Hang is a Vietnamese digital designer and creative technologist from Germany, fascinated by our relationship to Social Media and its influence on us. She will judge you if you touch computer screens, especially hers.

I have created a Chrome browser extension that tracks myself while I interact – click, type, scroll, dwell – with content on Facebook and that predicts various personality traits based on that data. I have used it for 2 weeks (April 18 – May 1, 2016) and visualized this as a time-based data visualization that is presented as a projection on translucent material to represent on the one hand the ‘glassy’ consumer and citizen, and on the other the lack of information transparency.

Internet users purposefully create different identities on different platforms they use. They control how they want to be seen. Data Selfie addresses the curiosity of: What about the data profile that is made of us by machines at Facebook, Google and co., the one profile we never get to see, but unconsciously create?!

This project aims to provide a personal and differentiated perspective on data mining, predictive analytics and your online data identity. So many details can be inferred from our online consumption and depending on the subjective rules the algorithm architect designs, there will be different outcomes.

In the information age data dictates the economy. We can either hope that big data will solve all problems of humanity or fear a future of total control and surveillance without freedom. One thing is certain, big data algorithms increasingly define our lives. Therefore, it is important for especially those who are not hopeful nor fearful, who are indifferent to this topic to be aware of the power and influence of data of ourselves on ourselves.

Can our data profiles help us understand ourselves?! Can it really?

—

My personal log and analysis will be on display at the exhibition.

Further information about the tool: dataselfie.it