Rethinking Recommendation

Wyatt Olson is interested in how design, as a creative practice, can be used to question the intangible systems that monitor and guide us. Throughout his thesis project, Between Lines, he investigated our relationships with location-based recommendation systems, everyday surveillance, and the downward trajectory of personal agency due to capitalist incentives. Creating preludes to dystopias in the form of four critical design-fiction films, he applied a grounded, ethnographic approach to his research. The films were used in co-speculation sessions with professionals who work on or adjacent to recommendation systems to spark discussion about the future. Through his films, website, and bespoke publication, he encapsulates not only insights but also a space for reflection about the world we choose to design for ourselves.

Read Medium post about the research phase.

See full project