Bachelor Thesis, 2009
IDENTITÄT
The “Gestalt” of Digital Identity
Eight individuals. Their raw data crawled, analyzed, and translated into three-dimensional sculptures. Each form shaped entirely by the digital traces left behind.
Interests, communication patterns, bookmarks, activity rhythms—reduced to parameters that drive a particle system. The resulting mesh is the gestalt of a digital identity: unique, abstract, irreversible.
Method
From raw data
to physical form
A web crawler scans and archives the digital footprint of each participant—bookmarks, tags, communication, activity over time. These data points become the input for a generative system built in Processing.
Tags form a spring-based particle network. Frequently co-occurring tags pull closer together; loose connections drift to the periphery, forming contextual islands. The overall spread, mesh density, and surface texture are all driven by measurable behavior: activity frequency determines speed, dialogues define resolution, age controls acceleration.
The output: a unique three-dimensional mesh for each identity. Seven visual iterations per person, culminating in 3D-printed plaster sculptures at TU Berlin.
Subjects
Eight Identities
riot36
borism
comkee
ranzen
peterpaulrubens
toxi
der_mo
sascha lobo
Input
Raw Data
borism — Delicious bookmark timeline, 2005–2009
Tag relationship network — Delicious bookmarks
Activity timelines across platforms
Activity frequency — layered temporal analysis
Data Sources
Delicious
Social bookmarking. Tags, bookmark frequency, and co-occurrence patterns formed the primary input for the spring-based particle network.
Last.fm
Music listening history. Scrobble data and chart positions mapped to activity rhythms and temporal behavior patterns.
Amazon
Wishlists and purchase history. Item categories and relationships contributed to the thematic clustering of each identity.
Status updates and conversations. Dialogue frequency determined mesh resolution; monologue-to-dialogue ratio shaped surface texture.
Output
Wireframe Renderings
AI generated
Process
Visualization Studies
Particle system output — form defined by tag relationships
Mesh density driven by dialogue frequency
Timeline visualization — chronological tag relationships
Generative iterations per identity
A landscape formed by personal data — algorithmic terrain generation
Final iterations — time and continuity of the digital identity encoded in form
Making Of