abandoned.ai seeks to become an entity that is capable of doing more than just directly preserving captures of lost spaces. Our purpose is also to advocate for digital space preservation such that it becomes compulsory when considering the permanent alteration or destruction of shared physical places. Predominantly we are focused on establishing this advocacy for at risk locations, meaning:
- Places in immanent danger of demolition or collapse.
- Places at earlier stages of abandonment, liable to weathering and degradation over time.
- Places deemed to be of little historic or cultural significance, such that efforts to preserve them would be passed over by other more esteemed institutions like the Google Cultural institute.
The volume of Building #60 at KPPC drawn over where it formerly stood, 2016
Establishing Legal status
Subject to environmental regulations, building owners are already required to complete abatements and other standard procedures before being able to tear down or abandon a structure legally. These obligations change based on the entity in possession of the property. For public spaces controlled by town, state or federal entities we propose the introduction of a clause to require the capture and digital preservation of human centered areas contained within. Offices and registries of historic places at all levels of government should provide guidance on facilitating such captures and stewardship of the digital assets and artifacts produced.
The core purpose of abandoned.ai is to lay the foundation for this type of unified digital preservation effort and to bootstrap adaptation wherever interested parties exist.
EstablishingOrganizational status
abandoned.ai seeks to become an accredited 501(c)(3) in the states of New York or Delaware. Education and outreach is at the center of all our efforts, not profit. In spite of the flashy .ai branding which is common among big silicon valley tech companies, we are about proving that machine learning based imaging technology has become widespread and inexpensive enough for mass adoption. Aside from hosting resources, abandoned.ai seeks to train staff and members of the general public in using said resources to capture more spaces safely and utilize existing captures in creative ways.
abandoned.ai ideally should be capable of facilitating public private partnerships in order to gain access to state of the art capture technology. Personal protective equipment including drones and robots can be borrowed or donated, and GPU processing time can be contributed by third party partners in exchange for tax credits.
As of December 2023, none of this has been formally established yet and is subject to change. Feedback and / or guidance is greatly appreciated.