Research project Data and the digitalisation of society are expected to change our times in a similar way as oil did in the 19th century. It will lead to new innovations and services, climate improvements and more equal societies. This change relies on access to data based on the lives of individuals. On the one hand, this data will be made available, shared, coordinated by different actors to develop new services and optimise resources. On the other hand, people express concerns about their privacy.
DINO will study the tension that arises between individual privacy and the digitalisation process. Previous research shows that many people refrain from sharing, or try in various ways to protect, their data. Even most of those who choose to share information about themselves report that it is important to them that what they do online is private. It is therefore far from self-evident to those whose data enables the digital transformation of society that data should be shared and made available in the way that is required.
Data, and the digital transformation of society, is expected to change our times in a similar way as oil did in the 19th century. It will lead to new innovations and services, sustainable business models, climate improvements and safer, more equal societies. This change relies on access to data based on the lives of individuals, for example through welfare and health data, societal infrastructure, financial transactions and social media.
On the one hand, this data should be made available, shared, coordinated and processed by different actors in areas such as business, security and welfare to develop new services and optimise resources. On the other hand, people show concerns about their own privacy, both in relation to data collection about them in general and in relation to their online activities.
This conflict is at the heart of DINO, where we intend to study the tension between individual privacy and the digitalisation process driven by actors such as the UN (2019), the EU (2019) and the Swedish government (2020).
Previous research, including research conducted by this research team under the MAW-funded iAccept project (2018-2021), shows that many people refrain from sharing, or try to protect, their data in various ways. Even most of those who choose to share information about themselves to a large extent, e.g. by using different digital services such as social media or e-commerce, report that it is important to them that what they do online is private (this fact has previously been observed and described as a "privacy paradox" (e.g. Norberg et al. 2007)).
The fact that data should be shared and made available in such a way that is required for a digital transformation of society is thus far from self-evident for many of those whose data enables such societal development. This is the tension that DINO intends to study.
What motivations do different people have for participating in, or trying to refrain from being part of, a data-driven future? More precisely, we ask the following research questions:
