The amount of data that is gathered nowadays is astonishing. Everyday objects can be connected to the internet, allowing them to communicate with human beings as well as other devices (Xia, Yang, Wang, & Vinel, 2012). Internet of Things (IoT) transforms your car from a device that you need to drive, to a source of data about your driving behavior. Companies like Facebook and Google gather huge amounts of data about our online behavior. And we have access to a range of application that can keep track of our personal activities. Apple, for instance, developed The Help app, that, as they state on their website, “makes it easy to learn about your health and start reaching your goals” (Apple, 2017). You do not even have to provide the application with the input-information since it consolidates health data from your phone, Apple watch and other applications that you installed on your iPhone (Apple, 2017).

The possibilities to generate data are increasing, such as the possibilities to analyze and use this data. We moved from digitization, the process of turning the analog world into a digital world, to datafication. In the era of digitization, the purpose of information often had a specific purpose for which the data was collected. Datafication, on the other hand, allows analysis for patterns and correlations across large data set (Mai, 2016). Nowadays, different elements of information can be combined for different purposes.

Organizations are more and more realizing the potential of personal information from their customers. All kinds of organizations, from gas stations to hospitals, are adopting the use of big data analytics to learn more about their end-users. They are acting upon the expectation that more information about their customers, will enable them to establish customized services and marketing. The underlying thought for the increase of data analytics is that “more information is better, more digital services improve people lives, and that greater connectivity provides a better world” (Mai, 2016).

Obviously, there are some great possibilities and benefits that come with the amount of data and information that we have nowadays. However, I think that this premise is too often taken for granted and must be more often challenged. In this era, there is a somewhat blind belief in the need and necessity of data. Professor Langdon Winner even states that our thinking is dominated by “mythinformaiton: the almost religious conviction that a widespread adoption of computers and communication systems along with easy access to electronic information will automatically produce a better world human living” (Winner, 1986).

Organizations are eager to get their hands on more personal information, while often not even knowing if they have the knowledge or resources to accurately analyze it. The question whether this, in fact, is necessary or even beneficial is not often raised. And while privacy legislation is developing, there is still much vague about how companies use personal information. I hoop that the questions whether data collection is desirable and suited for the situation will be more often raised: Is more information always better? Are more digital services really improving people lives? Is greater connectivity providing a better world?

References
Apple. (2017, 10). A bold way to look at your health . Retrieved from Apple: https://www.apple.com/ios/health/

Mai, J.-E. (2016). Big data privacy: The datafication of personal information. The Information Society , 192-199.

Winner, L. (1986). The wale and the reactor. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Xia, F., Yang, L., Wang, L., & Vinel, A. (2012). Internet of Things. International Journal of Communication Systems, 1101-1102.