9 October 2014
10am – 4.30pm
Free, booking required here
Big Data 1.0 + 2.0 will explore the political and cultural issues brought about by the huge amount of easily accessible information that is constantly generated through our online activities.
Speakers, including annual computer hackers’ convention Def Con. speaker and “father figure for online culture”, Richard Thieme, who is joining us via satellite, will discuss issues regarding privacy, security, sustainability, the commercialisation of information and democracy.
This daylong event, hosted by FACT in collaboration with IFG (Intelligence Futures Group) at CASI, Liverpool Hope University, will consider data used both by commercial corporations and governments for power and control as well as in cancer research and for fitness tracking. Participants will, through presentations and group discussions, explore the challenges that will define our digital future, and debate how we are to handle Big Data over the coming years.
The speakers accompanying Richard Thieme are all from different sectors and united by their interest in the possibilities and dangers brought about by Big Data. Artist and designer Keiichi Matsuda is making a Kickstarter funded new film series, Hyper-Reality: A New Vision of the Future, exploring a future city saturated with technology and media. Philosopher Dr Paul J. Ennis is currently researching trends in contemporary online culture, including whistleblowing and hacktivism, and criminologist Dr Ian Stanier, who has extensive experience in policing with intelligence in an operational context, has a particular interest in information sharing pathologies and the origins of intelligence failures. Also participating is Conal Devitt, director at the virtual marketplace TGL, where users are rewarded with online currency for actively engaging with community-based organisations.