Seeing the Forest and the Trees –Big Data and the New Information Ecosystem

PRISM Program Collected 97 billion pieces of intelligence in March*

• Facial Recognition, Network Analysis, Voice Analysis Make Data Analytics Easier

• *per The Guardian, June 11th, 2013

DATA….

• ….SEXY??

Big Data Tells Walmart:

• When there’s a hurricane coming, people buy Pop Tarts!

• Walmart moves Pop Tarts to the front of the store*

• *see Big Data, by Viktor Mayer Schonberger & Kenneth Cukier

Closet Quant?

This-Is-That-Thing-I-Wore-er?

Pinterest Freak?

Tools to Map Physical Body

Tools to Document Reactions to the World

Location Boom

Digital Means Constant Capture

Next gen digital tools such as Google Glass, smart watches, and other wearables

Data Maps

http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention

Internet of Things

• Sensors• Smart Objects• 50 Billion wirelessly connected machines by

2020 (Ericsson)• New tools (Arduino, Twine) let non-technical

people create internet enabled, smart objects

• Private to Shared• Contextual to De- and Re-Contextualized

Analog to Digital

Revolutionary Nature of Cell Phones

• According to the World Bank*, 75% of World’s population has access to a cell phone

• More than 30 billion apps downloaded in 2011• By far, the majority of cell phones are in the

Developing World

*http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/07/17/mobile-phone-access-reaches-three-quarters-planets-population

Real Time Rome

MIT SENSEable City Lab: http://senseable.mit.edu/realtimerome/

People Can Choose to Participate

The Balancing Act

• Privacy and Data Ownership• Opportunities for Creative, Powerful Use of

Data

This. Can. Be. Creepy.

http://www.gigapixel.com/image/gigatag-canucks-g7.html

High Resolution

Fully Mapped

Tracking and Tagging Yourself and Others

Anonymity Used to Mean Privacy. Not Anymore

RELIABILITY

• “Good Enough” Data (Piers Fawkes)• Danger of False Conclusions

VALUES UNDERPINNING DESIGN DECISIONS

@tweeting_keith http://twitpic.com/97vogu

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

• Making Participation Valuable• Who is Trustworthy as a Data Resource?• Who is Transparent?

Partners in Using our Data

Data Activism: New Approach to a New Ecosystem

• What are the values embedded in design?• Tools for data citizenship and engagement• What are the hidden politics of the

technology?• If data is the new oil (World Economic Forum),

what does a ‘data economy’ look like?• Do we need a “New Deal on Data” (Sandy

Pentland)?

Contact

• norayoungster@gmail.com• Twitter @nora3000• norayoung.ca

• My book on data: The Virtual Self