The Databodies research group was convened by the Institute of Network Cultures and the Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam (UvA), and involved researchers and students from both UvA Media Studies and HvA Interactive Media departments. The group was inspired by Eric Kluitenberg’s 2004 text Databodies, about theoretical approaches to surveillance, discipline and profiling. ‘Databodies’ are collections of personal data, which, in these times, travel faster than human beings themselves. The research spawned two events – ParaPlay and Recalling RFID – and a publication.

ParaPlay
On October 26, 2006, Paradiso Amsterdam organised ParaPlay, with performances by KKEP, Z25.org Dat-a, Orchestra of Anxiety, Live to Tell: Surveilling, Profiling and Fixing Identities, and several TJs (DJs of Theory). ParaPlay was the opening event of the annual Transito festival, and was attended by 500 people. Concept: Eric Kluitenberg, Nat Muller, Sabine Niederer and Richard Rogers.

Recalling RFID
On October 19-20, 2007, De Balie hosted Recalling RFID, an event with seminars and workshops around the social and political implications of RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology. RFID is at a crucial point, in terms of standards and policies, regulations, deployment and services, evoking questions around privacy, connectivity, and alternative use. Recalling RFID maps the views and theories on this emerging and thought-provoking technology. Concept: Richard de Boer, Rob van Kranenburg, Oliver Leistert and Sabine Niederer.

website: The Databodies research group has an active discussion list. Relevant bookmarks are tagged and shared at del.icio.us/tag/databodies

publication: To contextualise ParaPlay, the online magazine cut-up produced a Databodies special issue

follow up: The Digital Methods Initiative was launched in June 2007. DMI is a group of researchers, programmers and designers dedicated to developing methods and tools for researching the ‘natively digital’ – digital objects of study such as the hyperlink, the tag and the thread. Additionally, DMI addresses questions around visualisation. How best to output the results of analysis, for example, in ranked lists, in cluster graphs, in line graphs, in clouds, or on maps? Which visualizations best communicate findings, and which embed critical ways of seeing? The DMI wiki can be found at dmi.mediastudies.nl. Concept: Sabine Niederer, Richard Rogers and Esther Weltevrede.