The contrast of the digital everyday
With the digitisation of the world, data became more complex than it ever was. On one hand, data was no longer hard to track or store. Anything connected to the network turned into a passive source of information. On the other hand, large amounts of data pose ethical questions regarding information overload and how it can affect us. The Data can be used both as a source of freedom and advocate for democracy, and at the same time contribute to social unrest.Data science is a form of power for better and for worse. It has been used to expose injustice, improve health outcomes and topple governments. But it has also been used to discriminate, control and create a state of permanent surveillance where every move can be tracked and measured.
Big data as a promise
The combination of masses of information and computer processing power has revolutionised our approach to just about everything. Algorithms allow us to harness raw data to better understand human behaviour so that we can devise ingenious solutions to problems as diverse as falling voter turnout and climate change. Big data thus promises enormous benefits.One example of using big data for good is how it can play a big part in ensuring democracy. In this sense, transparency plays a critical role in making sure governments are accountable to their populations and that power is more widely distributed. Through an exercise of honesty, data can truly be key to building trust between governments and their citizens.
The tree of truth (https://tamm.stat.ee/?lang=en)
A digital platform shows the indicators that are important for understanding key questions about Estonia. There are 15 branches on the Tree of Truth, each symbolising a relevant area of societal development. These datasets are open to all citizens so that they can be informed about situations and participate in planning the future.
Data.Europa.eu (https://data.europa.eu/en)
Data Europa is the official portal for European data that’s free and open for everyone to access. It currently has 171 catalogues and 1,402,169 datasets from 36 countries that have been gathered in recent years. It currently is divided into 13 main categories that enable us to get a good sense of the state of Europe today.
Our World in Data (https://ourworldindata.org/)
This online project aims to collect and present “Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”. Our World in Data is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Oxford and non-profit organisation Global Change Data Lab. They focus on measuring what matters and giving data-based overviews of global living conditions and the environment.
Big data as a challenge
The role of digital metrics is overwhelming: social media platforms, personal digital gadgets and apps quantify our social lives, including things that were never quantified before such as our interests, our emotions, our conversations, our friendships and our mobility. Measurements and metrics have become “environments in which we live and the ‘air’ that we breathe, an atmospheric component of society”. We have normalised the tracking of every digital action and the turning of these interactions into notifications.Even if numbers and data can be a positive source of information in the digital age, they also participate in an invisible attention economy that directs our focus to an overly-quantified digital environment. Its biggest downside? Having more information than ever growing at such an unprecedented pace challenges our capacity for attention and analysis, leading to anxiety and inaction.
Demetrificator (Ben Grosser)
The Twitter interface is filled with numbers. These numbers, or metrics, measure and present our social value and activity online, enumerating followers, likes, retweets, and more. But what are the effects of these numbers on those we follow, what we post, or how we feel when we use the site? What happens when we hide those numbers? Who benefits most from a system that quantifies our public interactions online?
Data Heartbreak
Data on the consumption and generation of information comes as no surprise: every second sees 6,000 new tweets, 740,741 WhatsApp messages and 694 Instagram posts, while new reports tell us that the human attention span gets shorter every year (currently standing at 8 seconds). This visual essay reflects on the importance of data in an era of intoxication.
Data gathering and usage
Data collection is a phenomenon that happens constantly and often invisibly around us, we’re eager to know also visitors opinion.
- What is scarier – having too much data / having too little data?
- Who should decide what data is being collected about you? Only me / the public sector, the government, the municipality, etc. / local businesses / global platforms
- Who knows you best? My phone / My family
- I know a lot about data / I don't know that much about data
Photos: ENM, Domestic Data Streamers