rim
Reclaiming Self Data Sovereignty in the Age of Wearables
HOPE Conference August 2025
We'd like to give a big thanks to the organizers and staff at HOPE 16 for putting together an incredible conference a year earlier than originally planned. It was the perfect opportunity to bring this project into reality and connect with folks passionate about reclaiming their digital sovereignty. We'll be back in 2026 to elaborate on this next year of exciting development. Until then, watch our talk on the livestream:
Talk: "Reclaiming Self Data Sovereignty in the Age of Wearables"
Day 2: Saturday, August 16, 2025
Time: 11:00am - 11:50am
Location: Little Theater
Details: View on HOPE Schedule
As we approach a future where body-worn devices capture increasingly intimate biometrics, the question of who controls that data has never been more urgent. This talk introduces rim, a techno-social vision and set of protocols challenging the standard model of cloud-based data extraction by building tangible, person-to-person systems for storing and sharing intimate live data streams, innovating at the edge of taboo to expand human connection while preserving privacy and autonomy. We'll demonstrate early prototypes of wearable devices implementing our "SD-core" aesthetic and detail the technical underpinnings of our protocol concepts including data dissolution and crystallization, and localized redundancy strategies. Beyond technical implementation, we'll discuss how this paradigm shift creates space for entirely new forms of human-to-human connection at the boundary of what's technically possible and socially acceptable.
Workshop: "Design SD-Core Jewelry and Wear Your Visualized Signal Message History"
Day 2: Saturday, August 16, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Tobin 219 (Workshop A)
Details: View on HOPE Wiki
With various chains, clips, and jewelry-making supplies available, we'll help you store your visualized message history self-data on a micro-SD card that you can craft into a piece of jewelry! Bring your own micro-SD or purchase one from the workshop at cost. Let's subvert the extractive data economy and flaunt our independence from the Data Giants one fashionable piece at a time!