Last week, two data scientists released information that Apple’s iPhone keeps a record of a user’s coordinates and timestamps when making phone calls that’s stored in a secret file and can be copied to a user’s computer if the devices are synched. The revelation has opened up many security issues, most importantly notifying the public that a stranger can have access to any unassuming iPhone owner’s daily routine by simply hacking into the file.While we can see many reasons why logging this information can be threatening, it also gives relevant light to projects by data-visualization artists who purposely publish their movements and routines online for all to see. Nicolas Felton, who spoke at the first annual Vimeo Awards last October, has been cataloging intimate details about his life in his Annual Reports, tracking everything from personal meetings to food eaten.We were recently tipped off to another project by Tim Clark, a current intern at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, called Atlas Of The Habitual, where he tracked the distances he traveled in his previous home of Bennington, Vermont over a 200-day period, covering an all-encompassing ground of 2,072.5 miles. He then separated the data into different categories (some serving more function than others), mapping the distances traveled during each month of the project, paths taken with his parents, and places he went on holidays. He also charted more random escapades like travel logged when forgetting something, distance traveled wearing a certain blue hoodie, and his location at 5:27 PM on any given day.Through this exercise, Clark painted a very realistic self-portrait, making the point that even the most seemingly mundane activities and outings, over time, can become precious accounts of one’s daily life. While privacy and safety concerns abound these days with bounties of personal data being generated and tracked at every turn, often without the knowledge of the user, projects like Felton’s and Clark’s provide an interesting and creative counterpoint to the data debate.“With more and more information about ourselves being inputted and shared through technology, accessing, selling, or even having to pay for this information could be the future,” Clark concludes in his artist’s statement.Get it while it’s free…[via Curiosity Counts]
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