SYMPOSIUM ON THE DIGITAL PERSON

The use and manipulation of personal data is of enormous global concern, and calls for a robust, cross-disciplinary discussion on the “state of the digital person”.

First launched in 2017, the Symposium on the Digital Person is an annual event that discusses personal data from three perspectives: 

1. Digital personhood, law, freedom and democracy 

2. Personal data as an asset and the economic/business models 

3.  Private analytics, data science and technology

This Symposium is designed with broad-ranging appeal to interest those in the sciences, humanities and social sciences with discussions relating to law, computer science, history, sociology, entrepreneurship, business, economics and the global society. The one-day event also features presentations and case studies on how the state of the digital person is being improved globally. Previous participants have included industry captains, policymakers, government representatives as well as thought leaders from the sciences, humanities and social sciences domains.

The Symposium on the Digital Person is chaired by three eminent professors in the field: Professors John Naughton, Jon Crowcroft and Irene Ng. This unique cross-disciplinary symposium is organised jointly by the HAT Community Foundation and Dataswift, with the support of Wolfson College Cambridge and the University of Warwick.

PAST SYMPOSIUMS

The 4th Annual Symposium on the Digital Person (2020)

Sept 3, 2020

Theme: Digital Identity in a Post Pandemic World 

Watch the recorded sessions on: 

Digital Identity in the Humanities

Digital Identity in Economic Markets

Digital Identity in Technology 

The Digital Person Symposium - The State of The HAT Ecosystem

The Digital Person: A Symposium (2019)

Fri, May 3, 2019 (15:00 – 22:00 BST)

Wolfson College Cambridge, Barton Road, Cambridge CB3 9BB, UK

SEGMENT 1: Technology and Science

Disinformation and Business Models

Presentation by Professor Jon Crowcroft, Marconi Professor of Communications Systems, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Associate Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy, Fellow of the Royal Society and Turing Fellow

Take Back Control-Rethinking Narratives of Control over Personal Data

Presentation by Professor Max van Kleek, Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Oxford's Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford

SEGMENT 2: Rights and Freedom

Ethics-Theatre in Machine Learning

Presentation by Professor John Naughton, Senior Research Fellow at CRASSH (Cambridge), Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the Open University, Director of the Press Fellowship Programme at Wolfson College and the technology columnist of The Observer.

SEGMENT 3: Value and Markets

The 3D Business Model: Monetising Data

Presentation by Dr Graham Hill, Interim Programme Director for Data Enablement at O2 (Telefónica UK). Management consultant with 25 years experience directing business transformation projects.

Stop Being Creepy: Getting Personalisation and Recommendation Right

Presentation by Professor Irene Ng, Chief Executive of HAT Data Exchange Ltd, Professor and Director of HATLAB at WMG, University of Warwick. Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge and Turing Fellow.

THE DIGITAL PERSON: A SYMPOSIUM (2018)

May 31, 2018 (09:30 – 17:30 BST)

Wolfson College Cambridge, Barton Road, Cambridge CB3 9BB, UK

Full Programme

Welcome speech by Professor Irene Ng

White Paper from the 2nd Wolfson-HAT Symposium on the Digital Person

Background

‘Personal data’ is the usual European term, but in the US it is often known as ‘personal information’ or ‘personally identifiable information’ (p.7, Van Kleek and O’Hara,). Personal data/information is defined as ‘any information/data relating to an identified or identifiable natural person’ Bonneau and Preibusch (2010). This isn’t just email, addresses or credit card information but photographs, social media posts, documents – almost everything on the Internet that could be linked to an individual. ICO has an entire document dedicated to what is personal data for the purpose of the data protection act 1988 and its successor, the General Data Protection Regulation that firms would need to comply by May 2018.

Personal data is currently one of the most talked about subjects in both academia and practice when discussing the digital economy and the Internet. Most conversations surround privacy and security. However, there are many facets of personal data that need more robust discussion, many of which interact with one another. The Digital Person: A Symposium serves to raise awareness on this topic and discuss issues relating to the research, practice and use of digital persons in the Internet Economy.

Segment 1: Personal data:  Data Analytics, Data Science and Technology

This segment, chaired by Professor Jon Crowcroft, FRS , explored data analytics, data science and technology. Key points discussed included:

• Privacy issues were largely caused by centralisation of personal data

• Decentralised technologies now exist to emerge a better model for data sharing

• Centralisation of data that resulted in “big data” creates issues of privacy, fairness and transparency, and usage of data will entail trade-offs between them.

Segment 2 : Personal data: Value, Economics and Markets

This segment, chaired by Professor Irene Ng, explored value, economics and markets. Key points discussed included: 

• Personal data “signals” face market failure and society needs better data sharing models

• Decentralisation create new models for data sharing

• Identity is an “assemblage” of digital and socio-material that creates value for person or firms

• Privacy is a function of value

Segment 3: Personal data: digital personhood, freedom and democracy

This segment, chaired by Professor John Naughton, FRSA , explored digital personhood, freedom and democracy. Key points discussed included: 

• Identity needs to be reimagined as our digital and physical worlds become more entangled

• Surveillance capitalism is now the dominant form of capitalism

• Self-sovereign identity will soon be a reality

Inaugural Wolfson-HAT Annual Symposium Series on the Digital Person (2017)

March 15-April 5, 2017

Wolfson College Cambridge, Barton Road, Cambridge CB3 9BB, UK

Background

‘Personal data’ is the usual European term, but in the US it is often known as ‘personal information’ or ‘personally identifiable information’ (p.7, Van Kleek and O’Hara,). Personal data/information is defined as ‘any information/data relating to an identified or identifiable natural person’ Bonneau and Preibusch (2010). This isn’t just email, addresses or credit card information but photographs, social media posts, documents – almost everything on the Internet that could be linked to an individual. ICO has an entire document dedicated to what is personal data for the purpose of the data protection act 1988 and its successor, the General Data Protection Regulation that firms would need to comply by May 2018.

Personal data is currently one of the most talked about subjects in both academia and practice when discussing the digital economy and the Internet. Most conversations surround privacy and security. However, there are many facets of personal data that need more robust discussion, many of which interact with privacy and security. The Wolfson-HAT Annual Symposium on the Digital Person serves to raise awareness on this topic and discuss issues relating to personal data in the Internet Economy. The symposium spanned 4 weeks with each week dedicated to a specific topic relating to the digital person.

The events were held in the Roger Needham Room, Chancellor’s Centre at Wolfson College on the following dates:

Week 1: Personal Data: Digital Personhood, 15 March 2017

Covering topics such as the expression of digital identity, curating personal, digital narratives and memories, proxies of digital self, digital and physical world connections, online identities and understanding how individuals and society could benefit from the value of digital selves. This session was chaired by Professor Wendy Moncur.

Week 2: Personal data: Industry and Markets, 22 March 2017

Covering areas such as personal data as a commodity that fuels $31b of the advertising economy, exchange mechanisms, transactions, industry practices, monetization, dataification, digitization. This session was chaired by Professor Irene Ng.

Week 3: Personal Data: Freedom and Rights, 29 March 2017

Covering areas such as privacy, security, access rights, regulation, transaction costs and ownership, property rights. This session was chaired by Professor John Naughton.

 Week 4: Personal data: Innovation and Analytics, 5 April 2017, 430pm (including a final wrap-up session)

Covering areas such as personal data creation, schemas, analytics, transformation, algorithms and technical issues of storing, moving, using and display, human factors and interaction. This session was chaired by Professor Jon Crowcroft.

Photo Gallery of the Wolfson-HAT Annual Symposium on the Digital Person 2017