Chattr

Roundtable: Lovely Veneer: The underbelly of good design

Chattr is an artwork and design experiment that investigates how far we will accept private conversations being captured and shared online in the design of new systems. We live in an always online world, and are growing accustomed to our online interactions being saved, stored, and sold by global online companies, in exchange for a free service. In Chattr spoken conversations in public spaces during the FutureEverything Summit are recorded, transcribed, and published as indelible text on the internet. The team observe users negotiate this ‘choice’, modulate their behaviour, play the system, or navigate and stretch the boundary between public and private. Visitors to the FutureEverything cafe are presented with a choice of whether to participate in the Chattr lounge or not. They are asked if they agree to have their voices recorded, transcribed and published on the internet, and are then asked to accept a Data Use Policy. The cafe uses a colour tagging system to remind visitors of their choice. Only visitors who have accepted to have their voices recorded and published are allowed to access the Chattr lounge, offering comfortable social spaces, city views and other perks to participants. Chattr is a FutureEverything and Creative Exchange project led by Ben Dalton, Drew Hemment, Mel Woods, Joel Porter, Lara Salinas, Joeli Brearley and Elliot Woods. futureeverything.org
thecreativeexchange.org