This was super interesting! One thing it left me wondering is if you've thought about the complexities of how moving data between contexts changes its meaning and that individual control over data may not match up well with the relational information encoded in data (see e.g. Kimberly Christen's "Does Information Really Want to be Free?" and Salomé Viljoen's "A Relational Theory of Data Governance"). (To be clear, I absolutely agree that companies owning your data is the worst option of all.) Do you think that Rhizome can be constructed to help engage with these issues?
This is a great question and I'm still grappling with (and in the midst of writing a whole other piece about!). Data in context is incredibly important. Like identity, when taken out of context, it can be incredibly harmful and misused. Pursuing interoperability without considering the intention behind the actions that data encodes can easily turn dangerous very quickly.
One way I'm thinking about this is analogizing the multiple facets and contexts of data as people. Just as people behave differently in different contexts, so can data. The same reason we have so many 'alts' or 'finstas' is that this multifaceted-ness isn't accommodated by existing media platforms. Data platforms similarly treat data as single faceted. What does a multi-faceted encoding of data look like? What does communal ownership of data look like?
These are questions I don't have answers for yet but still actively thinking about :) Would love to hear if you have any thoughts or further questions!
Thanks for the thoughtful response! I definitely don't have the answers either... I am interested to read your follow-up piece and see where this project ends up on these issues!
This was super interesting! One thing it left me wondering is if you've thought about the complexities of how moving data between contexts changes its meaning and that individual control over data may not match up well with the relational information encoded in data (see e.g. Kimberly Christen's "Does Information Really Want to be Free?" and Salomé Viljoen's "A Relational Theory of Data Governance"). (To be clear, I absolutely agree that companies owning your data is the worst option of all.) Do you think that Rhizome can be constructed to help engage with these issues?
Hi Zoë, thanks for reading!
This is a great question and I'm still grappling with (and in the midst of writing a whole other piece about!). Data in context is incredibly important. Like identity, when taken out of context, it can be incredibly harmful and misused. Pursuing interoperability without considering the intention behind the actions that data encodes can easily turn dangerous very quickly.
One way I'm thinking about this is analogizing the multiple facets and contexts of data as people. Just as people behave differently in different contexts, so can data. The same reason we have so many 'alts' or 'finstas' is that this multifaceted-ness isn't accommodated by existing media platforms. Data platforms similarly treat data as single faceted. What does a multi-faceted encoding of data look like? What does communal ownership of data look like?
These are questions I don't have answers for yet but still actively thinking about :) Would love to hear if you have any thoughts or further questions!
Thanks for the thoughtful response! I definitely don't have the answers either... I am interested to read your follow-up piece and see where this project ends up on these issues!
wooooooo