Before watching Davin Tao’s TEDx talk, I expected to hear about the technical side of Digital Forensics. Computers, data recovery, or tools were replaced by finding information on hard drives, understanding why the crime happens, the cover-ups, and building stories based on fragmented digital clues.

Social science is about studying people and how they behave, think, and interact with systems and institutions. Tao’s job requires all of that, finding and interpreting digital footprints in context of human behavior is like psychology and criminology. His presentation of work for a court setting ties to law and communication studies. Digital forensics includes how technology affects and reflects society.

His background was not straight forward. Starting as an accountant, his interest changes over time and so does his curiosity. Which lead him to investigating cybercrimes. This talk showed me a blend of science, ethics, and human behavior within the field and the impact of people’s lives.