320 times greater than the store of knowledge kept in the legendary Library of Alexandria, and representing a mass of data which, if stored on DVDs stacked on top of each other, would cover five times the distance from the Earth to the Moon and back again: it was in these terms that participants at this national roundtable described the wealth of knowledge that forms the preserve of contemporary man, and which, evocative analogies aside, comprises the extraordinary body of information commonly known as big data.
This phenomenon was characterized as the product of the ramping up of the technological revolution in recent decades, but at the same time as a driver of momentous – albeit somewhat uncertain – transformations. These, in turn, were seen as no longer just a matter for experts in the area, but as dominating global discourse in their own right. The discussion turned to debate over the possible future ramifications of big data, with the participants attempting to quantify the potential economic value stemming from rational data handling, both by businesses and public authorities, and outlining the more critical issues, particularly with regards to rights protection, starting with the question of privacy safeguards through to the recognition of intellectual property rights.
It was felt that the Italian rendering of the international debate on the subject still has a tendency to miss the point, sometimes focusing more on presumed threats than on the real opportunities and competitive advantages that could arise from strategic deployment of the Big Data Analytics Process by the country’s economic system as a whole. Yet, moving beyond such domestic preconceptions, there is no doubt that once the issue is framed in terms of what it actually consists of – namely, an inexorable process already largely underway, and now representing more of an “evolution” than a “revolution” – the scope of analysis widens to the point of encompassing the very paradigm of growth in the developed world, the delicate interplay between knowledge and representative democracy, and the cornerstones of the capitalist model that has emerged over the last two centuries. Hence, taking its place alongside the traditional factors of production of labor and capital is another which – though still hard to pin down due to the sheer mass of data that defines it – is certainly equally complex in its concrete implications.
The participants suggested that it is when viewed from this more general perspective that the issue ceases to be of relevance only to business models and corporate governance, and enters the realm of full-blown decision-making, thereby helping to overcome the traditional antithesis between citizen and customer by focusing instead on the more recently conceived figure of the “digital citizen/consumer”, who is at once both a subject of analysis and the beneficiary of a stream of data and knowledge that is without question unprecedented in human history. It was argued that, when examined more closely, this evolution marks what is merely an ostensibly paradoxical return to centrality for the “individual”. Notwithstanding the extreme level of abstraction represented by algorithms and the excellence of the processes entrusted to the most sophisticated technologies (even to the point of spilling over into the area of artificial intelligence), it is actually individuals that order and classify data – and to do so they require specialized and cutting-edge expertise. It is individuals who have the unique ability to transform big data into smart data, and, in order to do so, require the right tools to optimize the performance of their company, improve the efficiency of the public authority they represent, or increase the quality of their lifestyle – as the case may be. Lastly, it is again individuals who measure the effectiveness of change through their purchasing decisions, customer service reviews, and political and electoral choices. In order for them to be able to make such judgments, there needs to be the highest level of transparency and knowledge sharing in place.
In conclusion, it was emphasized that what remains unclear is whether those in leadership positions – even beyond Italy – are capable of understanding and steering the scope of this change. This applies both to investment in digital infrastructure able to withstand the onslaught of innovation, and to the governance of unprecedented phenomena, which legislators and administrators often struggle to keep pace with. Forming an obvious backdrop to this is the issue of regulation within the legislative frameworks of individual states, at the supranational level (of the EU), and worldwide. It was suggested that lying at the heart of the matter is not just the question of the protection of individual rights, starting with privacy, but also the complex thread which – through the internet itself – binds together innovation, competitiveness, social responsibility and reputation.