Ganesha's Terms

"Ganesha's Terms" is a symbolic allegory about data, privacy and consent through an interactive card reading, created and selected as a part of NYC Media Lab’s – Consumer Reports Data Challenge in fall 2020.  Watch the research presentation here.

A card reading in 3 chapters, "Ganesha’s Terms" translates the obscurity of what happens with our data online through moments in the epic drama of the birth of the god Ganesha, who was created from a breach of trust between the god Shiva and his wife Parvati. Players collect cards and sentences of an incomplete narrative, going back and forth from an escalating war between the lovers from the Hindu pantheon, to modern day conflicts of interest and interpretation between online users and the companies whose services we use.

This proof of concept was designed as a  playable research collaboration in 3 months with Varun Saxena (NYU Game Center) and Jason Zhen Li ( Parsons - The New School), with hope of exploring power relations embedded in our informational technologies through the symbolic lens of an emotional narrative, and generate new conversations around data rights.