In the movie Minority Report, Chief John Anderton furiously searched for evidence to exonerate him in a society where police stop crime before it happens by seeing into the future. Yet what many remember the movie for is not the possibility of pre-cognition of future events. Rather, what caught the eye is the more likely near-term possibility of stores in a mall that recognize your identity simply as you walk by, and call out product recommendations customized exactly to you. Seems unlikely? Well it’s already happening.
We are barely starting to understand the characteristics of living in a digital civilization in our existence as homo informaticus. I recently spoke to Katryna Dow, the CEO of Meeco—an Australian company building the next generation of tools for society to manage Small Data, about our parallel selves in the digital world. (She will be speaking on this topic at the Amplify Festival 2015 this June.)
Fig 1. Katryna Dow, CEO of Meeco (source: Meeco)
Most of us have a grasp of the significance of larger characteristics and artifacts of this being—our email, our financial information, our online personas, our medical history or our files and content collections. We know how crucial it is to maintain proper veracity and access to such information. We can imagine the impact to our lives when an unauthorized person has access to them. They are at that mental threshold where we start to care when they are affected—something that has been driven into the psyche after decades of public news, scandals and awareness through media. But things start getting squirrelly as we get into the details at the level below this.
Growing Up Data Digital
Ms. Dow shared a story about her goddaughter and the changing reality emerging for us all as we evolve digitally:
I have enjoyed freedoms that my goddaughter will never know. She goes to a very good in Sydney, private school, which has a parent portal with all her educational info: whether she gets into class in 30 seconds, if she’s sick, if she takes in time other than holiday. When I read the conditions of the portal: The School has the right to share the info with third parties, but don’t say if you have to give permission, or who that third party. What’s the big deal?
Fast forward to when she’s applying to go to University. If she and another girl are near equals; but now they can bring it down to the smallest differentiating data point [such as the number of times they were late for school].
Just two days [after that conversation], her parents were held up and she was late for school. They got a note about her being late and didn’t respond with reason within 48 hours, so it was a permanent mark on her record.
When I went to school, someone called out my name and ticked a piece of paper. That was it.
This is a freedom people are less likely to enjoy going forward. That assumed right we had for information to be forgotten. It becomes even more important when you consider life events, such as death. Personally, I keep receiving birthday notices on Facebook for a couple of friends who have since passed away. It can be downright traumatic and also confusing how we are to deal with this. In some cases, people try to keep their children out of the digital world entirely.
This is the world of Small Data, the various data or information about an individual’s digital identity. This contrasts the concept from Big Data—large volume or aggregate about groups of people or group behavior. From a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report, we obviously appreciate Small Data differently.
BCG studied these levels of sensitivity through pricing models in their 2012 report, The Value of Digital Identity (see Fig. 2). The chart shows the percentage of people who would provide each type of data at different prices. For example, a certain percentage of the population provide their social network posts for free--10% say they will provide it at €0. Others consider it much more valuable—50% provide it at €50—and still others would not share it at any price. The report also categorizes the data types into Low, Medium and High value. Medium for example, includes our location information or past purchases, while Low includes our opinion on products, our interests. (Obviously this information can vary by demographics and culture, but it is still an interesting chart.)
One common reaction is that this is mostly a privacy issue—the purview of lawyers, policy makers, organizations like the ACLU in the U.S. or federal governments. Let them sort out what we should worry about on a legal level. While privacy is a component, I would rather focus on the financial and monetization aspect of it. Personal data is the new oil of the internet, and also a new currency. The OECD has published Exploring the Economics of Personal Data looking at different ways we can relate to it in existing currency formats.
Ms. Dow points to an emerging category of Life Management Platforms that serve this area, as proposed by Martin Kuppinger of security analyst firm KuppingerCole. They help people reassert their control over the Small Data in their lives, giving access of this information to sites, brands, vendors and agencies per their choice.
I discussed this topic with author and Internet luminary, Doc Searls, at the time of release of his book The Intention Economy (HBR Press, May 2012). He described it as Vendor Relationship Management, but in essence it is the same as these platforms; Doc compared it as well.
Such platforms not only give us a personal ownership of the data and access control but also helps us track where that information goes, how long they have that information, and how they may use it. This is where the monetization aspect takes over. Like Chief Anderton in Minority Report, stores around us (virtual and physical) have already started to chase us around, offering products for us.
Don’t believe me? Try looking something up on Amazon.com and then the next day or so wander through the Web or Facebook. You’ll notice that mere curiosity has now started to follow you around through the webvertising. They leveraged your Small Data and look to monetize it.
Small Data Rising
Two other rising tech trends will give us more reasons to reconsider these issues. The Internet of Things for one is creating new sources of data that is either directly or incidentally related to us; for example, our health tracking data from our Fitbits, Samsung S Health apps,and Apple Watches; the temperature of our homes with Nest thermostats; the Wi-Fi security cameras we installed; and other similar devices. According to various sources there are 100 millions of these devices already and should be growing into the billions within a few years.
Secondly, we are already sharing other data through the apps we use when we request or provide services through the Collaborative or Sharing Economy. These platforms aggregate Big Data about travel and route patterns, for example. But they also collect Small Data about our preferences, trust ratings and even our individual locations.
Thirdly, large-scale security break-ins from criminal activities and even rogue activities of nations continue to be on the rise. These are specifically targeting and consolidating our Small Data because of lax policies, improper security, and downright hacks of the system. Take it as a reality that this will continue, and beyond securing our accounts, we need a better way to see our own consolidated view of our digital lives.
Life Management Platforms like Meeco focus on not just the larger entities like accounts, but also the smaller data items like brand preferences, your quantified self, your wish lists, and how you connect, collaborate and communicate. It is not so much a one-tool-to-rule-them-all but certainly gives a better insight into your digital self, looking out for your own interests rather than what others would like to offer you.
The question is at when such platforms become commonplace. Today you can see individual tools for securing older digital data assets (passwords, social security numbers, credit ratings, etc.) We may be waiting for the risk assessors of the world—the insurance companies, financial institutions, tax and personal finance software vendors, and governments—to bring them forward. Or we may simply wait for a personal crisis. I think there are still greater opportunities in store for such Life Management Platforms beyond data security (personal online career or expertise agents, but take one step at a time: if you haven’t already, start investing in one for yourself or your family.
Rawn Shah is Director at Rising Edge, an independent consultancy on work culture, future of work, and management evolution. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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