The transition from analog to digital sources of information opened up a new world of possibilities for Canadians and Canadian entities and connected us to a global market for commerce and ideas. I believe that transformation is changing lives for the better and will continue to create prosperity for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as Dr. Wendy Wong and I discussed in the latest conversation for Everyday Trust<\/em>, living a digital life also entails leaving behind a trail of data. And if people don\u2019t trust what\u2019s being done with it, that skepticism can harden into backlash and eventually disengagement from digital platforms. That presents a risk for our economic progress. As questions about foreign control of data infrastructure move from abstract policy debates into everyday Canadian conversation, the stakes of getting \u201cdatafication\u201d right have never felt more immediate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The datafication of our daily existence is a terrific subject for Everyday Trust<\/em><\/a>, a series of conversations I hold with leading thinkers about the role of trust in a rapidly changing technology landscape. (Because without trust, people won\u2019t adopt and use the emerging technologies that can deliver digital prosperity<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wendy is a professor of political science and the Principal\u2019s Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She holds a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on global governance, emerging technologies and how data shapes autonomy, equality and justice \u2014 as you can read about in her Balsillie Prize-winning book, We, the Data: Human Rights in a Digital Age<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are the big takeaways from our talk about the datafication of daily life. (And as always, you can also watch our full conversation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Everyday life has become \u2018datafied\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n