Harnessing,
evaluating,
visualizing,
and storing intimate user data from our sexual lifes as a social commentary.
Concept:
Pepi and I created a project that imagines a dystopian society, where big corporations harness our most intimate dara and use it to manipulate our buying patterns. We created touch sensors, 3D modelled a dildo, made use of a microcontroller, and coded a Python program to visualize, analyze, and store real-time user data. We first collected and then imported the data to Python. Then an interface visualizes the collected data in real time. This data, together with their personal informaiton, is indefinitely stored in our database.
Background:
Personal information is currently collected primarily through screens. Even those who refrain from using these devices will likely have their data gathered. We are currently living in a world of low government effectiveness, a legislative system that is unable to keep up with the current state of technology. Our data is being harnessed, our behaviors are being swayed, in the most insidious and ubiquitous ways possible.
Personal information is currently collected primarily through screens. Even those who refrain from using these devices will likely have their data gathered. We are currently living in a world of low government effectiveness, a legislative system that is unable to keep up with the current state of technology. Our data is being harnessed, our behaviors are being swayed, in the most insidious and ubiquitous ways possible.
Code:
In order to play into the concept of how mega corporations harness our most intimate data, we decided to link intimacy to the concept of sex/masterbation- a topic that is of a taboo. We hence settled on using a sex toy, specifically a dildo, as the object of which data is gathered from. Through 44 touch sensors that were installed on the surface of the 3D printed dildo, we could collect user data such as (1) Location in which dildo is touched, (2) Pressure of touch on the dildo, (3) Time which the user interacted with the dildo. This data was collected on an Arduino Mega (see picture above) and then saved in a CSV file in Python.
Processing the data:
After having collected user data, we visualized it using the real-time animation function of the Matplotlib library in Python.
In addition to a real-life data visualization, we chose to push our concept one step further and create a data evaluation that analyses the user’s behaviour during their interaction with the dildo. This reflects the way corporations insidiously create stereotypical profiles according to our private habits and online behaviours. This data is sold to companies that through user-tailored advertisement try to influence our consumption habits.
