-Every action- we perform online generates value, whether this is clicking, posting or texting, but also something as seemingly unimportant as the way our finger moves through the surface of our devices as we scroll down.
While we wait for the bus or in the queue of a shop we take our phones out and scroll down, this habit can be considered as ̈doing nothing ̈, but the minimal action of swiping down through our timelines on platforms like Facebook and Twitter generates value, as it reveals many things about our behavior and personality. Our hand gestures are unique and speak a lot about ourselves, just as the timeline is a representation of the multiple voices that connect with the participant and acts as a unique mirror of who one is.
Some discourses about monetizing our data are still based in the current neoliberal wealth distribution system, functioning with structures of inequality such as gender, race and nationality. To cope with this inequality we are proposing an alternative distribution system. This is what we call the Data Basic Income. In this system every participant receives the same amount of money in return for their data, independently of the parameters used in our current system.
In this working session we are going to analyze and monetize our production of data. To collect it, participants are asked to scroll down on their mobile phone while this process is being recorded. Their finger movements will be tracked with a movement sensor that captures the choreography of their hand gestures.
Rather than harvesting information created by the participants, we are exploring their timeline through their hand choreography. We ask ourselves throughout this session where the moment is that our automated habits become choreography and when this choreography becomes a form of labor.
There is a saying that all bits are created equal, we believe all wealth created from data should be equally distributed.
With Manuel Beltrán (IoHO) and guest collaborator Sara Pape (timebank.cc)
http://obsolescence.institute
