Part 1: Stefan and Michael’s view
This series of blog articles will reveal the story of how XBR came about — shedding light on it from different angles, with individual experiences of the core team behind the project.
Surprising things happen at the most unexpected moments
Our story starts two years ago with Michael, a molecular biologist, and me, Stefan, a computer scientist, spending regular quality time together at our favourite pinball machines, while discussing how to return control of personal data to individuals.
Going up against large corporations, established players such as Google and Facebook, with their pervasive data collection networks and industry-leading analytics that are the basis of their profitability and corporate value seemed like a hopeless idea. It felt as daunting as when we first faced the legendary valinor wizard end game on our Lord of the Rings’ pinball machine, one that, as aficionados know, can take years to complete.
Open First
We both strongly believe in open first: that whenever starting something new, you don’t create yet another walled garden but aim for an open ecosystem instead — one that invites others to join without putting up obstacles and encourages them to add their own business to it. The more participants sharing this goal of mutual support and benefit, the stronger the resulting impact will be for everyone participating.
While this works perfectly for countless successful open source projects, it is in fact a pretty sophisticated art to get this up and running, as has been shown in a multitude of other movements based on openness — like open hardware, open education or open innovation.
Giving individuals back control of their personal data
So what we had was a desire to give individuals back control of their personal data and the clear vision of building an open ecosystem with a global impact. One that would respect the value in personal data. Yet we couldn’t find a feasible way of bringing this into being.
We played even more pinball, watching the ball fire off into the playfield and deftly working the flippers, trying to control the ball throughout the game and direct it to the lane where we wanted it to go.
Just as one day they hoped to see personal data being controlled by its owner and only released as and when authorised to the client requesting it.
That’s when it hit us
In data processing, just as it is for inexperienced players on a pinball machine, the game is rigged against the individual: both ball and data get lost too easily. Whereas you can practice at pinball, and eventually win against the machine, there’s no such mechanism regarding your data. The big corporations always have the upper hand, since there’s no way for you personally to share your data and benefit from its value.
The missing link was obviously a software layer to connect personal data with potential consumers. This, combined with a universal marketplace to match the full range of interests of all involved stakeholders — especially if there were more than just two of them — would help level the playing field. What we discovered was the ideal environment for XBR.
Stay tuned to find out how our story continues…
Stefan is co-founder of the German Linux Valley and deeply passionate about open first. He has been an Crossbar.io mentor for long and today is a highly valued member of the core XBR team.
Michael is co-founder of Symanto, a specialist for psychology based AI profiling. He discovered the same passion for open first during regular fireside chats with Stefan. He is member of the XBR advisory board and an evangelist of crossbar.
