How can we make data something that cares for us (particularly as trans* and disabled people) in the past, present and future?

MELT took us on a ‘slow-burn’ journey exploring how personal stories can become data (or not). In collaboration with participants from a hybrid workshop they ran in October 2022, MELT created the “Imagining Backwards Computer” process, which explores transforming personal collections to shapeshift the boundaries of data.

Starting with the materials in our everyday lives we explored questions such as: What does data set creation mean to you? What and whom does it include, or exclude, and why? How can we shift practices of data collection towards our beloved disabled and trans*feminist presents? Who do these boundaries serve and how could it be different?

The “Imagining Backwards Computer” was available as a physical litho print at St Annes House during our Feeling Machines Weekender in Spring 2023. If you would like your own copy, it is still available to download online.

This work was co-commissioned in partnership with Bristol & Bath Creative R+D.