DataSkop — What Happens to My Data?

The processes of algorithmic decision-making are increasingly permeating everyday life and this often happens in a way that is not comprehensible. The BMBF-funded project DataSkop focuses on the potential of innovative user interfaces and comprehensible visualisations to promote the digital sovereignty of users.

The aim of DataSkop is to strengthen digital sovereignty and thus the competences of the individual – i.e. to deal with data in an informed manner, to act safely in digital environments, to recognise algorithmic structures and to understand them in their basic features, as well as to assess topics in an interest-driven manner.

The DataSkop project is developing such a system in the form of a platform-independent infrastructure consisting of a data donation platform and a personal data dashboard. Innovative visualisation concepts and competence-promoting teaching and learning scenarios for educational work are being developed. In the process, the users learn self-determined handling of data, new skills and understanding in dealing with technologies.

On 15 July 2021, a new data donation tool was published that examined the YouTube algorithm for the Bundestag election campaign. The common goal of the research network was to analyse the personalisations through the recommendation system of the video platform YouTube during the federal election campaign. The information provided by users about which videos they have watched so far and which channels they follow makes it possible to identify connections and patterns between user behaviour and the recommendation algorithm.
The first results of the analysis were published in autumn 2021 on the AlgorithmWatch website and by the media partner Der Spiegel. The open source platform DataSkop will also be available to other research institutions, NGOs and editorial offices for further data donation projects from mid-2022.