“Data as the new oil” an analogy built to confuse
Data isn’t like oil and it doesn’t run out, it is ubiquitous, continuous and can be reused and reworked in countless ways. In my opinion respected journalists in the guardian, economist and the financial times using oil as an analogy is damaging to people’s understanding and a lazy analogy. It shows to me a lack of understanding of the key concepts of what is shaping our world today.
Not only this but I believe it is damaging to people trying to understand the value of their data. The are a lot of mistruths and contradictory information around data at the moment. From first hand experience of user tests related to GDPR, I have seen that people say they are worried about data security but at the same time are willing to give away their data at the click of a button without any real thought and for nothing in return.
If “data is the new oil” then my details are a splash of oil in a huge barrel at most, one drop of oil is essentially worthless so why would I care about giving it away. Connecting two drops of oil is also as worthless. But imagine each drop of oil was connected to 10 other drops and those 10 drops were also connected to more drops and so on. Suddenly you have plenty, networks and the linking/connection of networks is what creates the value. I would rather know a little bit from your LinkedIn account and a little bit from your Facebook account than I would everything from your facebook account.
The mining and storage of data is relatively worthless and expensive, it’s how you connect and align all of the various sources to get a picture of people, the world we live in and how we experience it is what creates value. That’s why Amazon want sensor and drone data, they don’t want more data they want better quality, more connected data i.e. a more realistic picture of people’s lives achieved at less cost.
Every time a new sensor appears or Google give you single sign on functionality or you can access web pages from within the app you are in instead of through your usual browser you are not only providing more data but a wider scope of data and that’s valuable.
I embrace data transparency and sharing, I do not fear sharing more data, but I do understand the value of it. I demand a high level of service and value from the products I share my data with and I think you should too.
EDIT: A much more powerful article explaining this much better than I did can be found here
