It’s been a big decade for data. To understand how much has changed, think back to 2008 — just ten years ago, but a lifetime away in tech land.

At that time, social media was just starting to reach a point of mass adoption, but the average person was still freaked out by the idea of their grandma joining Facebook. Streaming video had only begun to catch on, meaning the oddest of videos became viral sensations, largely because we rarely had anything better to watch.

And the word “data”? You never really heard that one discussed much.

Flash forward to now. We find ourselves in an era where data is not only a topic of conversation — it’s essentially become the de-facto currency of the world.

Where once we were accustomed to forking over hard-earned cash for the services we use day in and day out, we’ve now come to expect these platforms to serve us for nothing more than the megabits and metadata we produce by using their tools.

This data is immensely powerful — and it can be used in ways that both enhance and hinder the quality of life of users themselves.

The current state of data management

If we wish to wrap our minds around how we will interact with data in the future — and whether or not it will be used for us or against us — we have to first understand the ways that data is being managed, manipulated, and exchanged today.

At present, businesses collecting data interact with it in a number of ways:

Use it to improve functionality.

Maybe these apps use your geolocation data to better predict restaurants you’d like nearby. Perhaps they access your friends list to suggest events you might want to attend. Possibly they even cross-reference multiple data points, like examining your height, weight and sleep patterns in order to offer personalized meal recommendations.

When it comes to possible improvements to functionality, once data sets get involved, the sky is the limit. Data has almost limitless capabilities to increase the efficiency and quality of user experiences over time.

Sell it to advertisers and other apps.

A large portion of apps fund their businesses through selling data. The data is purchased by companies who wish to serve you ads or improve functionality of their own apps. This is the business model that keeps many platforms free or low cost, and allows apps to pay for staff and operations.

The reliance on selling data also presents a challenge to privacy, in that users themselves typically have little to no idea where their data is being sold and to whom.

Purchase it from other apps.

Rather than collecting their own data sets from scratch, many businesses opt to take a faster route to improving functionality and user experience by purchasing data wholesale from other apps.

The challenge is that this data is often stored in a wide variety of formats, and must be manually manipulated in order to be correlated with the business’s own data sets.

Additionally, there is no open marketplace for these apps to purchase data, meaning most of it is exchanged in backroom piecemeal deals — hardly the open, free, efficient, and transparent way of doing business that we’ve come to expect in the modern era.

Store it on centralized servers.

At present, personal data is commonly stored on centralized servers, leaving it vulnerable to attack and theft by malicious parties.

Numerous high-profile hacks in recent years, from Ashley Madison to JP Morgan Chase, demonstrate just how easy it is for massive databases of private, sensitive, personally identifiable information to be compromised.

Users must trust each company to maintain effective security measures without true knowledge or control over how their data is stored.

Require users to share their data via Terms of Service.

According to the business models currently in use, sharing data is the cost of using most of the platforms that connect our modern world. There is very little opportunity for users themselves to opt out of the collection and sale of their data, except to avoid using the very tools that are essentially required for daily life.

This catches users in bind, where they must consent to their transmission of their data whether or not they actually wish for it to be used. Terms of Service are designed primarily to protect companies from liability, rather than to offer safety to users themselves.

The next phase in data’s evolution

So what might the future of data look like? How might this current model shift in the coming years?

At the Unification Foundation, we ponder this question deeply. (Click here to join our Telegram group to learn more.)

What is clear is that, like most other technology in our era, the way data is being handled and exchanged is changing at an exponential pace, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

It will be up to us to determine if these changes support accessibility, freedom, privacy, and security — or if we head in a dystopian direction where everything we do is traced and potentially used against us by malicious actors.

Rather than sitting back and watching the latter play out, at the Unification Foundation, we decided to be the change we wish to see in the world. We set out to actively create a better option.

At the outset of our project, we asked ourselves: How could Unification reconfigure the way data is managed so that both businesses and users are better off? What could a future of data look like that presents a win-win for each party involved?

From these questions, Unification was born.

Unification offers a thorough reimagining of the data landscape, in which businesses experience far greater efficiency and opportunity for growth, while users benefit from never-before-seen levels of transparency and privacy.

Chiefly, Unification solves the problem of highly fragmented data landscape, in which every business maintains its own databases in proprietary formats that cannot be easily accessed, transmitted, or incorporated by apps, advertisers, or other data purchasers.

This monumental shift is accomplished using the power of Smart Contracts to seamlessly and automatically standardize diverse data sets into a unified format.

Unification’s standardization process allows one data set to be plugged into another and then cross-referenced for possible correlations, creating conditions for both better app functionality and scientific breakthroughs.

Unification’s BABEL marketplace allows apps to view their unified data sets and exchange them on an open marketplace.

A fairer & more efficient data management system

At Unification, we spend each and every day envisioning the future of data and bringing it to life in our product.

Here’s what we see as the key points in this ever-important data shift:

Data needs to be unified into a single format.

Data holds extreme value in both its potential for improving user experience and sparking research breakthroughs, and yet much of it is sitting unused. Standardization is key to unlocking the massive potential of the data sets that already exist, as well as those that will be generated in the future.

As diverse data sets are standardized into a unified format, they become much more easily cross-referenced with each other. This creates a situation where important discoveries can be made with far less human intervention, radically increasing the efficiency of data correlation.

Unification accomplishes this type of standardization with our HAIKU protocol, a series of Smart Contracts written in C++, which automatically render data sets into a singular, unified format.

Data needs to be available for purchase on an open marketplace.

Rather than today’s fragmented, piecemeal system for purchasing data, businesses and research institutions who wish to acquire data need to have a seamless, easily accessible place to conduct transactions.

In this data marketplace, data prices are set by market rates, and all data for sale is fully compliant with GDPR and other privacy laws, since it has been authorized with explicit consent of users themselves. Once data is purchased, it can be effortlessly incorporated into the app or research project, since it is already formatted for immediate use due to the standardization process.

Unification has launched our own data marketplace called BABEL, wherein data purchasers can browse available data sets and acquire data instantly and immutably via Smart Contract.

Businesses need a centralized place to offer data for sale.

For businesses who wish to increase their bottom line, they need to have an opportunity to ethically and responsibly sell the data they’ve collected with the permission of their users.

Unlike today’s models, in the future of data, businesses no longer need to hire a whole sales team to promote their data for purchase — they merely list it on the data marketplace and the data can be exchanged immediately and without risk.

Unification’s BABEL marketplace functions as a meeting place for both buyers and sellers, meaning that apps who have already standardized their data can post it for sale with one click.

Apps need to be able to use blockchain technology to store and transmit data securely.

Current methods of storing and transmitting data expose both businesses and users to significant risk of hacks by malicious actors.

Blockchain technology offers an opportunity to reduce this risk by improving the cryptographic encryption of information, so that it can only be accessed by the intended parties. Storing data on a blockchain makes it infinitely more secure and difficult to manipulate.

Unification’s HAIKU protocol makes use of blockchain only where it is most necessary, encrypting data and storing in a locked box before it is forwarded to the app’s server.

Users need to have ultimate control over the collection & exchange of their data.

Unlike present models where users are completely locked out of discussions regarding their data, in the future of data, everyday people themselves need to have the ability to both view and control the data they generate.

From this vantage point, they need to be able to understand what is happening to their private information, grant or withdraw consent to its sale at any time, and profit from the decision to make it available for purchase.

Unification’s BABEL interface grants a unilateral view of what is happening with each user’s data at any point in time, and allows them to toggle data sharing off and on at will. It also functions as a wallet for UND tokens, which they receive in exchange for authorizing sale of their personal information.

Within Unification’s BABEL interface, each user is able to view and control the transmission of their data, collecting UND tokens in exchange for granting access to private information.

Making the future of data into present reality

Unification has always been an ambitious project. We grew from lofty ideals that doing what is best for users can also be what is best for businesses, and vice versa.

As conversations around data and its collection, management, and exchange continue to heat up, we hold strong to visions of a fairer and more efficient future of data.

Work is currently underway to make this future into present reality, including a robust build-out of the Unification ecosystem.

If you’re similarly excited about remaking the world to incorporate better data management practices, we encourage you to join our Telegram group, where you will find other like-minded individuals committed to the same goal.

Curious to learn more about Unification? The best place to start is our website, where you will find our full whitepaper, team bios, and a summary of the project.

Our full team, including founder Neyma Jahan, are active in our Telegram group and ready to answer any questions you may have about the project.

We are thrilled to be creating the future of data alongside allies from around the world, and appreciate your support.

Welcome to the family.

Unification Team