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Shwetak Patel Featured in New Big Data Documentary
A new documentary titled “The Human Face of Big Data” highlights research being conducted in the UbiComp Lab, directed by Electrical Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering Professor Shwetak Patel. The documentary specifically features two UbiComp Lab projects, HydroSense and ElectriSense, which collect data to monitor water consumption and appliance usage.
The film, which won a “Best Cinematography” award at the Boston Film Festival, explores how collecting and analyzing large amounts of data is becoming more commonplace, with the proliferation of information-sensing mobile devices, cameras and other data gathering systems. The filmmakers explore topics such as who owns certain data, who can profit from it, and what the overall impact is.
The film will be broadcast by PBS nationwide on Wednesday, February 24. The day after the PBS broadcast the film will be available online anytime via CuriosityStream.
According to the documentary Web site:
“The Human Face of Big Data captures, in glorious photographs and moving essays, an extraordinary revolution sweeping, almost invisibly, through business, academia, government, healthcare, and everyday life. It’s already enabling us to provide a healthier life for our children. To provide our seniors with independence while keeping them safe. To help us conserve precious resources like water and energy. To alert us to tiny changes in our health, weeks or years before we develop a life-threatening illness. To peer into our own individual genetic makeup. To create new forms of life. And soon, as many predict, to re-engineer our own species. And we’ve barely scratched the surface…”
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