What Kind of Data Am I Creating—And What Happens to It?

Let’s take a guess: You use a computer for work, you might wear a smartwatch, and you likely check your phone around 150 times a day. You stream films and music and have a smart TV connected to the Internet. You drive a car full of sensors or travel in a city full of cameras, base stations, and electric scooters.

Every time you move, answer an email, skip a song, send a snap, log into your bank account, make an online purchase, refuel your car, or buy a coffee, data is recorded. This data might be logged in a file or a database in an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) system.

All our “smart” devices at home also produce data: the robot vacuum cleaner, the TV, the smartphone, the power meter, the e-reader, the Wi-Fi router, and more. The digital and physical worlds are merging.

In this section, we take a closer look at where data comes from and how you are involved in its creation. You will discover that most of this creation process is invisible to us: when we interact with digital technology, we only see the tip of the iceberg, while most of it stays hidden under the surface.

Even if you don’t notice it, you have a digital shadow that follows you everywhere. Nearly everything around us can be converted into data. Those who know what to look for can assemble all these traces from people and machines into a vibrant, complex, interactive—and sometimes distorted—reflection of reality.

This opens many fantastic opportunities. However, it also comes with challenges and great risks. Privacy concerns and the protection of basic human rights are some of the most serious issues. You’ll learn more about these topics in this section.