Data is the new oil - and 'publicy' is the new default by Gerd Leonhard

Feb. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- When observing the explosive growth of the mobile Internet, the ubiquitous availability of ever more powerful digital devices as well as the global boom in social networking, it becomes patently clear that there is a common economic force behind these trends, and that force is data.

In this hyper-networked society, everyone seems to want to know what we think, all the time, what we like, where we are and who we are connected to. Data (and metadata, i.e. data about data) is quickly becoming a primary force in our digital society, and since successful advertising is forever based on having good data on who is on the other end, the consumer is becoming more powerful than ever before – if he/she opts out of providing data it’s game-over. Never before did consumers wield this much power over marketers; never before could we trade our data for free goods and services in this way (eg Gmail, Skype, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook).  The quest for data has made us powerful but it has made us dependent on its benefits as well. The Faustian bargain is in full swing.

Some pundits even argue that the only reason advertising in its ‘traditional’ form (a global business worth approx. $550 billion per year) ever existed was simply because we were not yet truly connected, and had no real way to ignore it. Interruption was the game, and the loudest yelling was the best way to sell. Now, with digital technologies in the hand of billions of consumers, we are indeed ignoring what we have no use for, and from our media we expect a lot more than meaningless noise and interruptions. If we provide our cherished data we will expect perfect matches, i.e. a sprinkler system of truly good stuff not a fire-hose of noise.

The Wall Street Journal calls Gerd Leonhard ‘one of the leading Media Futurists in the World’. He is the co-author of the influential book The Future of Music as well as the author of The End of Control.

LawTech Futures 2012 – The Future of Legal Technology

Gerd Leonhard has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at the UK’s largest one day legal IT event, ‘LawTech Futures 2012’ taking place at the Victoria Park Plaza, London on the 15th March 2012.

With 2 Keynotes Presentations, 6 Chairpersons and over 45 Expert Speakers on three stages, LawTech Futures 2012 will bring together some of the most highly respected professionals from both the legal and commercial technology worlds to examine and explore the new range of systems, processes and platforms that will drive law firms and legal businesses into the next decade and beyond.

LawTech Futures 2012 is produced by Charles Christian, the world’s most widely-read legal IT commentator in association with Netlaw Media, the leading legal events and media organisation behind a record number of successive ‘sold out’ major law events including the Key Strategies for Law Firms and Strategic Leadership Forum series of events.

# # #

Netlaw Media delivers internationally acclaimed events, conferences, training programmes, executive search and online content to the global legal sector.