A visualisation of trading on eBay leads Jim Giles to view commercial records in a new light
Before Us is the Salesman鈥檚 House by Jer Thorp and Mark Hansen, , Silicon Valley, California, until 8 December
WHAT does the word 鈥渄ata鈥� mean to you? Unless you are a scientist or computer programmer, the term probably conjures up something rather dull, like an agricultural quota or an Excel file. 鈥淲hen I talk to people about data, they say 鈥榮preadsheet鈥�,鈥� says software artist . That鈥檚 a problem, he adds, because a lot of important data sets are also something else: cultural artefacts that we all have a share in.
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I鈥檓 speaking to Thorp outside the Californian offices of eBay, a company that controls some of the most culturally interesting data produced since the birth of the internet. The value of goods traded on the site last year averaged $2000 per second. More than 100 million people use PayPal, eBay鈥檚 sister company, to send and receive money. And within the records of these transactions are innumerable stories about peoples鈥� lives. 鈥渆Bay is this giant thing that鈥檚 being written,鈥� says Thorp. 鈥淚t鈥檚 full of people and places and objects.鈥�
We are looking at Before Us is the Salesman鈥檚 House, the output of software Thorp developed in collaboration with , a statistician at the University of California, Los Angeles, for the technology-themed arts festival ZERO1 Biennial.
Each iteration of the work takes the viewer on a tour through eBay鈥檚 data universe. The process starts with a book 鈥� a different one each time. The system finds a digital version of it and extracts the names of objects from the text. Next, the software searches for those objects on eBay, generating a tour that hops through a map of the US, showing images of the items for sale alongside the seller鈥檚 location. Finally, the software picks a book that was sold recently on eBay from the last town on the tour, and the cycle starts again.
Thorp settled on using books as 鈥渢our guides鈥� after picking up a copy of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The title of Thorp鈥檚 piece is one of the first lines in Miller鈥檚 text. Soon after, the stage directions mention a table, chairs and refrigerator. The link between a salesperson and objects 鈥渏ust felt so perfect鈥� for eBay, says Thorp.
On one level, the work highlights unexplained clumps of activity: a spike in kitchenware sales in one small town, perhaps, or another that appears to focus on sporting goods. But Thorp hopes that it will also provide a window on the human stories within eBay鈥檚 databases, and so make people think about the data we leave behind on the internet.
The output is displayed on a screen outside the company鈥檚 offices in San Jose, California. 鈥淚 imagine someone sitting there at night, meditating on the system,鈥� says Thorp.
eBay鈥檚 records are of great value to today鈥檚 social scientists, and will be sought after by tomorrow鈥檚 historians. The same goes for data held by Google, where, among other things, people leave a record of their interests and concerns every time they search. Facebook data may hold the key to understanding social networks, while blogging platforms capture the evolution of language.
This information is created by individuals and is of potential value to society, yet it is owned by corporations that are under no obligation to preserve it for posterity. Thorp and Hansen鈥檚 work is a challenge to academics and policymakers, lest the cultural value of the data goes to waste.
鈥淥ur data trail is of potential value, yet it is owned by corporations under no obligation to preserve it鈥�