Create
We enable others to create digital experiences using psychometrics
Predictive World
Predictive World
We worked with SID LEE and Stink Digital on a project to develop an interactive and predictive data visualization for the launch of Ubisoft's Watchdogs 2 video game. In the game, the protagonist is arrested for a crime he is predicted to commit by a 'smart city' law enforcement system. We showed how this fictional premise was dangerously close to reality, by designing a custom predictive algorithm using 6.4 billion data points, that combined psychological insight with location-based data amassed from open datasets such as the OECD and WHO. Predictive World was awarded a D&AD Graphite Pencil in the Digital Design/Websites category, for 'stand-out work, beautifully executed with an original and inspiring idea at its core', as well as a Gold Cube for Data Visualisation at the 96 th ADC Awards.
Data Selfie
Data Selfie
Data Selfie is an art project completed by Hang Do Thi Duc and Regina Flores Mir as part of the NYC Media Lab Combine program. They created a free and open source browser plugin that allows its users to record themselves using social media platforms and make sense of their behavior through analytics or download their data. The project “aims to provide a personal perspective on data mining, predictive analytics and our online data identity – including inferred information from our consumption”. Our models were used alongside other services to generate the psychological part of this “inferred information” and the project received support from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, the Shuttleworth Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.
Alternate Realities
Alternate Realities
We collaborated with artists Barnaby Francis (aka Bill Posters) and Daniel Howe on an immersive art installation about political microtargeting and the digital influence industry. The installation, called Spectre, is comprised of six 2.5 metre high black monoliths where visitors can play a game that predicts their BIG5 personality and then targets invented political ads to them. The artwork tells a cautionary tale of computational propaganda and provides scientific measurement based on our research into online behaviour. It also explores the increasing availability of deep fake technology, which was employed to satirically promote the project online. The installation was awarded the Alternate Realities Commission and was part of the 26th Sheffield Doc/Fest Exhibition. It was supported by the Arts Council England, Site Gallery, the British Council and MUTEK.
Cached
Cached
Cached is an interactive experience in which you meet your digital self. The project takes the form of a physical installation as well as an online demo. It was created by Cached Collective as part of the Hive art and research residency at the camp innovation hub in Aix-En-Provence, France. The project uses Apply Magic Sauce to enable users to analyse their online data and explore the outcomes in a creative and tangible way. Cached Collective create impactful experiences that delve into data, algorithmic complexity, and obscure infrastructure, especially focusing on how these affect the individua. The Cached project encourages a more informed discussion on algorithmic trust and alternative data ownership models, such as the concept of data unions.
Profiling Einstein
Profiling Einstein
Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the embodiment of genius. But what would he have been like if he had lived in the age of social media, posting his ideas online rather than writing them in journals or on chalkboards? We set out to answer this question by predicting Einstein's personality in tandem with the launch of the 'Genius' series on National Geographic about the scientist's life. We mined the text of Einstein's personal letters, focusing on the period of his stay in Berlin (1914-1932), and ran nearly 6,000 words he had written through our psycholinguistic prediction algorithm. The results were made into an infographic and showed that Einstein's writing reveals an artistic, introverted and competitive young man. His Jungian type was INTJ, one of the rarer of the 16 types accounting for approximately 2-4% of the population. If he were alive today, he might enjoy watching series such as 'House', 'Dexter' or 'The Big Bang' and listening to Coldplay, The Killers and Guns N' Roses.
Raised by Google
Raised by Google
Bristol-based artist Sarah Selby's exhibition 'Raised by Google' is an immersive physical and digital experience that places the viewer within the mechanisms of 'black box' algorithms. Visitors to the exhibition share their social media data for the purpose of psychological prediction by Apply Magic Sauce API. Based on the API results, one of two doors is unlocked, leading them into the first room of a large, house-like maze. Each room thereafter is tailored to their personality and contains examples of psychographically targeted content. The visitor's physical path through the maze is determined by their predicted personality, thus collapsing the distinction between our 'physical' and 'digital' selves. Vess Popov also presented the Centre's research at a panel discussion of Raised by Google, held at the Arebyte Gallery where the work was exhibited in 2019. It was funded by the Arts Council England.