big data at a human scale

CREATIVE

DATA LAB

!Intensive Course

Singapore 8 - 11 Sep, 2014

https://www.hyperisland.com/programs-and-courses/creative-data-lab

BIG DATA AT HUMAN SCALE.

Matt LeMay, @mattlemay

BIG DATA

IS BIG

How BIG is it?

We have built the capacity to store more bytes of data than the Earth

has grains of sand.

... about 315 times more.

If each bit of data we have the capacity to store were to represent a star, then

there would be a GALAXY OF DATA for every person on Earth.

The data Walmart generates every hour from its customer transactions represents 167 times the

information contained in all the books in the United States Library of Congress.

PWNED

The number of bytes we’ve built the

capacity to store constitutes only a

TINY FRACTION of the number of atoms you have in your body.

... or the amount of data stored in your

DNA.

In fact, the data storage capacity of the entire world is less than one percent of the information stored in the

DNA molecules of a single person.

as we approach human scale...

...big data seems smaller.

... but it’s bigger than it’s ever been before.

=ALL the data

created until the year 2003

ALL the data created every

two days

Scale of Data ~3,000 Years Ago:

Scale of Data ~300 Years Ago:

Scale of Data ~30 Years Ago:

Scale of Data ~3 Years Ago:

We’ve been writing stuff on walls for 30,000 years...

... and we’re still not entirely what it all means.

“BIG DATA” is US*, in higher resolution.

“We’re distracted by a bunch of nonsense.”

“Ephemeral thoughts and actions, which were once lost to time, are now recorded forever.”

That record is “BIG DATA.”

According to , 43% of all data gathered on people comes from social media.

We overshare compulsively, but we are more concerned than ever before about our privacy.

Privacy vs Permission

Privacy = “My data is valuable, and others want access so that they can spy on me or sell

me stuff I don’t want.”

Permission = “My data is valuable, so I will explicitly grant others access to it in specific

situations where it is worthwhile for me to do so.”

Privacy is something we need to worry about when expectations are violated around the

permissions we agree to.

Even explicit permission...

... doesn’t override expectation.

... often struggles to square permission with expectation, at times to their own detriment.

weknowwhatyouredoing.com

We expect clicks to be private gestures, and shares to be public gestures.

!

Facebook’s social reader violated those expectations.

We share who we want to be.

We click who we fear we are.

... and it matters.

We share our information

because we trust that sharing will make it more

valuable to us.

“The future has an ancient heart.” - Carlo Levi

When done right, BIG DATA encourages you to SHARE MORE, not less.

THE ALGORITHM

WON’T SAVE YOU

COUNTING !

is not !

UNDERSTANDING

“BIG DATA” is all around us.

...and it doesn’t feel ZOMG WORLD-CHANGING

... because it’s in our cells.

CREATIVE

DATA LAB

!Intensive Course

Singapore 8 - 11 Sep, 2014

https://www.hyperisland.com/programs-and-courses/creative-data-lab