#ephemeron // ITP Thesis 2013

####Portraying online news articles as living organisms, ephemeron is a visualization of how an article is born, grows and eventually dies.

When articles are published, they are born into an ecosystem that is The New York Times homepage. Each article's life span is tracked and visualized as an organic life form called "ephemeron." Fed by article metadata, ephemera grow and evolve based on the number of page views, comments, and share data from Twitter, Facebook, and email. This experiment allows readers to witness and actively participate in the life and death of an individual ephemeron either by augmenting or limiting the article's life sustaining factors. Over time, ephemera grow and evolve into organisms with unique traits and patterns, only to die after losing their newsworthiness.