Sharing, transparency and appropriation: the three faces of the web

The internet is sharing; that is its nature. Through new and ever-diversifying methods it allows us to share information, opinions, emotions, knowledge, memories, intelligence and even our identity. So many social and personal benefits derive from this sharing that it could be considered more a civilisation than technological phenomenon. In sharing our personal data, activities and even our geographical location, however, we become transparent, though sometimes more to others than to ourselves. In fact, we can’t access everything that’s known about us, the so-called “digital unconscious”, meaning the information that can be found out about us online unbeknownst to us. So, if managed well, is online transparency a good thing or not? The problem is that in this transitional era there is no symmetry between the user and the web: “Big Data”, in fact, allows companies and governments to appropriate our information. How can we strike a social and psychological balance in all this transparency?