PRECIOUS

PRECIOUS

Reclaiming value from personal data

ABOUT

The purpose of this PhD study is to investigate ways of reclaiming value from the data we provide to companies online. Specifically, it is looking to explore whether creating physical artworks from the data Facebook collects on us can promote emotional engagement with an asset we often give away for free.


These companies frequently use the data we provide to profile and categorise us so we can be targeted by advertisers / third parties. The sale of this data (or the insight it provides) is where the value lies for them.


What if we explored this data from a human perspective rather than an economic one? Could finding stories that are personal to us and visualising them in a way that enriches our everyday lives reframe our relationship with it?

The purpose of this PhD study is to investigate ways of reclaiming value from the data we provide to companies online. Specifically, it is looking to explore whether creating physical artworks from the data Facebook collects on us can promote emotional engagement with an asset we often give away for free.


These companies frequently use the data we provide to profile and categorise us so we can be targeted by advertisers / third parties. The sale of this data (or the insight it provides) is where the value lies for them.


What if we explored this data from a human perspective rather than an economic one? Could finding stories that are personal to us and visualising them in a way that enriches our everyday lives reframe our relationship with it?

The purpose of this PhD study is to investigate ways of reclaiming value from the data we provide to companies online. Specifically, it is looking to explore whether creating physical artworks from the data Facebook collects on us can promote emotional engagement with an asset we often give away for free.


These companies frequently use the data we provide to profile and categorise us so we can be targeted by advertisers / third parties. The sale of this data (or the insight it provides) is where the value lies for them.


What if we explored this data from a human perspective rather than an economic one? Could finding stories that are personal to us and visualising them in a way that enriches our everyday lives reframe our relationship with it?

This is not a study about whether Facebook (or social media in general) is good or bad. It is a study that aims to explore whether we can reclaim value from a personal resource (i.e. our personal data) that others already exploit.


The study aims to do this by creating software programs that will allow participants to explore their personal Facebook data and generate artwork from it.


By creating abstract, physical artworks which have meaning to the individual, we are looking to anchor your digital self in the real world, ask questions about what we disclose when giving away our data and, hopefully, create something of beauty that can enrich our daily lives.

PROGRAMS

The programs are created in Processing and available for anyone to download from GitHub along with guides on how to use each one. This section will contain links to the individual programs as they become available.


To utilise them you will need to download you personal Facebook data in JSON format. There is a link to a guide detailing how to do this below. Please remember to store your data securely if you do download it.

PROCESSING

GITHUB

GUIDE:

DOWNLOAD

PERSONAL DATA

CONTACT

If you have any questions or would like to apply to be a participant, please email me or use the form below to get in touch.


d.j.turner@ljmu.ac.uk