Consumer Agency in Modern Data Sharing Ecosystems

There is a much public discussion on giving people control and ownership of their personal data. This is happening globally. Across jurisdictions. GDPR, Open Banking, Consumer Data Right, Financial Data Exchange, California Consumer Privacy Act, MyData, FB being grilled in congress, TED talks…the list goes on.

The terms, control and ownership, are being thrown about more frequently.

But how do you give people control in these data sharing experiences and contexts? How do you empower them in valuable, meaningful and engaging ways? What does this even mean and why does it matter?

Well, we aim to help you answer these questions and more in this blog series. It’s informed by our work on data sharing initiatives globally.

One of the things we are consistently observing is the decoupling of control with value. People can’t have control and effectively exercise their agency if they cannot appropriate the value of an interaction. Consent based sharing, sign up, on-boarding or otherwise.

Exercising agency is deeply connected to power and the ability to influence outcomes

Although the insights we share in this post (and the video below) are focused on a specific jurisdiction, the perspective is agnostic. This series will encourage you to start thinking more deeply about these topics and translate this thinking into action.

This 3 part series on consumer control and agency will:

1. Help you hone your perspective on consumer control in the context of data sharing ecosystems
2. Deepen your understanding of the nuances related to people having control and exercising their agency when it comes to personal data
3. Deepen your understanding of the motivational forces that might encourage or inhibit individuals from actively sharing their data, and
4. Support you in executing a strategy, series of tactics and focused metrics to help design more effective data sharing experiences quickly

So, here’s an a video (15min) to kick off the series. It’s based on a presentation from a recent CX Workshop on control for the Consumer Data Standards work being led by Data61.

We trust you’ll find the content thought provoking to the work you’re doing. If you have any questions make some comments below. If you want to chat or need help translating the thinking on these topics into purposeful action, send us a note. We’d love to help.