My Digital FootPrint

Who is the “we”, this piece is co-authored by Kaliya Young and me, who together have worked for over 45 years on identity and personal data. For this article, we are looking at the role of values, principles and rules within the industry and sectors seeking to re-define, re-imagine and create ways for people to manage the digital representations of themselves with dignity. As we write this there is an ongoing conversation about the regulation of Facebook and the regulation of big tech in general. We see a problem with the frame of the conversation because we believe ON PRINCIPLE they shouldn’t exist as in no-one entity should have that much power and control over the global population’s identities, “their” data and the conversion we have. So any frame that accepts BIG TECH as acceptable won’t create rules that actually move towards the principle of ending the current hegemony but rather just seek to regulate it as is. W ith this piece, we are seeking to look at how principles change

Have you ever sat there listening to the fire alarm ringing out saying to yourself that is it just a test, a practice run or it must be faulty? Have you been sitting down watching TV and the home smoke alarm goes off and you assume that someone has burned the toast (again) Why is our first instant to ignore (based on experience) and not gather more information? Why is our confidence so high that we know that we are right?  Why, given your life may be a stake, does apathy overrun our response? Wider, why can we not see a new threat, why do we ignore the signs? The second round of COVID19 Why when we know there is at least equal danger to previous time, do we want to assume it is now all OK? Going back or ignoring the protection Why do we prefer to search for evidence of the V-bounce back and ignore the L recession as doom-mongering?  Why, probably because we are choosing how we want things to appear based on our own inner-thinkings and that is driven by bias.  We know we are biased an

Exploring why are we so tired using the framework of the unknown:unknown Summary  COVID19 is not a Black Swan event and it was predicted as far back as 2015 if not earlier. This article ponders why we are so mentally exhausted and how we should react next. It argues that we need leadership and structure at this time to ensure that this crisis does not become destructive to ourselves individually or collectively as a society. As leaders we need to hear, listen and accept a wider range of views, as we all search for a new “normal life”. As individuals, we need to take care of ourselves and keep a check on our level of exhaustion, which in this case is processing, learning and thinking exhaustion. It is mental and emotional exhaustion and not a physiological one. There is nothing we can do to process and make sense quicker, it will take time and we have to accept it and find the learnings and value in it. Sensemaking of our response to the fear of systemic risk and what i

Revisiting unknown : unknown How are we responding to the fear of systemic risk and what is next? The matrix of known:unknown has been around since 1955 and is a super tool which helps map our understanding of risk for scenario planning and game theories. It has been updated numerous times and remains a current and useful tool. Whilst it definitely can help us think about “data” and where to focus and allocate limited resources, does it help with our response to COVID19? Applying the framework to our personal and collective responses, may help us understand where we are up to, in terms of our own understanding to COV19. The axes are, “it is known:unknown to ME” and “it is known:unknown to YOU.” Starting from the bottom left, a deep fear of the unknown. Sometime in Dec 2019 the majority of the world started to become aware of a new virus. For you and me this was firmly in the quadrant of unknown:unknown. Neither of us had any data on the virus, its effects on humans, the ramifi

Should our policies and processes be reviewed/ challenged or should we depend on them more than ever? This short article walks through a framework to support complex investment decisions, especially during turbulent times. It is possible to make excellent returns (on investment) in all quadrants, don’t be fooled into thinking that one quadrant is the best (or better). Each quadrant has unique characteristics; the flow is to go through each one in turn, starting top right. However, before that it is worth examining the axes. The horizontal axis (X) is “how a decision is made” The extremes of the X-axis extends are Thought(ful) and Pain(ful). A thought(ful) decision means a) you are making an investment decision based on your experience and gut instinct, there is deep analysis and the key is that you have time to consider the options and consequences. b) The purchase decision (demand) for products and service at this extreme is slow and considered. You have time and th

Have been doing some work and thinking about automated decision making; specifically looking at a credit algorithm. Below are the questions I set the owner of the algorithm to help in the assessment. I am publishing them here in the hope they are helpful. 1. Where did the algorithm come from? What is it providence ? does it have a serial or product number? Which company supplied it ? (inc internal) Who maintains it ? How long has it been in the company? Is there any IP owned by other or the company? 2. Who wrote the algorithm ? ( company, team, individuals) What it a generic algorithm/ bespoke build? What was the acceptance procedure? What else did they write do for the company or others? 3. What data/ processes/ procedures were used to build it  Is it stand alone? What process it is part of ? Are you using the same processes now?  Did it replace a procedure? Where did the data come from to set the boundaries/ maths ?  4. What