Living in Data

This book shows us the possibility of a world where data isn't BIG and isn't harvested, owned and sold by big tech. A world where data can belong to us, and can be “small, intimate, understandable, sovereign, cooperative, fair”.

He introduces us to data-colonialism in the form of ‘snatch-and-grab science': where data collected in remote environments and communities leads to research prizes and scientific discoveries, but none of the accolades or monetary compensations ever trickle back to those origins. How can communities own their own data? And is your data truly open if it's not made for nonprogrammers? For non-English speakers? For people without up-to-date technical equipment?

An interesting and engaging read. It's full of personal data collection stories that Thorp went to install in jungles and on glaciers, of data crunching stories from his desk at the NYT or the short-lived Office for Creative Research, and of data living stories where he brings data back to their communities for collective mapping experiments.