Yesterday I went back to parliament for the POST Big Data and Governance seminar followed by their 'Information Age' annual reception. It was great to be back, although a shame not to have my all access pass! It was good to see all the fellows that I had worked with, and catch up with the rest of the staff. The event itself was really interesting, and was definitely a #throwbackthursday for me, reminding me of all the research into big data I had done while I was working with POST to create my POSTnote. This combined with Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the reception and the science museum was showing off some pieces from their 'Information Age' exhibit made for a great afternoon!
Adam Afriyie MP opened the seminar, emphasising the importance of POST and the potential opportunities of Big Data. The POST director Chris Tyler was chairing the session, and directed a question towards each of the panel before opening the discussion up to the floor.
Chris Fleming, from the Government Office for Science, thinks the government has a role to play in maximising the opportunities that can be gained from big data whilst minimising the risk by building skills and infrastructure and enabling debate. He reminded the audience that technology (e.g. the car) has driven social norms in the past, and the same can be expected from big data.
Dr Susan Grant-Muller has experience in the transport sector of the benefits that use of data can bring, and also about how the public feel about their data being used. As I found when writing my note, people are willing to share their data if they can see personal value from doing so, but are uncomfortable if companies benefit financially.
The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, agreed that the data protection directive was very out of date, but that the principles remain valid. The future important regulation is likely to come through the EU, but it is proving difficult to get agreement at a European level. He later reminded us that a country's history may greatly influence their views on data sharing and governance.
However, with many companies operating globally, there is a need for harmonisation across national borders. Matthew Rice from Privacy International agreed that better business practices will come from harmonisation of regulation.
Professor Carol Dezateux gave lots of great examples of the use of linked datasets in healthcare but explained that it is not always evident to a patient what is for the public benefit. It is also important that all demographics in society have the same level of education about how their data is used.
Professor Amanda Chessell (Master Inventor - best job title ever!!) spoke about data security, and how important it is for no damage to occur, so that data can be thought of as trustworthy and misinterpretation reduced.
The concept of people offering up their data for free was discussed by Carl Miller from Demos, who had strong views on the need for increased transparency and control by the public vs the internet giants.
Dr Emma Uprichard made an interesting point that when delivering education to the public on the subject of big data, it is not just important to focus on the those who are usually considered 'vulnerable', as we are all vulnerable if we do not have the correct information.
When the discussion was opened to the floor, a common view was that 'Big Data' is not just about technology, but also communication of this technology with the public. However, there is nothing cheap about public engagement! Privacy is likely to become more important, with companies showing a higher level of care for customer data likely to take the lead.
The seminar was followed by the POST annual reception, this year with links to the Science Museum's 'Information Age' exhibition. Opened by Adam Afriyie, who warned that science is often used by politicians as a lamp-post: not to illuminate but to lean against, but that the work of POST was helping to change that.
The speaker at the reception was Tim Berners-Lee (of www fame) and he was very engaging and entertaining. It was interesting to hear how the web was developed and how it got used just because "people thought it was a good idea, so they used it". He said his next aim was to de-centralise the web, and that search engines and social media sites were just the latest in a long line of monopolies that have dominated the web.
The formal part of the event finished with speakers from Cubic Transportation and the Science Museum introducing their exhibitions. During the rest of the reception, I caught up with the other POST fellows whilst playing with the exhibits the science museum had brought along.
The event was a great opportunity to hear the views of a variety of experts on Big Data and highlighted the challenges faced when trying to govern such large and complex data sets. It will be very interesting to see what happens to data use in the future.
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