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In the fourth and final event of the series Big data: big power shifts? we turned towards education: data-based education offers individualised learning opportunities to schools and higher education institutions, allowing for more effective learning, fewer drop-outs and wider access to high quality education. But what if highly sensitive educational data falls into the wrong hands? How can student data best be protected and how is the current European legal framework performing?

We have discussed these questions with:

Jessica White, academic consultant at McGraw-Hill Education, who will present specific examples of how (small and big) digital data can be used for individualised learning opportunities. McGraw-Hill Education is a learning science and publishing company that works with schools and higher education institutions across the world, including in Germany.

Yoni Har Carmel, researcher at the Haifa Center for Law and Technology, who will share his views on the opportunities and risks of big data in education and highlight how regulation can shape a proper use of big data in educational contexts. He is author of the research paper ‘Regulating “big data education” in Europe: lessons learned from the US’, which is a part of the Internet Policy Review Special Issue ‘Big data: big power shifts?’ that accompanied this lecture series.

Big data: big power shifts?

The event was part of the series Big data: big power shifts? that the HIIG conducts in cooperation with the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications.

Although big data has been a major issue in the internet-related public debate, it is still unclear what impact big data has on societies today. Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier claim that big data is a "revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think". But whereas revolutions imply a profound shift in power relations, there is little evidence or debate about whether and, if so, how big data affects power relations.

The lecture series will explore this topic with speakers from different backgrounds and be backed by a special issue of the Internet Policy Review.

The event series Big data: big power shifts? is curated by Dr. Lena Ulbricht, WZB Research Fellows