Dialogue Shiji: A dignified public life requires "big data"

"Big Data" author Shiji accepted http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/79250.html "> newspaper reporter interview." Beijing News reporter Sun Chunxia

"Large data", through the history of more than half a century of information openness and technological innovation in the United States, explains in detail the changes in data technology, and the relationship between power legality, ruling justice and civil society.

A few years ago, Mr. Xu Xian, who coached American colleges and universities, had an ideological version of "a public society with dignity" that would Shiji the book as the technical version of "A public society with dignity".

In our interview, Shiji repeatedly, it is Xu Xian in the "Public Society to dignity," the key words: justice, social good, individual value, civic responsibility.

Weak data consciousness is part of the national nature

"Beijing News": Your book, written by the United States, but the reality behind the writing is very rich, to take care of the current China, can be a glimpse of a sense of hardship, could you talk about your personal this sense of anxiety is how to produce?

Shiji: As a Chinese, no matter where, there will always be in the heart of China's concern, especially when they are in other countries, in another cultural atmosphere of working life, always can not help but look to their motherland, not consciously measure the comparison. To put China's cultural ecology, social ecology in the global pedigree, we can easily see the problem, these problems, many are related to values, as a Chinese, you will feel very anxious.

Wandering between the two cultures, often can feel the contrast and impact of the two cultures, experience to a wide range, large and small gap, the sense of hardship is produced. Pittsburg in the United States, I often talk with the historian Mr. Hsu about the fate and future of Chinese culture, there is always an indelible sadness, love, the responsibility of the cut, is the root cause of this anxiety!

The Beijing News: What do you mean by anxiety, or even self-confidence, in your area of concern?

Shiji: In my book, I quote Hu Shih's criticism of "almost" Mr. also mentions Renyu to "the number word management" the search, the Chinese data consciousness weak, the long-standing, I even thought that this is "the national character" part, ignores the accurate, lacks uses the data to speak the accomplishment, in the national management, There is also a lack of accurate data management, sometimes even deliberate avoidance of data.

While working in the country, I have worked in the government statistics, it is a need to be careful of things, to foreign countries, the transparency and openness, let me be shocked, I never thought, the original social affairs can be so clear way, put in the public space, let everyone free discussion.

Data carrying facts, carrying the public opinion, in the civil expression, supervision, the formulation of government policy, implementation, as well as the enterprise's profit innovation, in the whole public dialogue (including persuasion of this factor), has played a great function, but also clear and powerful. Believing in data and using data to speak is a manifestation of the spirit of reason.

In contrast, China is not so, we are used to the semi transparent, habit and the fact that there is a gap between the fictitious data, accustomed to ostensibly endorse a set of data, and actually rely on another set of data. Looking back on our history, the things that serve ideology through fictitious data do not occur very rarely.

I think a modern country, data awareness is very important, it contains the precise and open, transparent and share these factors. Especially in the current large data such a tech tide background, the data has become the most important resource of the society, become the forefront of competition in various countries, the carrier of innovation, I think, the problem of large data, urgent need to arouse the attention of the Chinese government, enterprises and the whole society.

The real information society, the first is civil society

The Beijing News: you just mentioned the concepts of public space, civic expression and public dialogue, meaning that it is very respectful of the positive impact of data on public life.

Shiji: Yes. Allow me to reiterate the signature of my book: A True information society, first of all a civil society. The tide of science and technology has pushed us into the information age, but it does not mean that we have stepped into the informational society.

I would like to stress that civil society means that everyone is responsible for the society in which they live, and that he needs to put his ideas into it and consciously build and promote positive social change. In this process, the exchange and sharing of information is very important.

It should be noted that civil society is not a national system design, but the formation of each citizen's own growth. A sense of responsibility for society is the foundation of civil society. The responsible citizen and the responsible government are each other, and the former's impetus to the latter cannot be neglected. It is the duty of every citizen to prevent our government from being wrong.

From the Government's point of view, no government in the world is willing to put its own use of power, completely transparent to the people. This requires citizens to strive for. For more than half a century, the United States government has been moving forward in terms of transparency of government, which is the result of the American people's own efforts, they demand transparency in the operation of power, the right to know and supervise, and the government has to conform to public opinion under such pressure, because in the final analysis, public

The Beijing News: what does it have to do with civil society, specifically to the subject of your book, "Big Data"?

Shiji: Information opening and data opening means the openness and flow of knowledge, even the openness and flow of power. People who have studied the history of the world know that totalitarian states are concentrated at the level of power, and at the same time, the control of information is extremely strict and basically does not flow, the people in it will feel that the development of this society is not related to their own, it is not responsible for it.

But the modern country, the basic characteristic is the open and the democracy, the power is more dispersed, the individual value is increasingly prominent. At the national level, we need to collect data from all levels of society, analyze and use it to make sure that the decision made by ourselves is correct and effective, from the individual citizen, he should carry out his right to know, supervise and be responsible for public life. In this way, it is potentially required that the government, after collecting analysis data, need to make the data public so that citizens can see and use it.

Data, on the path to happiness and dignity

The "Beijing News": Discovering that your words are implicit: transparency, openness, and sharing of these keywords, how do you see the relationship between these values and the technical challenges of the big data age?

Shiji: Technical challenges, of course, there are more and more information, of course, the collection, analysis, storage of these aspects of the work will certainly challenge. However, I have always been an optimist and I don't think these technical challenges are difficult to deal with. On the contrary, the transparency, openness, sharing, and values that you mention are challenges to citizens, businesses and governments.

I hope that through my book, we can see how the United States is moving towards transparency and openness, knowing that it contains the history of technological change and the changes in American social values.

All technologies, in the final analysis, are for human and social service. In the final analysis, to say that the government should be more open and transparent, that citizens should have a more public sense of responsibility, the last point is to hope that we live a happy and dignified life, this desire, throughout the history of mankind.

"Beijing News": Some people say you this book, is a kind of culture feedback, how do you understand the word?

Shiji: Culture needs blending. We are in an era of accelerating globalization. China needs to understand the world's civilization and integrate it into the world's civilization. In this era, cultural blending and collision is particularly important. Overseas Chinese and international students are very promising and responsible. As we are overseas, we have a responsibility to observe, record and think about other civilizations and deliver valuable information and values to Chinese governments, businesses and the general public. If the cultural feedback refers to this meaning, I think this is the responsibility of our overseas Chinese.

I hope I can provide Chinese readers with a new vision and ideas, let you see the ins and outs of the new wave of technology, but also invite you to care about where our country and society go and each of us in the responsibility and mission.

(Responsible editor: Liu Fen)