Performativity 2.0
The practice of quantifying users’ performativity online by collecting personal data has become commonplace. This thesis explores performativity in a Web 2.0 climate relating to social media and online data with the intention to better understand this relationship. This exploration of internet culture is conducted through the perspective of a designer who is concerned with how people interact with social media, how this affects us, and the data footprint we leave behind. The theory of performativity is used to understand the ways in which users’ curate their online image. Social media can capture a user’s performance through the collection of data. This representational data must be considered in the context in which it was created. This thesis discusses how assumptions are made on users by analysis of their data and the ways in which this is misrepresentational. These themes are expanded upon by the creation and design of artifacts.