subjective data

“Traditionally the domain of information designers whose task is to scrape, shape and frame existing data, this category has lately shifted from static forms to quite advanced interactive web-based formats that allow the public to explore data for themselves.”

“In summary, the critical function of artistic visualization is to call into question the claims of transparency, certainty, and objectivity embedded in the Cartesian language of the genre. It is to insist on situatedness of the observer and the phenomenon being observed.”

“We live, they say, in the age of Big Data — algorithms trawl through vast databases of our digital trails seeking to extract insight on the human experience, from how we fall in love to what we read. But aggregating individual human lives into massive data sets and trying to extrapolate insight from the aggregate data that is valid for individual human lives is somewhat like taking an exquisite poem in English and running it through Google Translate to render into Japanese and then back into English. The result may have the vague contours of the original poem’s meaning, but none of its subtle magic and vibrant granular beauty.”

“But what if we could claim that beautiful granular humanity back from the homogenizing aggregate-grip of Big Data?”