A Data Tsunami struck our lives

Whether we are aware it or not, our lives are increasingly being affected by data-driven decisions.

A tsunami of information has struck and overwhelmed our lives; as digital users, we consume and generate data that is saved, transferred and even traded. Somewhere, a meaningful image of us is being formed which in turn allows a device to get to know each one of us, apart from the crowd. This familiar relationship with digital devices, through social networks, search engines, shopping sites and mobile apps, has provided us with a sense of efficiency we have gotten used to and cannot live without it. GPS helps me get home from anywhere, Amazon helps me select my shopping, Facebook picks the posts of my closest friends, Google eases my searches selecting out irrelevant stuff; devices that “know” me facilitate my life. In order for this to happen, we constantly feed, mostly passively, seas of data that are turned into meaningful information to create our individual and collective digital identities.

This unstoppable growth of data is being collected from our daily digital interactions, through active and passive ways, when we engage in personal and social activities, domestic and professional functions or physical exercise. Today, gadgets record how much electricity each appliance in our house eats up, consumer genomics generate personalized medicine and Nike fuel bracelet tracks personal data while we exercise.

As Chris de la Torre (2013) puts it: “Now we live and love inside our devices – consumers every minute of every day, browsing our laptops, phones, tablets and soon Google Glass; and this data is churning up a bottomless well of ideas – we’re consuming and creating. What’s the world thinking? Swipe, click and see”.

MindCET offers a general picture of the impact of this digital data tsunami on Education, including new data on Israelis’ awareness and privacy concerns of online information: MindCET Snapshot#2: Big Data & Education (March, 2014).