Littlesis

Some new media art fags might remember Josh On’s politically astute and generatively exciting TheyRule.net. His site allows visitors to visualize connections between people who are on multiple boards of fortune 500 companies. Users of the site can conduct and upload their own research to create their own power maps of elite players.

But this concept has finally taken wings in this age of broken dreams and political corruption. Proximity’s Managing Editor, Mairead Case, just informed us that her buddies officially launched LittleSis.org.

It’s the opposite of Big Brother: a wiki-based tool for conducting and sharing power structure analysis of the American elite, or, as they are fond of calling it: “an involuntary Facebook for the ruling class.”

From the site:
LittleSis brings transparency to influential social networks from Wall Street to Washington. The site is an involuntary facebook of powerful Americans, collaboratively edited by an online community of analysts.

Profile pages catalogue important relationships between politicians, CEOs, financiers, lobbyists, and other important folks. By tracking everything from board memberships to campaign contributions, family ties to government contracts, LittleSis opens up elite networks for public inspection. Why do this? Because whether you like them or not, they play a crucial role in shaping public policy; they make decisions that affect our lives in profound ways.