Big Data and Human Connections - Part I

 “I long to hear the story of your life.” — William Shakespeare, The Tempest.   

When you think of “Big Data,” you probably think of technology, data lakes, invasion of privacy, business productivity, or complex algorithms. When I think of “Big Data,” I think of the stories that lie beneath. Data Analytics drives insight into business, government, and society. But underneath that insight, there are stories about people.

In their publication “The Human Face of Big Data,” Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt assembled a collection of narratives that begin to illuminate unique stories on how Big Data impacts individuals and communities.  From the birth of charting public health to fighting crime, from mapping the genome to the advancement of robotics, data and the analysis of that data have measurable impact.  Advancements in Big Data technology have multiplied and accelerated our ability to analyze and predict.

In aggregate, this impact can be measured in trends, sometimes mapping a ripple effect that one significant change in a continuum can make.  But look closer, and there are stories about individuals.  Their struggles and triumphs are the chemistry that binds the data and demonstrates how the path of their lives has a greater effect. If we can tell those stories, we can change the world.

Here is just one of those stories.  It’s 1984. The Apple Macintosh went on sale on January 24.  The Soviet Union boycotted the L.A. Summer Olympics.  Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.  The U.S. national debt had recently passed the unthinkable $1 trillion mark.

Now, try to imagine what India was like in 1984.  If you think things have changed in the U.S. in the last 30 years, consider India’s transformation! For example, in 1984, we could not get reliable landline phone service (OK, maybe that hasn’t changed so much in the last 30 years).  A frustrated Indian cabinet minister couldn’t place a long-distance phone call, so he stormed into the phone company offices brandishing a gun, demanding that the operators place the call.  I can’t remember if his last name was Trump.

In 1984, I was a schoolgirl in Calcutta at an all-girls’ boarding school called Loreto Convent Entally. One of the nuns at the school, Sister Agnes, taught for 20 years until she had a vision to focus on a very specific area of work.  While she left our convent and began her  “Sisters of Charity” work, she started with the slum right outside of Loreto Convent by the railroad tracks and expanded outward, the beginning of a ripple effect.  Despite leaving, Sister Agnes visited regularly to tell us stories of her travels. While she would tell these stories simply, without embellishment, we imagined her flying through the air, back-lit with sunbeams, with a choir singing! Life could be mysterious, but always made sense in the end.

On October 31, 1984, life in India changed dramatically.

Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, was assassinated.  Riots broke out across India.  The reported death toll in these riots was in the thousands.  It was particularly bad in Calcutta.  My school was in lock-down for many days.  The teachers couldn’t get in and we couldn’t get out, so we had no idea what was happening to the city or our families. We were trapped. While we were used to being away and feeling confined (it was boarding school, after all), this danger was unprecedented. 

Then 75-year-old Sister Agnes crossed the chaotic city and snuck into school. All 1,200 girls gathered on the floor of the concert hall, and Sister took her normal spot at the front sitting on a chair.  We asked her what we should do.  She spoke softly and slowly. She didn’t need to shout or use a microphone.  Every ear strained to hear what she had to say. She told stories about what was happening in the world around us, sharing things that we hadn’t been able to see.

Her final message was simple — “We as humans have the power to love or hate. Use your power. Go outside the school into the slums and make a friend or two for life — the love will pass on.” 

We did, and the ripple effect multiplied.

Sister Agnes had the information.  She shared the hidden stories with us. She told us what to do about it.  She inspired us to act. And I believe we made a difference, however small.

That is the power of Big Data — not just computing things faster but finding and telling stories that lie beneath just hard data. And even more, the power is in turning those stories into action, so we can make things better.

Oh, by the way, most of you probably know of “Sister Agnes” by her more recognized name of “Mother Teresa.” And I’m sure I’m just one of the millions — one data point in a larger tapestry — whose lives were changed by her stories.