Experiment Six – DATA DATA EVERYWHERE (Week Six)

Note

Playlist Cover Image generated using Canva’s Magic Media from the prompt:

},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “The Radio Dept.”,
“trackName” : “Pulling Our Weight”,
“msPlayed” : 1791
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “Morrissey”,
“trackName” : “I Wish You Lonely”,
“msPlayed” : 4416
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:47”,
“artistName” : “MOTO BANDIT”,
“trackName” : “OBSERVATIONS 1”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:53”,
“artistName” : “Billy Bragg”,
“trackName” : “Must I Paint You a Picture”,
“msPlayed” : 332373
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:58”,
“artistName” : “The Smiths”,
“trackName” : “The Headmaster Ritual – 2011 Remaster”,
“msPlayed” : 295440
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 15:58”,
“artistName” : “Simon & Garfunkel”,
“trackName” : “April Come She Will”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:03”,
“artistName” : “DOPE LEMON”,
“trackName” : “Neon Lights”,
“msPlayed” : 285778
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:06”,
“artistName” : “Dana and Alden”,
“trackName” : “Let’s Go to Trader Joe’s”,
“msPlayed” : 156026
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:13”,
“artistName” : “Jean & Trevor”,
“trackName” : “Back Together”,
“msPlayed” : 405682
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:20”,
“artistName” : “Yo La Tengo”,
“trackName” : “Center of Gravity”,
“msPlayed” : 0
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:23”,
“artistName” : “Good Morning”,
“trackName” : “Out To Pasture”,
“msPlayed” : 155500
},
{
“endTime” : “2023-09-09 16:26”,
“artistName” : “Jessica Pratt”,
“trackName” : “Back, Baby”,
“msPlayed” : 235666

Reflection

Long one, sorry xoxox

The words that come to mind when one mentions Big Data would be; surveillance — human and technological — invasion of privacy, records, scary, daunting, massive and even unnecessary (???). I haven’t looked into it. That is, looked into my own data or even thought very deeply about the data that is being collected of me. I know that it is happening, and I don’t take many precautions online to protect my privacy. I notice the disturbing accuracy of the product advertisements that appear all over my laptop and phone after the conversations I have with others, and even after the thoughts that pop through my mind. I think frequently about what online history I would be confronted with if I went for a job that needed a high security clearance: internet searches or photos taken or conversations had that I ceased to remember moments after actioning them but that have been stored forever and could be interpreted in any number of ways for the rest of my life. Is that kind of record necessary? “Necessary for what?” I suppose is the right question, and from a marketing point of view, it would probably be argued that it is necessary. 

Through this experiment, I will try to look at Big Data differently: What are the benefits? For me personally that is, and how can I gain something from the data that I am generating? 

As Kitchin and McArdle stated “It is only through such ontological work that we will gain conceptual clarity about what constitutes Big Data, formulate how best to make sense of it, and identify how it might be best used to make sense of the world.” (2016:1). This stirs something in me. I, unfortunately, am not a memory gifted human being. I am forgetful, and I want to remember. I am constantly looking back on my camera roll to remember dates, events, places and people. That is, I am relying on this data that I say I dislike. (Though surely photo mapping is a different thing altogether, because how is it photo mapping creating data for marketing or profit through the locations of my images? Surely there is something more personal about the use of that data? I could go on asking questions forever). I must face it; the capability of technology to categorise, memorise and store data is impressive. And frankly, I could use its help.  

I chose to use the Big Data that has been collected from my Spotify account (a less daunting collection of info on me). I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleased to find my entire streaming history from 2023. An enormous conglomerate of every song I listened to, for how many milliseconds, at what time, and on what day. Spotify is an interesting one because I am already gifted with my Spotify Wrapped yearly and can see a funky, curated collection of my listening data from that year. But even though I am somewhat accustomed to looking at my listening history already, it was much more personable to look at my data in this volume. The fact that I could look at specific days and see exactly what I listened to feels so intimate. Data feeling intimate? A benefit…?

For my work, I chose to pick a random streaming session of mine, from the 9th of September 2023, and I recorded the songs I listened to, in the exact same order and for the exact same amount of time I listened to each song for on that day. When I chose to play music that day, I never thought about the event reoccurring. I can see the benefits in this; I can see how this can assist memory and how it can regenerate experiences or emotions. But on the other hand, I’m not sure if these experiences need to be recreated. I don’t know how I feel about it; it’s like seeing the data is okay but turning the data into the audio I once listened to authentically feels automated? I want to be able to have experiences that are just mine, and if I forget them that is okay because in the moment I felt it. Maybe it’s that I don’t want someone to equate my data to who I am as a person. Am I my data? EUGH. ew ew ew ewe, but like what were people defined by before technological data? How did that affect their identity? They probably weren’t so concerned with labels and meaning?  

Intellectually I can understand the benefits data can provide for my memory, and even for reflecting on my life and the stages of myself. I’m just not sure how it makes me feel, and that makes sense; it’s new, it’s complex, it’s uncertain and it’s ever evolving. I think it feels particularly weird to recreate music streaming sessions because I equate the music I listen to to the phase of my life I was in, and that is very feeling based, very intimate. Whereas an image is more quantifiable and tangible for me. I guess the nostalgia is nice, but do I want to linger in the past? HMMM.

Actually, I do think it would be fun to make a playlist that reflects over the same day from every year I’ve had Spotify or something like that. A consecutive evolution of myself over the years and the evolution of my music happening simultaneously. Could I learn something about myself that I have forgotten? Could I learn something new?  

Bibliography

Billy Bragg (1988) ‘Must I Paint You a Picture’ [Song], Workers Playtime, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Dana and Alden, (2023) ‘Let’s Go to Trader Joe’s’ [Song], Quiet Music for Young People, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

DOPE LEMON (2017) ‘Neon Lights’ [Song], Hounds Tooth, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Good Morning (2022) ‘Out To Pasture’ [Song], Out To Pasture / Misery, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Jean & Trevor (2019) ‘Back Together’ [Song], Back Together, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Jessica Pratt (2015) ‘Back Baby’ [Song], On Your Own Again Love, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Kitchin R and McArdle G (2016) ‘What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets’, Big Data & Society, 3(1):1-10, doi.org/10.1177/2053951716631130

Morrissey (2017) ‘I Wish You Lonely’ [Song], Low in High School, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

MOTO BANDIT (2020) ‘OBSERVATIONS 1’ [Song], OBSERVATIONS 1, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Simon & Garfunkel (1966) ‘April Come She Will’ [Song], Sounds Of Silence, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

The Radio Dept. (2011) ‘Pulling Our Weight’ [Song], Passive Aggressive, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

The Smiths (1985) ‘The Headmasters Ritual’ [Song], Meat is Murder, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

Yo La Tengo (1997) ‘Center of Gravity’ [Song], I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Spotify, accessed 09 September 2023.

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