A recent article on Forbes by Tom Morton equates Big Data and its potential to be the long-promised jet-pack for business. We’ve all heard the stories of the millions made through process optimization, or real time programmatic advertising, even automated selection of cast and plot for TV shows like House of Cards, or rock bands planning tours based on where the data says their fans are. But jetpacks were supposed to be for everybody. We all walk out the front door and jet to work, or take off in your car from the highway and fly to a party (that one might actually be on its way). So while Big Data is making businesses and marketing more effective, what has it done for the little guy? What has it done for us lately? Where’s our jetpack?
In some areas, people have been positively affected by big data directly. Advances happening in health care are far better than a jetpack, even if they are not immediately perceived as such. Companies like 23andMe are creating a space of preventative medicine like we’ve never seen before. Also triage and symptom diagnostics are about to radically change. We will no longer have to rely on the experience of a single doctor, and gone will be the horror stories of having mis-diagnosis after mis-diagnosis for Epstein Barr. However, some critics would argue that the individual is not equipped to handle that information, and will inevitably make poor decisions with regards to their health. You can’t handle the jetpack! The jury is still out on that one.
At TwoSense, we would like to see more Big Data focused towards the user. Why shouldn’t the data revolution make your life run better? Help you decide which job you should take? Or what you should have for dinner? The first step towards this is to have the individual be able to bring their own data into the game, and be able to use it for the purposes they choose. The current paradigm of a private data silo for each app or company will just not do for jetpacks. We’ll be launching an app soon to help users re-acquire their own data and put it to work for themselves. If you’re interested stay tuned, or sign up for our mailing list!
