DailyPost 2484
INFORMATION FACTORY VS THE INFORMATION AGE
Information and more so data is the fuel of literally anything and everything in today’s world. It would come for free, would have integrity, which comes with the general presumption that data would have gone mandatorily through the backend processes. It could be thus be put to endless uses presumably for human good. It would be used for economic growth and development and for sure would be commercially exploited in a big way by business enterprises. Democratization of information has been talked about liberally and that would be the ultimate game changer of our lives.
Simplistically put, it would be laissez-faire for of data, no controls, no intervention, might sound like a make-believe world. But that is what internet has been and hence for sure there could have an information and data regime that would fit in that well proven template. The democratization of information, i.e., internet started getting away from its pristine nascent form to getting into the stranglehold of social media octopuses and the military government complex, of which we have talking about endlessly of late. Once the trajectory of any unique to gift to mankind changes, it can be resurrected has been human history.
The jewel of the information age is data, the processing power is all around us, in various forms; compute, tools, analytics, big data mindset and the ever changing and ever-growing requirements. The world should have completely got wedded to objectivity and being empirical, but unfortunately, that did not happen. The information age even before it bore real mass scale fruits transformed into a plethora of Information Factories. In totality our current existence is aptly defined as Information Factory Age. Data has its pre-decided channels; it is processed in a manner to suit a specific purpose. Cambridge Analytica case happens to be a perfect example.
Open Data Policy still seems to be world away. The multinational’s mercenary usage of our data for bumper profits is all too well known. These companies are the biggest data / information factories on the planet and claim to be making our shopping / commercial experience better. The propaganda machines use it in the manner they do. Perception management industry thrives on it, in a manner the gullible will never be able to comprehend. The government on its side, keeps a complete tab on its data, while trying to capture the largest possible data points of its subjects. It puts it to best used by its own information factories, the way it best suits its interest.
THE MASSES ARE THE RECEIVING END IN THE INFORMATION AGE, TRYING TO GIVE THEM EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE FEELIING.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.