DEEP 2015

Conference Theme

Big data, little data, thick data, thin data–What does the Internet of Things mean for self-knowledge, privacy and inclusion?

The Internet of Things will cast a pervasive net to capture all the data associated with our daily lives. As a society we are in the process of determining how to add meaning to this vast new glut of information. This offers a disruptive moment in history to move beyond mass thinking and privileging the norm or majority. As individuals it offers on opportunity for self-knowledge and self-guidance, an opportunity to value our variability. As researchers we need to rethink our tools so we can navigate complexity and understand diversity rather than reducing it. As a society we have a momentous choice to either apply conventional mass tools and assumptions or seize this chance to acknowledge and respect diversity and thereby find true commonality. The choices we make have as yet unfathomable consequences for anyone at the margins or not part of the mass.

At DEEP 2015 we explored what this disruption can mean for each of us as individuals, for research, for government, for learning, for health and for communities. We tackled the new vulnerabilities to privacy and security this exposes.