Data Security & Roe v Wade, Dehumanising the Gig Economy and Getting Girls into STEM with Chief People Officer at The Social Element, Wendy Christie - Episode 24

In the wake of the monumental news around Roe v Wade, can we be certain of our data security?

Many of us find digital spaces to be a haven of anonymity for any health concerns, WebMD knows more about us than our doctors in most cases - can we expect our personal data to be safe from prying eyes, particularly those of governments?

We’re joined by The Social Element’s Wendy Christie this week, as we chime in on the dehumanisation of gig workers, the ‘gig enterprise’, Brownies attempting to encourage more girls into STEM, and much more!

This episode of Disconnected covers:

Roe v Wade, abortion rights state-by-state, and how that affects the privacy of search history and personal data
The gradual dehumanisation of gig work, and growth of the gig economy
How blockchain could play a role in ‘Gig Enterprises’
Brownies, Guides, and their introduction of coding into the life skills they teach
Routes into social media careers, and the ideal traits to enter the social space

Episode Highlights:

“It's very rare that somebody decides when they're young that they want to go into marketing. So we're just really interested in the squiggly paths that people take to get to the height of their career, as it were.” - 2:10 - Wendy Christie

“What's worrying many is the effect that this change will have on digital privacy, as our phones, apps and digital services have a trove of data about us. These services are often the first to know about your issues before human beings, but access to that data may not be necessarily protected by law.” - 4:45 - Jason Kapadia

“I think it adds an extra layer of stress, upset and uncertainty in an already very stressful circumstance. At a macro level, decisions are being made without individual personal feelings being recognised.” - 9:20 - Charis Marr

“I'm reminded of a situation that Twitter went through in India not that long ago, where the Indian government was demanding certain access to data, and Twitter buckled, then Facebook buckled. So if they're already handing over 80 to 85% of requests, and if they want to operate in 30 of the 50 states of the US, then they probably will need to hand over data on request.” - 12:45 - Jag Sharma

“So with the exposure of algorithm management and no access to co-workers and few legal protections, this group has really turned to social platforms to create their own online communities for support and management, in the absence of getting that from the organisations that they're working for.” - 16:15 - Charis Marr

“You can pull a team together super quickly, and you can probably deliver some really great work. So from the perspective of the overarching idea of how it works, it's really interesting for me. I don't necessarily get why blockchain has to be involved in that, I feel like it'll probably be done somehow anyway. But that is just my naivety on how blockchain works.” - 30:00 - Jen Campbell

“They've got this new thing called Happy Appy, where they're teaching them more about apps and how to navigate apps. Then when you get into the guides at nine, they're looking at chatbots and AI, and they're making it a bit more cool for girls to be involved. I just think it's brilliant.” - 39:05 - Jen Campbell

“If you go back 20-30 years, it's a breeze to code today compared to back then. There are tools like GPT-3, where you can just write some plain English and it will generate code for you.” - 43:40 - Jason Kapadia

Links & references:

Jason Kapadia:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkapadia/

https://www.instagram.com/jasonkapadia/

Jen Campbell:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-m-campbell/

Jag Sharma:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jagsharma

https://www.instagram.com/jagsharma/

Wendy Christie:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendychristie/?originalSubdomain=uk

Charis Marr: