A new award aims to shift culture

We live in a world full of data that is constantly being gathered, processed and so on. Even though it is so, there's still a gap between that and the accessibility to data; sadly even when the data is held by public institutions. I present here a tiny mental experiment that tries not to persuade but to demonstrate from two opposite perspectives the importance of sharing data.

As the 6 a.m. alarm sounds, I peel my eyes open, reach for my iPhone and spend a few minutes checking Twitter before mustering the energy to get out of bed. “Hey Siri, what’s the weather like today?” I ask as I rifle through my wardrobe searching for something to wear. I dress quickly and eat breakfast with Alexa playing my favourite Spotify playlist in the background. On my train commute to work I respond to a few emails on my tablet, connect with a colleague on LinkedIn and begin to scroll through my Facebook newsfeed. A friend’s status reminds me that it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow and as usual I’m late buying a gift for my partner. As I browse the web for inspiration an ad pops up in the bottom right corner of the screen for the latest games console and VR headset. Once again, I’m rescued by Google’s search engine and Amazon’s next day delivery.

This article was my winning entry to the Better Science Through Better Data - Early Career Researcher writing competition 2018.