Datafication is a technological trend turning many aspects of our life into

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

which is subsequently transferred into information realised as a new form of value.

Kenneth Cukier Kenneth Neil Cukier (born 1968) is an American journalist and author of books on technology and society. He is best known for his work at ''The Economist'' and the book ''Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think'', coa ...

and

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (born 1966) is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. He conducts research into the network economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's ...

introduced the term ''datafication'' to the broader lexicon in 2013. Up until this time, datafication had been associated with the analysis of representations of our lives captured through data, but not on the present scale. This change was primarily due to the impact of

big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

and the computational opportunities afforded to

predictive analytics Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of statistical techniques from data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or otherwise unknown events. In business ...

Datafication is not the same as digitization, which takes analog content—books, films, photographs—and converts it into digital information, a sequence of ones and zeros that computers can read. Datafication is a far broader activity: taking all aspects of life and turning them into data ..Once we datafy things, we can transform their purpose and turn the information into new forms of value

There is an ideological aspect of datafication, called '' dataism:'' "the drive towards datafication is rooted in a belief in the capacity of data to represent social life, sometimes better or more objectively than pre-digital (human) interpretations.”

Examples

Examples of datafication as applied to social and communication media are how

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

datafies stray thoughts or datafication of HR by

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

and others. Alternative examples are diverse and include aspects of the built environment, and design via engineering and or other tools that tie data to formal, functional or other physical media outcomes.

Data collection Data collection or data gathering is the process of gathering and measuring information on targeted variables in an established system, which then enables one to answer relevant questions and evaluate outcomes. Data collection is a research com ...

and -processing for

optimal control Optimal control theory is a branch of mathematical optimization that deals with finding a control for a dynamical system over a period of time such that an objective function is optimized. It has numerous applications in science, engineering and ...

(e.g.

shape optimization Shape optimization is part of the field of optimal control theory. The typical problem is to find the shape which is optimal in that it minimizes a certain cost functional while satisfying given constraints. In many cases, the functional being ...

) is an example.

Impact

;

Human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

: Data obtained from

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

s, apps or

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

usage is used to identify potential employees and their specific characteristics such as risk taking profile and personality. This data will replace

personality test A personality test is a method of assessing human personality constructs. Most personality assessment instruments (despite being loosely referred to as "personality tests") are in fact introspective (i.e., subjective) self-report questionnaire ( ...

s. Rather using the traditional personality tests or the exams that measure the analytical thinking, using the data obtained through datafication will change existing exam providers. Also, with this data new personality measures will be developed. ;Insurance and Banking: Data is used to understand an individual's risk profile and likelihood to pay a loan. ;

Customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information. CRM systems compile data from a ra ...

:Various industries are using datafication to understand their customers better and create appropriate triggers based on each customer's personality and behaviour. This data is obtained from the language and tone a person uses in emails, phone calls or social medias. KeizersgrachtReguliersgrachtAmsterdam

;

Smart city A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return ...

:Through the data obtained from the sensors that are implemented into the smart city, issues that can arise might be noticed and tackled in areas such as transportation,

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

, logistics, and

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

. On the basis of

real-time data Real-time data (RTD) is information that is delivered immediately after collection. There is no delay in the timeliness of the information provided. Real-time data is often used for navigation or tracking. Such data is usually processed using real- ...

commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...

could change their routes when there is a

traffic jam Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

. With the sensors that can measure air and water quality, cities can not only gain a more detailed understanding of the pollution levels, but may also enact new

environmental regulations Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

based on real-time data.https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/news/2014/4/the-impact-of-datafication-on-strategic-landscapes.pdf

References

External links

* *{{cite web, url=http://www.archaide.eu/documents/20181/128971/AIUCD-2017_Gattiglia.pdf/, title=From digitization to datafication. A new challenge is approaching archaeology Information science Technology forecasting Data management Big data Information society

Examples

Impact

See also

References

External links