WHO’S YOUR DATA?
In today’s digital age, every click, search, and interaction we make online leaves behind a trail of data—a digital reflection of who we are. Who’s Your Data? explores these traces, offering a personal journey into how our online behaviours shape and uncover facets of our identity.
Role: Developer Project Type: Data Visualization
Ideation
Initial Concept:Initially titled Me, Myself, and AI, the concept drew inspiration from Tehching Hsieh’s Time Clock Piece, where he documented the passage of time by punching a clock every hour for a year. Similarly, I aimed to explore the evolution of my online presence over the span of a year, using generative AI to create visual representations of my data.
To visualize this concept, I crafted the user journey in Unity, designing an exhibition setting where the experience unfolds from a first-person perspective.
Prototype
Data Analysis:I started by extracting my 2023 browsing history using a terminal command, converting it into a CSV file, and importing it into Excel for initial exploration. After parsing the data into JSON format, I attempted to create visualizations in Python. However, with over a million data points, organizing and displaying the dataset proved overwhelming. This challenge led me to shift to Blender, where I used geometric shapes to represent visit frequencies.
Navigating The DataThe high frequency of certain sites—such as 30,000 visits to Google in one month—added complexity to the visualization. Using frequency as the height of geometric shapes created an environment where structures stretched endlessly into the sky, overwhelming the space and making the data difficult to interpret. To solve this, I categorized the data and assigned each category a unique 3D building, creating a city-like structure that made the data more navigable and intuitive.
Data Visualization
Experience
Insights
Who’s Your Data? began as an ambitious attempt to visualize my digital footprint and evolved into an interactive exploration of the digital landscape shaped by my data. Although the project’s scale was often daunting, its success hinged on embracing iteration and adapting to challenges rather than rigidly adhering to my initial vision.