FMP Proposal
Exploring Big Data The Ethical Side of a New Trend
Job Huberts Coach: Mathias Funk Approver: Jean Bernard Martens March 2013
Introduction “To bring back collectivistic social cultural values, I want to design interfering experiences in the public domain that shake people awake.�
2 This is a quote from my vision on design and society. During my Final Bachelor Project and the first semester of my master course I started to develop this vision in accordance to my identity as a designer that likes to explore the world. In my Final Master Project I want to come up with a service or product that aids people in exploring their world in order to find back social cultural values. In this document I will present the proposal for my Final Master Project. I will start by describing how I envision the role of design in society and how this leads to the focus of my project, big data in the public domain. Following on this I will discuss the current status of the context and topic of big data. In the first iteration I explored the potential of big data and how I can use this. Out of this came some first ideas that will be used as starting point for the next iteration phase. After that I will describe how I will continue this project during my study trip to China and the iterations following on this.
Vision: society and design
3 When looking at the society of today I am fascinated by the way our society changes and how it adapts to changes. Western cultures change due to technologic developments and an omnipresent fear for unknown threats. Eastern societies are becoming a major competitor in the field of technical knowledge and production facilities. Less developed, third world, countries are influenced by this, which can be noticed when looking at their prosperity. In this global stream of developments, I see old (meaningful) values move to the background or change. Values like caring about each other, trust and social connections are interpreted in a moderner digital way. As I see it, relations get more screen based, 2D. One of the causes of this is the rise of social media. I think that social media bring people closer together, but push them apart at the same time since the communication becomes digital. The fact that people start to live past each other, can be seen in the increase of problems caused by social friction (Jensen, 2004). I, as designer, want people to leave their screens and start exploring their own values and heritage. To achieve the above mentioned, I think the bodily skills of a person are of great importance. We experience the world through our body. Our bodily skills are more a criterion to experience the world than a tool (Sennett, 2008). This means that I see the body as a way of valuing the world and create value out of this. This connects to the theory that states that we learn to understand the world through our body (Merleau-Ponty, 1958). If we recover the value that our body has, we eventually will recover who we are ourselves. I interpret the before mentioned world as the environment and society we currently live in.
To achieve explorative behavior, I envision the design of interfering experiences that can work on both a personal and collective level. For this I see a role in open system design that provides the opportunity to create connections between people and systems. Open systems refer to systems and services that can adapt to changes in the devices connected to it. I hope to achieve this on different levels, from the domestic to the public domain. In this public domain I want to establish a personalized interaction that is part of the bigger environment. e.g. a one-on-one interaction that perceives and anticipates on the environment.
From vision to project
4 For my FMP, I want to put my vision into practice in order to test it in a realistic context. I want to create a service or product that has market potential, and thus can be developed further after my graduation. In the first orientation phase of my FMP I came across the Growing System project in Out of Control. This project emphasizes on the potential of urban areas and how it can be explored with the help of big data. It hints in the direction of big data and the application of phenomenology. Two concepts that appeal to me as they focus on the changing world we live in and how it develops. In this project I want to come up with a concept that shows the potential of urban space to people in a physical way. As a focus group I want to investigate the behavior of young people. Are they aware of the big amount of data that is gathered and do they understand the potential of the public area? In this I want to emphasize on cultural characteristics and technical developments. I hope to create a societal relevant system that is integrated in existing social structures. This hopefully leads to an open system that stimulates one person - multiple objects interaction or vice versa.
The Design Opportunity
5 Data is an interesting phenomenon, in fact, everything is data, but has a different physical appearance. The use of the term big data is an upcoming trend. The buzz word big data does not refer to one particular concept. It can refer to a data set that is too big to manage with regular computers. Or it is seen as not focussing on the quantity of data, but on the tools that can show patterns. Another definition states that big data is the process that helps the planet grow a nervous level. For me, big data is somewhere in between the first two definitions. Big data is a large amount of data that gives us the opportunity to discover new patterns in our existence and that of the planet. Well known sets of big data are the databases of Facebook and Twitter. Here, almost every detail of your life can be stored, and will be stored. Companies can use it to aim advertisement, governments can use it to gauge the mood of their people. But big data can also be the information about data traffic around the world or a record of all rainy clouds above the Netherlands. Combining these big data sets can lead to new insights. Insights in information that nobody has ever contributed. This is were the principles of ethics become evident. People provide personal information to services they use online or offline. When used only for this service, the data is pretty harmless, but when combined with other sets of big data, new associations may pop up. But also issues like impersonal communication, and changing morals start to play a role.
The current generation of teenagers is a generation that always has been and will be in contact with computers. For them, exploring relates closer to getting to know a new Operating System than to exploring their living environment. This generation is also related to as generation Z. In my opinion there are big opportunities in showing people from this generation the ins and outs of big data. By this I hope that they will start to realize what is happening at the moment with data and what it means for them. I want to go past the stage of awareness and change peoples life. How? I will explain this during my first iteration.
Context of Public Domain
6 As stated already in the Growing Systems project brief, the city around us is coming to life in the digital world. First examples of this can be seen in the use of applications like Layar and FourSquare. People start to use their geographical location as input for screen based interactions.I want to go further in this. The public domain houses way more information than just two coordinates. In the public domain, people are living together, they influence each other and their environment. By moving through public space, all kinds of data are gathered. I see potential in using this data to create curiosity among young people in order to awake explorative behavior.
In this public domain, I want to focus on youth in secondary school. They comprise the largest part of generation Z. Youth travels to school, works at school and develops at school. At the moment I am discussing the possibilities with an organization in Helmond that works with youth in this age group.
First Iteration Big data is a buzz word, due to new computing technologies the applications of big data are becoming more diverse. When recapitulating on the various definitions of big data I can say that big data is in fact a new way to measure and sense life. 7 Orientation on Big Data
Benchmarks
Big data is as much about recognizing relations and patterns as about data (Gardner, 2012). The patterns arising from big data can give us insight in human behavior and the development of society. We are making a shift from a form of science where we make assumptions to a form of science where we “know” things (Enriquez, 2012). The things we “know” are abstracted from the vast amount of numbers that makes big data big. These patterns still have a quite abstract character and are hard to interpret for laymen. As David Berry (2011) writes, Big Data provides ‘destablishing amounts of knowledge and information that lack the regulating force of philosophy’. In my opinion, this means that big data is still not translated to a level of basic human understanding. If we want to prove that big data is becoming our world wide nervous system (Dumbill, 2013) we first have to translate it to a level where people will understand what the influence of big data is. Here I see an opportunity to teach people the influence and potential of big data by providing examples and experiences in everyday life.
Representing data in daily life can be done is several ways, be it digital or physical. Services that are provided already try to visualize data mainly in a digital form. There are applications that give you an overview of your energy use, your health and social connections (e.g. Toon by Eneco, Nike+ and MyHeritage.com). But all of these are digital, on screen, representations. Particular for topics like health and social connections a physical experience could help people to understand the subject. People experience the world through their body (Merleau-Ponty, 1958), so creating a physical object to experience and understand big data seems a logical continuation for me. Translating data sets to physical experiences requires a clear correlation between the data and the way its physicalized. Currently, most of these data visualizations take the form of an interactive piece of art. Examples include the Next Nature data fountain and the sculptures by WHITEvoid. These installations tend to focus on one particular data set, just like most 2D data visualizations. I want to create a system that uses multiple data sets and relates those to the user personally.
8 Ethics in big data When discussing the personalization of big data sets, the ethical side becomes increasingly important. By combining two different data sets, a third data set is created. This set can contain data that was not available before, created out of parameters from the two different data sets. For example, recently researchers showed that based on digital traces (e.g. Facebook likes) intimate personal attributes like sex, religion or IQ could be determined. Research like this shows us the influence big data can have in our everyday life, information that we did not know or share before, becomes public without our specific permission. Researchers from the University of Cambridge warn of the threats posed to users’ privacy (Kosinski, 2013). People are mostly unaware of the fact that the few bits of data they publish can picture their whole private life when combined with other sets of data. “While people might know that information is being collected about them, knowing this and knowing that the data will be analyzed for various purposes are two different things (LaBossiere, 2012). LaBossiere points out that privacy does not have to be violated; “If I get the secret ingredient in someone’s recipe by sneaking a look at the recipe, then I have acted wrongly. However, if I infer the secret ingredient by tasting the food when I am invited to dinner, then I have not acted wrongly. This is the point that I think people should be conscious of.
The current generation of young people, the so called Generation Z, has always been connected to the internet. They do not know how a world without continuous digital connectivity should be. For them, personal data has another value than for older generations. For them, data can be used as a valuable currency. Data is worth money, personal data even more. Generation Z is raised differently with the ethical codes of privacy and social caring. In this development I see a design opportunity where young people explore the boundaries of the gathering and interpretation of (big) data.
Exploring big data To get a view on the way data and ethics (e.g. privacy) interfere, I created the info graphic shown on the next page. This graphic shows how events in the public domain transfer data to cloud storages and companies. But data is also distributed directly from the individual to the data cloud and to the data servers of companies. The conclusion is that data goes everywhere and is integrated in the way we live.
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Events
Privacy
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Data
Cloud
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Data
Companies
Public Domain
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GOAL Bring back old values by physicalyzing ethics of data
Learning method
Service
Government Campaign
Generation Z Physical
Interactive Installation
Personal Device
Framework
Cloud Theoretical Framework _ Phenomenology _ Big Data _ Ethics
Adaptation
Open System Market
Society
Public Domain
11 At this point I have two goals in this project; make young people aware of the ethics around big data, and as stated in the beginning, make people explore the world. I see two main development opportunities for this, one is a service (e.g. learning method or government campaign) the second a physical intervention (e.g. a personal device or an interactive installation in public space). The underlying layer contains a theoretical framework of phenomenology and ethics, on which the concept will be based. This is visualized in the info graphic on page 10. Based on this graphic, ideas arose covering the two mentioned goals. The conclusion of this is that I want to create a tool service for generation Z that lets them explore their environment, in order to gather data and assimilate these data. By letting youth quantify their living environment, explorative behavior can be promoted and children learn to value data. Besides this, I see an opportunity in promoting societal collaboration in a personal way with this service. The trigger for this explorative behavior can be curiosity I think. Youngsters’ desire to learn is triggered by curiosity (Perry, 2000). The pleasure received from discovering and exploring, fuels this curiosity. Since curiosity is the mean in this process, exploration becomes the final goal. Sharing discoveries can lead to admiration from external parties. The curiosity cycle of Jonathan Mugan (Mugan, 2012) shows this in a more abstract way. Children individuate concepts from the environment, and they use these concepts to build models. By testing these models they can see how well they predicted the environment. Through this iterative process, children will learn new models and concepts. In the graphic to the right the process of passing the stage of awareness in order to reach the goal is visualized. Curiosity is the catalyst in this.
Values _ privacy _ social connections _ understanding
Awareness
Curiosity Goal _ change the world _ make people explore _ develop values
12 Direction. The idea which I want to emphasize on in the next iteration rounds is a service tool for youth of generation Z that awakes their curiosity to explore their living environment by gathering data. By quantifying this data, youth can learn how to handle data and how it can contribute to their personal goals and values in life. Ideas that I am playing with now are: 1. A toolkit that enables youth to film and record happenings in their environment. This data can be used to learn to interpret privacy. 2. A looking glass that shows virtual data streams in the air when looked through. 3. An object that gives an indication about digital traces in the physical world and makes them collectable. 4. Physical tags that can be placed as traces, making it easier to see traces in the public area.
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Clients / Partners As I stated before, I want to develop a market ready product or service during my FMP. In order to get a realistic view on the market possibilities I want to consult partners in my project and hopefully connect to a client. At the moment the following partners play a role in the project: 14 _ Dirk van Mulligen: Founder of Coherent Solutions. I came in contact with him via Joep Frens, based on a previous project that was done together about creating awareness around ethics in data, rQive. I will try to use him as a counselor on the ethical side of my project. _ Ad van Berlo: Together with Ad van Berlo I want to roadmap the business model of my concept. Certain business related decisions have to be made during the process in order to create a concept that shows market potential. _ Art Event Helmond: An association that provides creative workshops for people in age from 14 till 25 in Helmond. They are interested to host a couple of workshops to support my project. I will use these sessions to validate my concept with my target group. _ Hout & de Wolf: Currently I am founding my own company together with another student, Mitchell Jacobs. The emphasis of this company lies on creating educational methods that teach young people about developing technologies and cultural changes. I want to use this company as development partner during the project and if possible as a company to put it on the market after the project.
Further Approach The first four weeks of the project I spent on finding the context for my FMP. For this, I did literature research and talked to experts. During the next iteration rounds I want to use a hands on approach.
15 This will start during my study trip to China with the Growing Systems project. We will participate in a two-week workshop that focusses on changing the facade of a city. For this, projection mapping will be used in an interactive way. This trip is an interesting occasion to discuss the topic of a digitalizing society with people from another background. I think it is important to talk to the Chinese students, they experience societal changes in a different way and address different values to it. In China, censorship influences the way generation Z develops. Does this generation even have the characteristics of the Western generation Z? After the study trip to China I will start my third iteration round. In this three week session I will combine the outcomes of the first two iteration rounds and combine the results. This will be done by brainstorming with people from the target group, generation Z, and discussing the results with them. During this iteration round I want to deploy a physical object based approach. Through quick design cycles I want to develop the concept. By the end of the semester I will have a concept that is ready to be developed to a final stage during my M2.2. In my M2.2 stage I will first focus on the testing and verifying of the concept. Through testing it in context with people from Art Event Helmond I want to get to know the stronger and weaker points. The results will be translated in the fourth design iteration to develop a prototype for new user involvement sessions. After the Dutch Design Week I will develop the final version of my concept which I want to test thoroughly. Parallel to this I will develop the business side of the concept.
Methods & Deliverables The first iteration round was characterized by research in literature and expert meetings. In the next iteration rounds I want to adapt a more explorative approach.
16 I want to involve people from the target group in cooperative workshops. The first sessions I will do during the trip to China. In this session I want to investigate the view of other cultures on the rise of big data. The Chinese digital infrastructure is significantly different from our Western infrastructure. In Co-reflection sessions with Chinese students I want to confront them with my views on the subject and try to extract ideas out of their point of view. In my third iteration round I will cooperate with my target group, people from generation Z. For this I am collaborating with Art Event Helmond, an organization that organizes creative workshops for people between 14 and 25 years. I want to use these sessions to verify how generation Z experiences the gathering of data and how they perceive the ethical side of it. During this workshop I want to trigger them to start exploring to gather data and develop this in a creative way. The further exact interpretation has to be discussed with Art Event Helmond in a later stage. Parallel to this I want to apply a Research through Design strategy during the third iteration and my M2.2 by making small physical artifacts. By creating and iterating I want to develop the concept to a marketable stage at the end of my M2.1.
At the end of my M2.1 I will deliver a concept that is ready to be developed during my M2.2. This means that the context and scenario of use is concrete and that the developing partners are involved in the project. This will be shown with a physical prototype that is used in first user evaluation sessions. By the end of my M2.2 I want to have a product that is beyond the concept stage. In my opinion I have to show that I am capable of going through the complete design process, which means a nicely crafted, realistic prototype is needed. This product is backed up by proving user tests and a theoretical framework. Final deliverables M2.2: _ Prototype clearly showing concept _ Report with documented process _ Reflection showing growth _ Video showing working concept _ Business model
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Proposal Approval Iteration #2: Workshop China
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Business Development Iteration #3: Create Concept Prototyping Assessments
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DDW 2013 Iteration #5: Final Concept
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Iteration #4: Co Reflection Prototyping Testing & Validating
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Planning This is a global planning of the remaining M2.1 and M2.2 semester. While going through the planned iteration cycles, this planning can slightly change.
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References
18 Dumbill, E., (2013) Making Sense of Big Data, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Vol. 1 Enriquez, J., (2012) The Human Face of Big Data, page 9, ISBN 978-1-4549-0827-2 Gardner, D., (2012) The Human Face of Big Data, page 5, ISBN 978-1-4549-0827-2 Jensen, R.H., (2004) Designing for social friction: Exploring ubiquitous computing as means of cultural interventions in urban space, IT University of Copenhagen Kosinski, M., (2013) Digital Records could expose intimate details and personality traits of millions, http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/digital-records-could-expose-intimate-details-and-personality-traits-of-millions LaBossiere, M., (2012) Big Data & Ethics, Big Data, The Moving Parts: Fast Data, Big Analytics, and Deep Insight Merleau-Ponty, M., (1958) Phenomenology of Perception (C. Smith) Routledge & Kegan Paul Mugan, J., (2012) The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion, page 6 Perry, B.D. M.D. Ph.D., (2000) Curiosity: The Fuel of Development, Early Childhood Today Magazine, March 2011 Sennett, R., (2008) The craftsman. Penguin Books, London
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Job Huberts s070991 j.y.j.huberts@student.tue.nl www.jobhuberts.com