Last night I tweeted a link to this video, about the legendary scientist Nikola Tesla pitching Silicon Valley venture capitalists, and commented that the truth is sometimes funnier that comedy. And I was surprised by the sheer number of people who agreed with that sentiment. I went to sleep thinking about that reaction, and also thinking about it in the context of the decline of long-term thinking in our society.
Posted in Uncategorized
Six-year-old student (bilingual, French immersion school) drawing depicting Surveillance versus Sousveillance.
Surveillance (from the French sur, “from above,” and veiller, “to watch”)
Sous (French “from below”)
Is this the future of sensor-based data collection? For almost a decade now, the Army has maintained a concept of “every soldier as a sensor.” But it’s the civilian world that’s actually reducing this idea to practice. As mobile cameras and personal diagnostic sensors become more transparent and ubiquitous, the idea of the observed self is taking on a whole new meaning. Lifelogging, where private citizens continuously collect data about themselves and their environment, and the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) promise to provide an unprecedented source of new information about human ecosystems. Think Big Data is a challenge? Try tackling Small Data writ large.
But the power of Small Data content transcends the individual. Understanding our world requires sensing, and first person sensors (sousveillers) are in many respects more scalable, efficient, and economical than their third person analogs (surveillers) – to the extent that the economics of the observed self can be aligned with that of the observed world. It goes without saying that unlocking this potential will require a fundamentally new social contract governing the way personal digital content is aggregated and shared. All things being equal, this obstacle might just be the biggest challenge to capitalizing on the promise of sousveillance.
Posted in Surveillance
Tagged big data, internet of things, lifelogging, Small Data, sousveillance, surveillance
lifelog: a record of a person’s everyday life produced by a portable device which they regularly carry around.
Lifelogging = transparent collection and ubiquitous content
So, what are we going to do with all of that information?
“Practically, we’re very close to being able to survey most of what people do most of the time,” Bell told Betaworks’ Andrew McLaughlin.”
