Article by guest blogger Erika Szabo

This is a public/private intervention -- a new way to think of yourself. Let go of everything you know and let your ideas flow. You never know who will be inspired.

Kyle McDonald is an interactive media artist who works with code to create intricate systems and playful realizations we might not otherwise think about. 3D Scanning, Face Tracking, 2D Mapping and Image Cloning are a few forms of technology McDonald uses to create art instalments and experiments that not only test the diverse capabilities of these technologies, but also test our personal capabilities as well.

For instance, McDonald’s face tracking projects have inspired others to create their own projects ranging from educational tools to humorous and bizarre experiments. Want to find a way to tweet with your eyebrows, eat letters or type with your face? There’s a way to do that thanks to all the typographical possibilities!

That need to share is key to making this all happen, no matter how personal the endeavour. McDonald’s year-long project Key Tweeter (@keytweeter) had him tweeting the first 140 characters of anything he typed whether that was a text message, email etc. This project asked many questions we might wonder when giving ourselves away (whether via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other social media outlets) primarily, “How does it change the way you think of yourself, and how others think of you?”.

Interestingly enough, McDonald came to the conclusion that our identities are formed through everyone and everything around us. We are constantly molding and influencing ourselves as we interact. So, to keep from breaking that cycle (if there was ever a way), we need to keep influencing and interacting with each other, even if in the most minute ways. You won’t know until you try.

With that need to share ideas comes that need to share the process. McDonald talked about how sharing projects via Instructables lead to even greater discussion. Creating discussion wasn't so much about the individual with the idea, but rather the plethora of new ideas that emerged from it.

Finding the drive to create these ideas and let go of judgement is probably the hardest part for many; but finding comfort in those deeply influential rewards is the first step to letting go. “If you're working in this open way, you can get inspiration from others and give to others.”