Language: English (mozilla)
Data has been described as the new oil. In fact. It’s more like the new oil spill. The overwhelming percentage of data is unusable, or “dark data”. These information assets are collected, stored, and processed for regular business activities. But at great expense, and often at greater risk than value. Every year the amount of data increases exponentially and is typically measured in zettabytes. To put this into perspective, a zettabyte is a unit of information equal to one sextillion bytes, or a billion terrabtyles. That’s a whole lotta bytes. Possibly a more concrete way of putting this would be to think of Netflix. If you can imagine all the the movies, documentaries, and tv shows on that platform, - then multiply it by a thousand - you wouldn’t even begin to approach the annual onslaught of data we’re facing. Now couple that by considering the amount of energy it takes to store this information tsunami on central servers. The numbers here are equally startling. And what do you get from this steaming heap? Remember, the majority of this is dark data: Useless information stored at great expense with energy that could be saved or put to more sustainable use. At polypoly [cf. https://polypoly.coop/] we believe we've come up with a solution: Storing and processing our personal data where it originates, on our end devices. This talk will detail how polypoly is developing its Edge technology and data cooperatives with a wise eye to sustainability.
Broadly, we would like to connect with community members who take an active interest in sustainability and climate change. More specificially we would like to present our work to a general audience detailing the benefits of Edge computing from a sustainability perspective; and, discuss how organizing as a data cooperative provides value for individuals, and can also benefit the larger community. Even though the technology that polypoly is developing can be challenging for everyday people to understand, they don’t need to understand how it works. Folks only need to understand what value it has for them. That would be the best outcome. To explain to the so-called average user in plain speech how a complex technology can produce simple benefits that produce a low carbon footprint, protects privacy, and is secure.
Why did you choose that space? How does your session align with the space description?:The Sustainability & Climate Change track is a perfect venue to talk about Edge computing. The academic and scientific literature detailing benefits like low carbon footprinting is beyond question. And yet it’s surprising that even people who work in tech need to be reminded of this. But the point is, one needn’t be a computer scientist to appreciate this fact. It should be common knowledge, which is why we’ve chosen a non-technical track with a specific interest in sustainability to present our work. Added to which, we also feel that this venue will be a great place to talk about data cooperatives. The challenge of climate change requires action, some of which can be done by collectives.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session? What if 30 participants attend? What if there are 3?:polypoly regularly presents at online conferences, and hosts its own Zoom sessions on various topics. More recently we’ve participated in the occaisional live event. Regardless of the forum we put the same attention to detail and hope that we’ll make an impact and bring something new to the conversation. But you never know who and how many until the actual event. Sometimes the audiences are large and other times it’s only a few people. We simply adjust on-the-fly and roll with whatever comes up. We’re happy either way.
What happens after MozFest? We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after MozFest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:We would love to keep the conversation going, and depending on audience interest there are a number of ways to engage. At the very least there are a number of polypoly social media channels, and a newsletter for folks to discover more of our work. We also present regular Zoom sessions on a range of topics including technology, cooperative development, and society. The door to polypoly Cooperative is always open to new members, the only requirements being that they’re citizen’s of the EU and 18+. Here there are lots of opportunities for participation; in fact we’re having our first General Assembly for the cooperative in 2022. For people outside of the EU who are interested in developing data cooperatives polypoly Foundation [cf. https://polypoly.org/] is there to help.
What language would you like to host your session in?:English