14 LIVING

Star2, ThurSday 3 January 2013

We could do well to
empower ourselves with
analytical skills in a society
which thrives on data.
By NIKI CHEONG
star2@thestar.com.my

AM not usually one for predictions, so I

am not going to kick off this column in
the new year trying to guess what everyone will be talking about from a digital
culture perspective, of course in 2013.
The fact that technology changes so quickly, and so do our behaviours in adapting to
these changes, means that predictions do
not really mean much. Just take a look at the
past few years.
Social media plays such an important part
in our digital lives, yet no one imagined the
role it would play in advancing democracy if
not for the events of the Arab Spring.
But its not only in the much-debated
role of social media on social movements in
North Africa and the Middle East.
Those events also changed the way in
which journalists and laymen alike produced
and consumed news. In fact, it was largely
these events that sparked conversation on
the role of curators of information on the
Internet.
While there are also arguments on whether or not curator is the best term to use
to describe this process of shifting through,
and then re-presenting, information disseminated on social networks, the fact is we
are seeing more and more such actions and
behaviours online.
There does appear to be a shift in focus,
however, from this curatorship to that of
analyst. And while this is not a prediction,
it seems perfectly natural that we see the
emergence of more digital analysts and the
like this year and beyond.

The age of big data

ReWired

NIKI CHEONG

star2@thestar.com.my
This is because besides the topic of curators, there has also been a lot of discourse on
data that are now currently available, thanks
to digital technologies, not just in terms of
conversations on social networking sites but
also big data.
The idea of big data is not particularly
new and has always focussed on sets of
data that are so complicated and large that
they are difficult to process. CRM.coms Paul
Greenberg describes big data as the name
given to the prodigious amounts of fastmoving data that typically cant be handled
by existing data tools.
However, thats not just the only kind of
data that we governments, organisations
and individuals alike are dealing with
these days. Of late, the term has been used
to describe many different forms of data.
In his article published in the science magazine Nature, Clifford Lynch suggests that
data can be big in different ways. Among
these, he says, is not just about defining it
based on computational and storage issues
(as with Greenbergs definition) but also in
terms of its lasting significance.
Different people may understand the term
differently but at the end of the day, there is
no denying that we are now living in an era
where a lot of focus is being placed on data
big or otherwise.
In Malaysia, the Personal Data Protection

We need to be constantly
aware of what kind of
information were sharing
with people, who has access
to our information, and
what they are doing with it.

Act came into effect on Jan 1 this year,

according to a report in The Star quoting
Deputy Information, Communications and
Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang.
It is not just about personal data, however.
There is currently an increasing realisation
that there is a lot to be learned from data
available out there whether produced by
governments or corporations, whether they
are tweeted or compiled.
Those that are clued in are taking steps in
ensuring that they are compiling as much
data as possible related to them. It is equally
important to ensure that the data is structured, properly stored and can be easily analysed and shared.
There is already an emergence of many
tools that will assist in this process.
Governments around the world are seeing
great value in digitising data and digital
humanists in academic institutions have
been working on this for years.
The media fraternity, too, have been working at this.
The Associate Press has recently launched
its The Overview Project, which is basically a
tool to help journalists visualise data to help
them with their stories.
In the age of social networking, market-

eers have also been hiring digital agencies

and analysts to make sense of their clients
and customers based on publicly available
data.
And what about the average layman like
you and me?
In general, there are two concerns that we
should constantly be aware of.
First is the personal issue of privacy. We
need to be constantly aware of what kind of
information were sharing with people, who
has access to our information, and what they
are doing with it.
Secondly, there is also the awareness that
data isnt only useful to organisations. Due to
the fact that there is so much data available
out there, which is becoming more and more
structured, it is also a good time to adapt
to the idea that having access to data can
enrich our lives in many ways, thanks to the
easy and mobile access we have to technology.
There will be an influx in the number of
data analysts in the years to come.
Last year, the New York Times reported a
projection that the United States will need
140,000 to 190,000 more workers with
deep analytical expertise and 1.5 million more data-literate managers, whether
retrained or hired.
There is no need to make a career out of it
if youre not inclined that way, but knowing
what we know now, it doesnt hurt to pick
up some analytical skills for ourselves.
n Niki is a writer, consultant and speaker on
media and digital culture. Connect with him
online at www.nikicheong.com or on Twitter
via @nikicheong.