Datafication and Digital Transformation
If you want to improve your stamina, you need to lace up your shoes and start running.
If you’re serious—and want to train towards specific goals—you might also use a sports watch, a heart rate monitor, and a bunch of apps. In other words: take a data-driven approach. Then you can measure progress, compete against yourself, see what works, and have a better basis for planning training, diet, and recovery.
Something as simple and everyday as jogging has for many become data-driven.
The exact same thing is happening on a larger scale in society as a whole. How is this happening and what consequences will it have? There are two different but related concepts that we need to talk about: Datafication and digital transformation.
Insight
What is datafication?
Representing our activities in the form of data is as old as civilisation itself. To build a society, for example, you need systems for trade and an overview of how much grain is in storage.
The difference now is that more and more of our lives, our jobs and society are being turned into data—down to how many steps you walk before breakfast. Much of this happens automatically and continuously in the background—through phones, watches, apps and sensors—without us actively doing anything.
You’ve briefly encountered the term datafication earlier. It refers to the structural translation of everyday activities and interactions into data. This will typically be in the form of tabulated information—i.e., tables full of values—that makes the values sortable and comparable. In short, we create representations of reality in a data format, which is made available for analysis processes.
Increasingly, these data are also used not only to analyse the past, but to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems that then generate text, predictions, and recommendations of their own.
Next, we can trace, monitor and optimise whatever it is we’re tracking.
Almost everything we do and everything that happens can be turned into data, which in turn can be converted into information, insight, and value. It can teach us new things about society and the environment, and it can help us to see ourselves and our actions from new perspectives. But there is a flip side: the data can also reveal things about us that we perhaps would rather not share, and data gathered for one purpose is often reused for another, such as profiling or training AI, in ways we did not anticipate.
Digital transformation
First it was Napster, and then Spotify put a final end to the golden days of CDs. VHS tapes seem as ancient as morse code and even the first smartphones with full-screen touchscreens are now more or less considered museum pieces. Now we talk to AI assistants as casually as we once burned a CD.
The technology around us is evolving, fast—and with AI, that pace has picked up again. And the changes go much deeper than how we listen to music or surf the Internet. Our entire way of life is changing. We work in new ways, learn in new ways, and interact with others in new ways.
This is what is meant by a digital transformation. It’s not about doing the same old things, just digitally. Data and digital technology leads to entirely new ways of doing things—and entirely new things to do. This is not about technology itself, but what technology does to us as humans.
Digital technology is an integral part of our lives, our workplaces and society—which are all being transformed as a consequence of digital data.
Digitisation vs. Digitalisation
Digitisation is a prerequisite for both digitalisation and digital innovation—which in turn are prerequisites to the digital transformation.
Here’s a simple example: there’s a huge difference between a printed photograph in your desk drawer and a digitised photograph on a website. Once a photo is digital, it can be used and shared in new ways, raising both possibilities (sharing, editing, blogging, social media, backups, etc.) and concerns (privacy, manipulation, identity theft).
Or think about how the music and film industries shifted from physical to digital. How we discover and enjoy entertainment—not to mention the entertainment industry’s revenue streams and business models—have changed dramatically, at first due to piracy and illegal downloading, and then the rise of streaming services. Similar changes are happening in all sectors, with wide-reaching consequences for both businesses and consumers.
Why is this happening now?
Data has always existed. We’ve also had digital data and computers for many decades, and even the Internet is now old news. Yet, it’s only recently that data is driving a digital transformation in society and business. So what’s changed?
Datafication for better or worse
Data and digital technology together create a world of possibilities. They offer new ways to coordinate society and power dynamics and provide new solutions for complex problems like species extinction and widespread environmental harm.
Nonetheless the technology itself is neither good nor bad. It’s merely a tool. The way technology is used is the sum of our own conscious and unconscious actions and choices: our values, objectives, curiosity, but also our prejudices, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness.
Data can be used for good or bad purposes. Even tiny details about your life that are registered as digital data—such as being at a certain place, searching for something, or using a service—can potentially be misused or turned against you. The digital jigsaw puzzle representing your life can even become so detailed and accurate that it shows things you didn’t even know about yourself, making you vulnerable in new ways.
Taking a broader perspective, it’s challenging to adapt democratic processes to our digital reality, especially against powerful commercial interests. The Internet, especially in Western countries, is largely commercialised. The tech is advancing faster than our understanding of its societal impact, and the rules and regulations meant to ensure we benefit from it struggle to keep up.
In recent years, governments in many regions of the world have responded with stronger regulation, but challenges remain in areas such as algorithmic transparency, misinformation, and the concentration of power among large digital actors.
Over-regulation can also threaten social progress and economic growth. It’s tricky to create “smart” regulations that don’t stifle innovation and creativity. Balancing the protection of individual rights with promoting economic growth and innovation is a tough act.