DissemiNET, 1998

For DissemiNET, Sawad Brooks and Beth Stryker use the Internet to collect, store, and disseminate stories that recount the "disappearance" of youths during the civil war in El Salvador. Gathered in collaboration with Pro Busqueda de Los Ninos, an agency that helps trace abducted children, the stories documented on this site reveal it to be much more than a database of tragedy. DissemiNET uses "fuzzy logic" to algorithmically create a cyber-palimpsest of related memories that are often difficult to recover.

DissemiNET was shown first in the Body Mecanique exhibit at the Wexner Center for the Arts, then in the Interactive Frictions exhibit at the USC Fisher Gallery. In June 1999, the Walker Art Center's Digital Arts Study Collection began hosting the online component of DissemiNET. In February 2000, a new "edition" was created by Brooks and Stryker, with testimonials curated by Geert Lovink for the Art Entertainment Network.