For Your Information Wiki

Introduction

We live in an information age.  Libraries, radio and television have been supplemented by the Internet, email and mobile technologies.  And through loyalty cards, biometric passports, blogs, Google 'AdSense' and credit records, fragments and compilations of information by and about us spread more easily than ever.  The promise on the one hand seems great - more efficient and smarter government, collaboratively produced knowledge, better customer service.  But we have also quickly generated a state of collective angst about what new levels of openness, and an environment so rich in information, mean for the protection of personal information - for where it is stored, who sees it, and what it is used for.  

That angst manifests itself in an ambivalent attitude to personal information.  We are sceptical of public institutions, readily decrying the Big Brother state.  But we are less tangibly concerned with either the huge amount of information we pass on about ourselves to the private sector, or the significant digital footprint we leave in the online world.

What is clear is that whilst the problems of information sharing are not entirely new, their significance has grown, and will continue to do so.  New players, in particular the private and voluntary sector, don't just deliver public services on behalf of the state but also provide individual, tailored, services.  As these roles merge, the consequence is unprecedented amounts of personal data passingamongst individuals; between individuals and organisations; between state and individual; between state and the private sector; and between individuals and the private sector. 

As the digitisation and aggregation of information becomes easier, more common and more central to how both the public and private sector work, it is crucial that people recognise the implications of using and sharing their personal information.  It is difficult to connect the micro-facts that constitute our personal data to a broader understanding of our identity.  But this form of information literacy will grow in significance; as the power information brings grows - politically, economically and socially - so it will be central to a democratic culture to empower people with an understanding of the depth of the role information plays.

The key questions

In this project we will be telling an accessible story about how information is shared and used, for what ends, and what the implications are for the control and power we have over our lives.   Just as important, we need to understand how and why people value information personal to them, and how it is that the practices of sharing and using that information changes how people experience the world around them.

We are looking to bridge the gap in the debate about information sharing - between legal and academic rights on the one hand, and the public understanding of what the sharing of information means on the other.  How personal information is used to shape our opportunities and experiences remains largely unknown to the wider public.  We will be exploring how to connect the information we do or don't give away, who people think we are, and the implications for our everyday lives.

Part of this is understanding how the relationships and boundaries between individual, state and private sector have changhed. Doing so will help us not only to resolve concerns around data protection and shifting patterns of information flow, but promises to maximise our ability to capitalise on the democratic potential of openness.