IndexBig Data and RefugeesBut How CouldDigital Identities, Finance and BlockchainAt first glance, phones have two main roles for migrants: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Keeping in touch with family and creating social bonds in host societies: Leaving their countries, their homes, their friends and family, is crucial for migrants to maintain some sort of emotional stability and comfort, and this need can only be satisfied by being connected, being able to reassure loved ones and making sure that everything is fine at home (Panagakos & Horst, 2006; Horst & Taylor, 2014) Emotional intimacy: Thomas and Lim (2011) discovered through their study that the use of smartphones can considerably improve the well-being and health of migrants, since it has a real psychological effect that profoundly improves their overall journey and ability to adapt to the host society, make friends, find work, etc. Other authors, such as Gillespie et al. (2016), take a step back and look at things from a different perspective. While they recognize the benefits and positive aspects of social media on the refugee crisis and do not deny its role in planning and navigating the entire journey, they take a more critical and distant approach. According to them, the smartphone is “a double-edged sword”: it could be of great use for accessing vital resources – such as legal information, medical information, translations and shelter – but it still leaves a digital trace, which makes migrants vulnerable to state surveillance, extremist groups and other organizations that may not have their best interests in mind. Big Data and RefugeesThese risks have not pushed large organizations like UNHCR to leverage technology and go beyond the usual social and digital platforms. They began examining the effectiveness of Big Data and how it could impact displaced groups of people. Statistics and numbers are very useful when it comes to outlining and developing development, aid and policy strategies. However, according to a research article in Open Migration (Cheesman, 2017), the gap lies in the lack of useful and reliable data. The number of refugees living in urban settings is a very approximate number and continues to change day by day, which makes it difficult for development organizations to make relevant predictions and act accordingly. UNHCR and other bodies are constantly working to obtain more precise numbers, so that we can capture the evolving dynamics and movements of these groups. They are trying to exploit the ability to assemble, analyze, compile and falsify big data. But how could big data have a major effect on refugee groups? A couple of projects are being started, mainly by UNHCR. Their ProGres registration database (UNHCR, 2008) uses biometric identification technologies to collect data on refugees, store it and analyze it. Iris scans are often used as a tool to establish the identity of refugees, as their biometric data is encoded into aid cards equipped with digital encoders and vouchers that are given to them. These cards also allow you to monitor and predict consumption and behavioral patterns. An example of how this data could be used next would be the “winter Operation Cell” project (Karmi, 2016), a futuristic initiative that aims to use weather forecasts to carry out predictive analysis on how many people are likely to move and in which directions . The international organization for.