbsp;See making -&gt; My writing lives at Lately About — on noticing things before they have words.&nbsp;See newsletter -&gt; When I am not working, I am pointing a flash at my friends, ranking a new restaurant on beli, or trying to revive my sourdough starter for the tenth time (or complaining about the weather).&nbsp; I'm based in New York. I came here from India, via Seattle, and have degrees in English and HCI from Univerity of Washington and Interactive Telecommunications from NYU's ITP. In Hindi, my name means clouds. https://meghag.com/If-Words-Were-Enough Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:53:07 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/If-Words-Were-Enough If Words Were Enough <img width="2536" height="1510" width_o="2536" height_o="1510" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/579bc42c601bf67b6a37eee9ad276e47f12a9b5c903657dc098eaf1b9f50882b/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.54.06PM.png" data-mid="242681338" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/579bc42c601bf67b6a37eee9ad276e47f12a9b5c903657dc098eaf1b9f50882b/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.54.06PM.png" /> <img width="2434" height="1194" width_o="2434" height_o="1194" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c77aab61cf6f85786a6d1225bfc721cd5285f8e771e8efbe6c4f898e16ea95c3/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.37PM.png" data-mid="242681339" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c77aab61cf6f85786a6d1225bfc721cd5285f8e771e8efbe6c4f898e16ea95c3/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.37PM.png" /> <img width="2562" height="1566" width_o="2562" height_o="1566" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5a57c01ed8f875d673df0b954e29896d6d6fc2e379e2df8ab45b05aa9daba8e2/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.53PM.png" data-mid="242681341" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5a57c01ed8f875d673df0b954e29896d6d6fc2e379e2df8ab45b05aa9daba8e2/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.53PM.png" /> <img width="2558" height="1514" width_o="2558" height_o="1514" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/808e0aab3864e257647db182fe2917427e7fb982087196315c394dfbefb8e952/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.45PM.png" data-mid="242681340" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/808e0aab3864e257647db182fe2917427e7fb982087196315c394dfbefb8e952/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-1.53.45PM.png" /> If Words Were Enough was was created for the Global Dialogues Challenge and highlights common themes from a global dataset of user hopes, collected by The Collective Intelligence Project. In July 2025, this project won the Creativity Prize for the Global Dialogues Challenge and announced at the Open AI Forum. Technologies used:&nbsp;OpenAI APIPython, javascript If Words Were Enough is a poetic memory generator that lets people create limericks in collaboration with an AI system. It’s meant to explore what language remembers, what it forgets, and what happens when our metaphors meet machine logic.Visit: if-words-were-enough.org Approach "AI can't understand cultural nuance." Looking through data, over 75% of participants feared their culture flattening or a lack of cultural nuance that would be lost because of AI. 80% of participants wouldn't tell AI something private when asked what AI should know about them yet continue to use AI for most of their daily tasks. In the most recent survey, over 50% of times AI was acceptable as a primary companion, mentor providing significant life guidance, spiritual advisor, primary caregiver making personal decisions for an elderly person, tutor or teacher, therapist, and mediator. 53% of people believed AI integration would lead to benefits in community wellness. But for a well-rounded community wellness experience, AI must understand their body languge, the boundaries, social hierarchy. Skepticism prevailed for how well AI understands these aspects, particularly beyond the American-Euro centric communities. Language is inherently oral, specifically in Eastern or Global South communities. Dialogue, therefore, is inherently an exchange of thoughts and processes. Dialating and fine tuning thought to respectfully support another. To dig into this dialog, I looked through responses to culture-related questions. I played around with training bots based on these responses as well as using markov chains to create poetry that reflected key sentiments. But all of those approaches left out the scope for scale. Surfacing the anxiety of lost language isn't enough. Instead, this generator acts as a test in 2 fold: Stress-test AI: We're not just building poems, we're testing how AI reacts to words it wasn't trained for and handles multilinguial input. Researchers can continue to build on this, pulling from this vocabulary of available words. If a model fails to generate a coherent, emotionally resonant rhyme when given idiomatic or culturally loaded words, it reveals a blind spot in how language models generalize across cultures.Building vocabulary: This is a very low-resource word embedding and preservation of “untranslatable” terms. This becomes a dataset for future models. But more importantly, each poem becomes a micro-policy artifact. Weaved together, this is a dataset of community-prioritized values that are inherently human. In this version I am using the OpenAI API to send user input or random generated poetry with an emphasis to receive a response that rhymes. The output is often gibberish. But this is the test and one that can be modified for any existing LLM to continually test against a niche dataset.Note on random generator Writing poetry can be daunting for some. The goal of this tool is to encourage participation and building the vocabulary. To do so, I included a random generator which pulls from the growing vocabulary to continually test AI that pulls top sentiments from the CIP Global Dialogues data set. <img width="1588" height="234" width_o="1588" height_o="234" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ab27ecc650c1c392b98ce8f725bb6cc6089ead6ba533b53a605b4abe57415896/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.00.20PM.png" data-mid="242681489" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ab27ecc650c1c392b98ce8f725bb6cc6089ead6ba533b53a605b4abe57415896/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.00.20PM.png" /> Where a user would input their first response, hopefully including a word unique to their culture, the template generated: <img width="1442" height="200" width_o="1442" height_o="200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/efbc5f2e049e76acfdd249e5110a0b3f8f72a8c688a6c179ea1644ea4f0dc4c2/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.00.35PM.png" data-mid="242681488" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/efbc5f2e049e76acfdd249e5110a0b3f8f72a8c688a6c179ea1644ea4f0dc4c2/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.00.35PM.png" /> Where a user would input their second response, hopefully including a word unique to their family pr community, the template generated: So each generated poem puts the existing dataset in the conversation and allows more future participation. Note on why a limerick Poetry is the earliest form of dialogue and written communication. Limericks are historically about people and places. Limericks are experimental.Updated Notes on Jan 9th 2026 This website has broken many times and fixing it has been a game of volley with ChatGPT. The new updated API now returns strings as "quotes" and when I went to see why, ChatGPT responded with: <img width="1672" height="1100" width_o="1672" height_o="1100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e7ad3e17f004b60a4c672a86b66eff3437ee875690bdecf1effd88e76f9eacf8/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.03.22PM.png" data-mid="242681531" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e7ad3e17f004b60a4c672a86b66eff3437ee875690bdecf1effd88e76f9eacf8/Screenshot-2026-01-09-at-2.03.22PM.png" /> https://meghag.com/Silence Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:05:39 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Silence Silence Masters thesis @ ITP Silence was the topic of my Masters Thesis at ITP. Materials used:&nbsp;PaperPlywoodWood GlueAcrylic Technologies used:&nbsp; Laser cutter&nbsp;2 displays + 1 computerAdobe InDesign + illustratorPython, javascript Silence is a year-long inquiry into the meaning of the word through different lenses.&nbsp; Explorations in the liminal space where our inner and outer worlds meet through the lens of silence. How can silence lead to deeper understanding of the self and others? How do we harness a mindful practice of growth and intention into avenues for creative expression? How do we reconcile our deepest parts and render them public? Silence is defined as the lack of sound in space, or an absence, a negative space. But what if it could mean more? As part of a quest to understand and implement silence into my life, the series of projects are the beginnings of a creative practice. To further research, I created conversations around silence, asking individuals how silence manifests in their life. What language can we find to speak about the things that are hidden? My research showed that the quality of silence can be distilled into a space for channeling creativity, processing feelings, and creating language. Susan Sontag, in her essay The Aesthetics of Silence wrote: “A genuine emptiness, a pure silence, is not feasible — either conceptually or in fact. If only because the artwork exists in a world furnished with many other things, the artist who creates silence or emptiness must produce something dialectical: a full void, an enriching emptiness, a resonating or eloquent silence. Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech (in many instances, of complaint or indictment) and an element in a dialogue.” How then can the qualities of silence be collected to create a larger framework that can create dialogue and augment future explorations? Through a series of projects, personal study, ethnography, and creative writing, I explore what lies waiting to be unearthed while archiving the silent parts of my self and others into a self-bound book. The book takes the form of an accordion, a growing progress artifact, pieced together through collage to distill the varied meanings of silence. In an attempt to find meanings around silence I began a series of personal inquiries, looking through past journals and transcribing the text from paper into my computer. To further personal understanding, I spoke to people about what silence means to them, how it manifests in their lives, and what happens when there is no sound. I continued my research through books and other personal inquiries of silence. I looked at, and drew inspiration from, the work of John Cage, Nam June Paik, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Nick Cave, James Turrell, Christine Sun Kim, Zimoun, Doug Wheeler. I looked at varied spiritual philosophies that are steeped in silence. I watched silent films and immersed myself into manufactured spaces of silence such as anechoic chambers. In choosing the final form, I recognized that a central question of my research process has been to answer the question of how our understanding of silence is a product of reading the contexts around us. Hence, it seems fitting to collect into a book. From paper, to a screen, and resulting in a paper, the book supplements my journals. The accordion format also allows for growth and further documentation to be attached to the end of the book. https://meghag.com/Internal-is-external Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:10:30 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Internal-is-external Internal is external Project made @ ITP - May 2021 <img width="796" height="190" width_o="796" height_o="190" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5fac1eac32f7248bcf481896e7b4d3b1dae22772ed3ac0ea004a5186533cb458/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-3.01.36-PM.png" data-mid="215477917" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/796/i/5fac1eac32f7248bcf481896e7b4d3b1dae22772ed3ac0ea004a5186533cb458/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-3.01.36-PM.png" /> <img width="1102" height="572" width_o="1102" height_o="572" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53e8f91e812c897bd718954db4369fe0ac6cd2d8cc6d85b12010b92a810dba66/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-12.42.24-PM.png" data-mid="215477913" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53e8f91e812c897bd718954db4369fe0ac6cd2d8cc6d85b12010b92a810dba66/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-12.42.24-PM.png" /> <img width="1162" height="590" width_o="1162" height_o="590" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/831a2886a13cba1e1a365a7aeafa51b4659c1485af6f6618e4fb9808e48a2b31/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-12.42.17-PM.png" data-mid="215478028" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/831a2886a13cba1e1a365a7aeafa51b4659c1485af6f6618e4fb9808e48a2b31/Screen-Shot-2022-05-03-at-12.42.17-PM.png" /> <img width="1074" height="224" width_o="1074" height_o="224" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0b8e63398bafb0812622c5bfdcd99763104dc54e7721577ba45d9e7e1f679406/Screen-Shot-2022-04-29-at-1.03.46-PM.png" data-mid="215477941" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0b8e63398bafb0812622c5bfdcd99763104dc54e7721577ba45d9e7e1f679406/Screen-Shot-2022-04-29-at-1.03.46-PM.png" /> <img width="802" height="350" width_o="802" height_o="350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4fe8e609b721f6d35832680f017f0baa80adfc0e3df751b571729c89dd20c8d4/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.52.26-PM.png" data-mid="215478144" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/802/i/4fe8e609b721f6d35832680f017f0baa80adfc0e3df751b571729c89dd20c8d4/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.52.26-PM.png" /> <img width="780" height="356" width_o="780" height_o="356" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d2d190dceb1359ecec03d96b2d941c742abacce9df172361c30fd991015ff49c/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.54.13-PM.png" data-mid="215478145" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/780/i/d2d190dceb1359ecec03d96b2d941c742abacce9df172361c30fd991015ff49c/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.54.13-PM.png" /> <img width="972" height="384" width_o="972" height_o="384" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1e9135a192bd8fd07a90148ee1d4102d89f3174edd3350baa7b0c0d433659580/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.54.17-PM.png" data-mid="215478143" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/972/i/1e9135a192bd8fd07a90148ee1d4102d89f3174edd3350baa7b0c0d433659580/Screenshot-2023-03-22-at-12.54.17-PM.png" /> Internal is external was made for a class called Mind Media taught by Dan O’ Sullivan. Technologies used:&nbsp; RunwayML Internal is external is a dismbodied experiment.&nbsp;Training a bot on text grounded in my journals - hit different in 2021, before chatGPT. But it gave me some interesting truths.&nbsp; https://meghag.com/Moratorium Sat, 04 Mar 2023 16:37:35 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Moratorium Moratorium&nbsp; This is an archive of decayed projects I’ve made in the past. These projects remain in an unknown state and were tools of learning.&nbsp; Writing&nbsp; (2021- present) Words and more [link](2022) Questions [link] Installations + Art(2022) Avatars and Self [link] Code + Data (2021- present) Experiments with Code [explore] (2018) Mental Health and Technology - Data Wrangling using R [link](2018) Simpsons ratings - Data wrangling using R [link] (2017) Sunrise: Dashboard for your morning - React app built on Javascript [link]&nbsp; Research Papers + Presentations (2018) Podcast: Hypersexualization of women in games [link](2018) NeighborSpin: a communal laundry subscription model [link](2018) Model for an inclusive hackathon [link](2018) WikiWomxn: creating a more inclusive community on Wikipedia [link](2018) Transnational Perspectives on Sexual Behavior [link] Design(2022) Pulse [link]&nbsp; (2018) Infographic on Virtual Reality in Public Libraries [link] https://meghag.com/Questions Tue, 30 Jul 2024 04:57:16 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Questions Design Systems&nbsp; Project made @ ITP - September 2022 <img width="2432" height="1712" width_o="2432" height_o="1712" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/316361b510e6794cef7a6551532b0534df58f6f0f881160ccb06a4c851f43c8d/Screenshot-2024-07-30-at-12.54.36AM.png" data-mid="215478873" border="0" alt="Full here " data-caption="Full here " src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/316361b510e6794cef7a6551532b0534df58f6f0f881160ccb06a4c851f43c8d/Screenshot-2024-07-30-at-12.54.36AM.png" /> Read the full series here.&nbsp; Questions: a series as they appear in my writing from 2019 to 2022.&nbsp;Using computation to pull questions from journals between 2019 and 2022. Exposing an internal monologue and a series of growth. https://meghag.com/Design-Systems Sat, 04 Mar 2023 08:59:07 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Design-Systems Design Systems&nbsp; Project made @ ITP - September 2022 <img width="3913" height="4973" width_o="3913" height_o="4973" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d02d1fef9bef80d994d6d2614a2f1e0c0865ab28114a030fbab815210c863bfe/pink_1.jpg" data-mid="170496977" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d02d1fef9bef80d994d6d2614a2f1e0c0865ab28114a030fbab815210c863bfe/pink_1.jpg" /> <img width="3086" height="3880" width_o="3086" height_o="3880" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d7ee97bad6c3ad863e0ed178120e6cf77684afadfc3b93b4393a497020cfcd8/orange-pink_1.jpg" data-mid="170496972" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3d7ee97bad6c3ad863e0ed178120e6cf77684afadfc3b93b4393a497020cfcd8/orange-pink_1.jpg" /> <img width="3886" height="5082" width_o="3886" height_o="5082" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3b831df84bd0879830db293f920de5f57f9f717af7c914afd49646dd691134e/black-red_1.jpg" data-mid="170496918" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3b831df84bd0879830db293f920de5f57f9f717af7c914afd49646dd691134e/black-red_1.jpg" /> <img width="2992" height="3998" width_o="2992" height_o="3998" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5bebc0f97fff02e3a07fde636c0904a728c5a1a3697b62c2900a80e9bba431ca/blue_1.jpg" data-mid="170496921" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5bebc0f97fff02e3a07fde636c0904a728c5a1a3697b62c2900a80e9bba431ca/blue_1.jpg" /> <img width="3914" height="5106" width_o="3914" height_o="5106" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4cdf04c1259306cde3388a2b803f12230fb7f5f78c196e8e1ca3ba8732507de/orange_1.jpg" data-mid="170497181" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4cdf04c1259306cde3388a2b803f12230fb7f5f78c196e8e1ca3ba8732507de/orange_1.jpg" /> <img width="3112" height="3934" width_o="3112" height_o="3934" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f80b4363d8e18ee805149c56dd5118c419111c86c826bce0ae5ecc994f97812f/black_1.jpg" data-mid="170496910" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f80b4363d8e18ee805149c56dd5118c419111c86c826bce0ae5ecc994f97812f/black_1.jpg" /> <img width="3914" height="5106" width_o="3914" height_o="5106" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d84ac14fb5b80e28d4e72ba3020c47f51c50bf73f52fef5aa3de4704eac29e97/orange_1.jpg" data-mid="170496931" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d84ac14fb5b80e28d4e72ba3020c47f51c50bf73f52fef5aa3de4704eac29e97/orange_1.jpg" /> Design Systems was created as project for a class called Print and Code by Tega Brain. Technologies used:&nbsp; Laptop&nbsp;p5.jsRiSO PrinterCardstock Design Systems is a seris of posters created using generative code.&nbsp;Using the p5.js and the RiSO library, I created a seriers of RiSO prints. Each generative poster creates a different color combination and placement of the main circle.&nbsp; In this assignment we were to create a political poster.&nbsp; Pulling from Foucault’s theory of Panopticism -- the theory about the development and nomarlization of surveillance and control. Through technology surveillance is being reproduced (architecturally), extended (psychologically, deeply ingraining the feeling of being watched in a person’s psyche), and therefore being made ubiquitous.&nbsp;Furthermore, coupling surveillance with the growing idea of “sousveillance,” the feeling of being watched and control is extremely present. The poster is meant to question rather than answer. Subvert and interrogate the idea of being watched. Therefore, I added a box to question “Are we being watched more than we’re seeing?” Source code. <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a3795391da52fc92ea4f64051db144f93427f13da2dc9325ed557503ad6a844e/-10.png" data-mid="170496893" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a3795391da52fc92ea4f64051db144f93427f13da2dc9325ed557503ad6a844e/-10.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2a976a1a4bbd0741686d2c44e7dd3824c3905a915f28afc6a7497839612008f3/-11.png" data-mid="170496894" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2a976a1a4bbd0741686d2c44e7dd3824c3905a915f28afc6a7497839612008f3/-11.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4f880e921706bf04b14e415fff70b01dd26db52d24277b5569d60966380a0c86/-14.png" data-mid="170496897" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4f880e921706bf04b14e415fff70b01dd26db52d24277b5569d60966380a0c86/-14.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5130255b682cd323b2c4804e76094bf081cc98c0b9dd6d29f37fa460f441fb2b/-12.png" data-mid="170496895" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5130255b682cd323b2c4804e76094bf081cc98c0b9dd6d29f37fa460f441fb2b/-12.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5f577ad83c204d526ed88d12639d351c4d4668184129a30ce59701d63675f734/-13.png" data-mid="170496896" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5f577ad83c204d526ed88d12639d351c4d4668184129a30ce59701d63675f734/-13.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3293" width_o="2551" height_o="3293" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4de9463ea4102c355e28077839245906adbd6b0da62441353004e2b2eee449b9/-19.png" data-mid="170496903" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4de9463ea4102c355e28077839245906adbd6b0da62441353004e2b2eee449b9/-19.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4f880e921706bf04b14e415fff70b01dd26db52d24277b5569d60966380a0c86/-14.png" data-mid="170496897" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4f880e921706bf04b14e415fff70b01dd26db52d24277b5569d60966380a0c86/-14.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b38d5ef0c9c3373dd6d58f4727a2ca39529bb8714aaa45e8d44ed265a59c34b2/-18.png" data-mid="170496902" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b38d5ef0c9c3373dd6d58f4727a2ca39529bb8714aaa45e8d44ed265a59c34b2/-18.png" /> <img width="2551" height="3301" width_o="2551" height_o="3301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/06c84fc63fa6a104a399902ba64f2c96252885763704a5a1e95be66bc5713bed/-16.png" data-mid="170496899" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/06c84fc63fa6a104a399902ba64f2c96252885763704a5a1e95be66bc5713bed/-16.png" /> Inspiration + Process The feeling of being watched is very commonly propagated in sci-fi literature. And so, I turned to the covers of books like The Stranger&nbsp;by Albert Camus and&nbsp;The Panopticon Writings&nbsp;by Jeremy Bentham. Circles are integral to the idea of being watched. In my first iteration, I began to think about concentric circles with the “you” that is being watched placed in the center. I developed a generative system that makes a random number of concentric circles with each circle having a random number of circles. The randomness here is key to the idea of we know we’re being watched but we don’t really know how many people are watching us. Maybe its none but that idea and feeling never goes away. However, this seemed clunky and overwhelming. I tried to parse it out and have separate layers but overlaying the two circles was difficult. It felt like too much was happening in a small poster. Instead, I decided to simply do a gradient of concentric circles. The center remains the “you” being watched” and the circles around the multiple layers that are watching you. It took the original idea and simplified it. As I stared at these shapes further, I thought about how they overlap. In the way that they are overlapped, they center circles meant to look like eyes further emphasizing the idea of being watched. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<img width="1856" height="418" width_o="1856" height_o="418" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/71ad3c10adbf219e7c7219887d9a2bb588f34c98506a8f4d9b3262b40daa70f2/Screen-Shot-2022-10-12-at-2.52.10-AM.png" data-mid="170496891" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/71ad3c10adbf219e7c7219887d9a2bb588f34c98506a8f4d9b3262b40daa70f2/Screen-Shot-2022-10-12-at-2.52.10-AM.png" /><img width="1726" height="730" width_o="1726" height_o="730" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7677705bff0c0bd3aee24420b0ec0f9fc1db1d85e50faf9917556f51a32b18c6/circles---1.png" data-mid="170496889" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7677705bff0c0bd3aee24420b0ec0f9fc1db1d85e50faf9917556f51a32b18c6/circles---1.png" /><img width="842" height="1268" width_o="842" height_o="1268" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7107819485e4bda7558aa6eb056e9b8dda2fcd4ba499d4f2715c6091adeca710/Screen-Shot-2022-10-12-at-11.15.39-AM.png" data-mid="170496892" border="0" data-scale="33" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/842/i/7107819485e4bda7558aa6eb056e9b8dda2fcd4ba499d4f2715c6091adeca710/Screen-Shot-2022-10-12-at-11.15.39-AM.png" /><img width="600" height="594" width_o="600" height_o="594" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bdf7e8d6d519be8385a4be5d00f3b92bec99877d39b6cb83abcb4d9422ad4d66/0721-bks-SHONEcover-articleLarge.jpg" data-mid="170497081" border="0" data-scale="48" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/600/i/bdf7e8d6d519be8385a4be5d00f3b92bec99877d39b6cb83abcb4d9422ad4d66/0721-bks-SHONEcover-articleLarge.jpg" /> https://meghag.com/Experiments-with-Code Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:18:21 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Experiments-with-Code Experiments with code Series of ongoing projects made @ ITP Experiment with 3D &amp; Light using p5.js -- point light and ambient light, effect of cursor on 3D shapes rotating in location.&nbsp; Experiment with 3D &amp; Lightusing p5.js -- point light and ambient light, effect of cursor on 3D shapes rotating in location. Experiment with mouseClick using p5.js -- mouse clicks, animation with frame count.&nbsp; <img width="678" height="490" width_o="678" height_o="490" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f380a5438539aee05d77c5d28ea3f7294c626217e0434ce56b9542262dc9c06d/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.27.37-AM.png" data-mid="215478115" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/678/i/f380a5438539aee05d77c5d28ea3f7294c626217e0434ce56b9542262dc9c06d/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.27.37-AM.png" /> <img width="1066" height="914" width_o="1066" height_o="914" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/182aab9606beb3a1bfb102b4dc0ff0f326ba0bcb45604a24d211745f83084154/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.24.02-AM.png" data-mid="215478114" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/182aab9606beb3a1bfb102b4dc0ff0f326ba0bcb45604a24d211745f83084154/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.24.02-AM.png" /> <img width="980" height="758" width_o="980" height_o="758" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5b901a8a06252849e0a2def1d5ac82b0f9b05712ec6d5214813374561a7d8b0d/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.29.28-AM.png" data-mid="215478116" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/980/i/5b901a8a06252849e0a2def1d5ac82b0f9b05712ec6d5214813374561a7d8b0d/Screenshot-2023-04-20-at-12.29.28-AM.png" /> <img width="548" height="446" width_o="548" height_o="446" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4f5b3d57c8dffeb49bc63cd0c49354182ba6718bac8a48d8367263bfcefd0cda/Screenshot-2023-05-02-at-12.42.12-AM.png" data-mid="215478153" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/548/i/4f5b3d57c8dffeb49bc63cd0c49354182ba6718bac8a48d8367263bfcefd0cda/Screenshot-2023-05-02-at-12.42.12-AM.png" /> https://meghag.com/Words-and-more Sun, 05 Mar 2023 23:52:54 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Words-and-more Words and more Writing My current writing lives very messily on www.latelyabout.com. It is a documentation of what’s currently happening, my life during graduate school, and things I’m working on.&nbsp; I’m currently particularly focused on machine produced writing. See experiments here and here.&nbsp; (2017- 2018) Columnist, The Daily @ UW (2016 - 2017) Writer, The Daily @ UW Editing <img width="3024" height="1292" width_o="3024" height_o="1292" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/83eefc595c8ec43f6943e32a75d55bdf4869a73b0333b05179f94d02b6a658e7/Screenshot-2023-03-05-at-4.14.22-PM.png" data-mid="170635299" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/83eefc595c8ec43f6943e32a75d55bdf4869a73b0333b05179f94d02b6a658e7/Screenshot-2023-03-05-at-4.14.22-PM.png" /> <img width="3022" height="1716" width_o="3022" height_o="1716" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19b702eda8ae72ef5b78a8a9649ca4dd3bd3c152c36f1ef20d74ff7825d0b4b3/Screenshot-2023-03-05-at-7.12.45-PM.png" data-mid="170635302" border="0" data-scale="65" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/19b702eda8ae72ef5b78a8a9649ca4dd3bd3c152c36f1ef20d74ff7825d0b4b3/Screenshot-2023-03-05-at-7.12.45-PM.png" /> (2022) Adjacent, Issue 9 - Editing Team(2019) Bricolage, Issue 37 - Editing Team&nbsp; (2018) Bricolage, &nbsp;Issue 36 - Editing Team&nbsp; (2017- 2019) The Daily @ UW &nbsp;- Editor&nbsp; https://meghag.com/Memorial Thu, 19 May 2022 16:38:55 +0000 Megha Goel https://meghag.com/Memorial Memorial Project made @ ITP - October 2022 <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/efc640797c89d36983836c672a95803b4518a580bdfa0e363f3f6791113f9566/erasure-2.jpg" data-mid="170617850" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/efc640797c89d36983836c672a95803b4518a580bdfa0e363f3f6791113f9566/erasure-2.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2fcb04e4473c61b005a0cbace3cba57396e7d3385046484d7f6f07a144768647/erasure-25.jpg" data-mid="170616757" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2fcb04e4473c61b005a0cbace3cba57396e7d3385046484d7f6f07a144768647/erasure-25.jpg" /> <img width="4480" height="6720" width_o="4480" height_o="6720" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0340536c600143cb3a513b5b25d188852f189f5aa6530ec2295a3a21842b917a/erasure-27.jpg" data-mid="170616292" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0340536c600143cb3a513b5b25d188852f189f5aa6530ec2295a3a21842b917a/erasure-27.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/106da9615457e509b63bd739970279b0d63286fec423a14948aa085da1d30f4e/erasure-3.jpg" data-mid="170617851" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/106da9615457e509b63bd739970279b0d63286fec423a14948aa085da1d30f4e/erasure-3.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb1ae76aa7482d21ae42983f98e908a248f358ff2ca73ca70766f61f2863b024/erasure-24.jpg" data-mid="170616761" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fb1ae76aa7482d21ae42983f98e908a248f358ff2ca73ca70766f61f2863b024/erasure-24.jpg" /> Memorial was created in collaboration with Sarah Elix, fellow ITP ‘23 student for a class called Print and Code by Tega Brain. Materials used:&nbsp; Yellow legal envelope&nbsp;Red acrylicRed cotton string&nbsp;PaperMetal fastenersCardboard Technologies used:&nbsp; RiSO printer Color printer&nbsp; Laser cutter Memorial is an experimental zine created in support of the protests that happened in Iran during September &amp; October 2022. The protests began as an outrage and response to the capture and death of Mahsa Amini in a detention center. People in Iran have taken the streets, burning hijabs, and posting videos of cutting their hair in response to the policing of women’s appearances. Therefore, Memorial works as a response to these protests. It memorializes Mahsa Amini, the woman with whom the protests began and 5 others - Mahsa Mougouyi, Hadis Najafi, Nika Shakarami, Sarina Esmailzadeh, and Hannaneh Kia. The zine experiments with a legal envelope. Pulling on the idea of length and memorial, a long string is weaved through many buttons on the back of a legal envelope. At the end of each string is a small mini-zine. On the right (with a black jacket), the zine has faces of the 6 women. On the left (with a white jacket), the corresponding names to the faces. Inside the envelope are contact sheets of videos of the protest, of people gathered burning hijabs, and women facing a camera, cutting their hair in sign of solidarity. The zine can be consumed in 2 ways: The first and the way that most will consume it is by looking at the piece as it stands — tied together with two small zines on each end. People are invited to flip through the faces, and then look at the other book to find the woman’s name. In matching the face to the name and vice-versa, people are invited to remember the people that begun this movement. The second is by engaging in the process of untying and tying the envelope as a way of joining the performance. In the process of untying to reach the inside, people are given the time to reflect. Once inside, and seeing the contents, people are invited to re-tie the envelope in their own way.Together, this zine gives a physicality of length and urges agency within the reader. <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f116bb268e44dbeb384790f58780927709e0427650bc7b340a37a0b1604daf52/erasure-17.jpg" data-mid="170616775" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f116bb268e44dbeb384790f58780927709e0427650bc7b340a37a0b1604daf52/erasure-17.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fb1ae76aa7482d21ae42983f98e908a248f358ff2ca73ca70766f61f2863b024/erasure-24.jpg" data-mid="170616761" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fb1ae76aa7482d21ae42983f98e908a248f358ff2ca73ca70766f61f2863b024/erasure-24.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7dd4d641e1e662ffc22fe14917b36c554e7da0fae807a59f8673e8f36f80fbac/erasure-18.jpg" data-mid="170616291" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7dd4d641e1e662ffc22fe14917b36c554e7da0fae807a59f8673e8f36f80fbac/erasure-18.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9d6f624640e412362a642194fbf2ae2db3da7aa9ad110bf3b7419bd755fe293f/erasure-23.jpg" data-mid="170616283" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9d6f624640e412362a642194fbf2ae2db3da7aa9ad110bf3b7419bd755fe293f/erasure-23.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8abe65b9450426c5e58fb3733c29da0bb32e779de9c46f3c0e60be466105fdf5/erasure-21.jpg" data-mid="170616279" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8abe65b9450426c5e58fb3733c29da0bb32e779de9c46f3c0e60be466105fdf5/erasure-21.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ea8de807f993b7c9c254b0b9eb443fd834046b19e9a10265a15791a3acf6eca5/erasure-20.jpg" data-mid="170616265" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ea8de807f993b7c9c254b0b9eb443fd834046b19e9a10265a15791a3acf6eca5/erasure-20.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f972620ca03b132a4827361828b28c8b3df5a4205b7f9777a569177ce445fe5f/erasure-16.jpg" data-mid="170616270" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f972620ca03b132a4827361828b28c8b3df5a4205b7f9777a569177ce445fe5f/erasure-16.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de5121e7e38be3f72643b765e634dea896b10b83745760a9da79ae97773fd023/erasure-6.jpg" data-mid="170616753" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de5121e7e38be3f72643b765e634dea896b10b83745760a9da79ae97773fd023/erasure-6.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3bca8d3a0c70b0f561899a772eeb8cf33acec78dfad4331013654f23360f4a93/erasure-12.jpg" data-mid="170616289" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3bca8d3a0c70b0f561899a772eeb8cf33acec78dfad4331013654f23360f4a93/erasure-12.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/923b2e2a19c1e1f35c8b6a1bc6172bb0cc63bc77b38b1e27f72903251497e0dd/erasure-15.jpg" data-mid="170616271" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/923b2e2a19c1e1f35c8b6a1bc6172bb0cc63bc77b38b1e27f72903251497e0dd/erasure-15.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53d216f3fd7a21239a3e52789e41dfc71b6d27ddbdfb6806d8b0b2c0b4aaab06/erasure-13.jpg" data-mid="170616281" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53d216f3fd7a21239a3e52789e41dfc71b6d27ddbdfb6806d8b0b2c0b4aaab06/erasure-13.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/106da9615457e509b63bd739970279b0d63286fec423a14948aa085da1d30f4e/erasure-3.jpg" data-mid="170617851" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/106da9615457e509b63bd739970279b0d63286fec423a14948aa085da1d30f4e/erasure-3.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8fa18da2d79d9d106d49792a290afbe723181fc39a4c6c96d42e8c7a7d7b1942/erasure-10.jpg" data-mid="170616266" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8fa18da2d79d9d106d49792a290afbe723181fc39a4c6c96d42e8c7a7d7b1942/erasure-10.jpg" /> <img width="6720" height="4480" width_o="6720" height_o="4480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d4d13206db166deac664ebc6f7e3b779b9949343211476f87652360e8289e566/erasure-8.jpg" data-mid="170616268" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d4d13206db166deac664ebc6f7e3b779b9949343211476f87652360e8289e566/erasure-8.jpg" /> Conception When thinking about an experimental zine, Sarah and I wanted to create a sculpture that invited space for memory and told stories in a non-linear way. Inspired by the Vietnam Wall Memorial, Sarah and I began to think about memory about current events and protests. The legal envelope was born out of the thought of taking agency over an object involved in the legal process. The small zines were inspired by Neta Bomani’s teabag zine and the idea that stories can be told in the most obscure places.