My Big Data

After listening to the podcast, reading the article, and watching the two TED Talks, I think I have a greater understanding for what Big Data is and its role in our society. What I can draw from it is that the information that I put out online as well as anything I search up is collected by scientists to determine several aspects of myself and my life as well as other throughout the world. They identify comparisons between individuals as well as where we may differ in terms of our attributes, all thanks to the information we choose to put out for the world to see. I think one of the benefits of Big Data to me personally is that they customize certain sites and “things” (for a lack of a better word) I visit frequently and thus bombard me with different ads that I may find interesting. What’s funny though is that one weekend while I was at home, I was on YouTube trying to watch a show and there were like a thousand ads (maybe a little exaggeration) embedded in the video and they were all from the University of New England. It got annoying after a while but I found it interesting how it was so relative to me considering that I am a student here and the internet knows that. One of the drawbacks of big data, though, is that they (scientists) can predict nearly everything about you and use your information without legitimately getting consent from you to do so. To me it seems like a violation of privacy yet what’s online is always fair game to use. Personally, I barely have any information online either so it doesn’t affect me as much but I can see how it would be bothersome to others.

Sally Herships, a Journalist based in New York, studies the effects of Big Data on people and how it relates to our lives daily. In her podcast, she elaborates on an example of searching for an object and then receiving ads for the same object merely minutes later, tying back to how this is all intertwined into the network for Big Data. She speaks about the cookies in a computer software and how they are used to keep track of how often we visit a site or what we’re searching for in particular (1:10). Consequently, the ads we receive later on are complementary to what we have previously searched for. Retailers take our interests, including the similarities between them for different people, and inundate us with items we have already searched for and possibly bought. This is all part of the tactic of Big Data and proves how every action we take on the internet definitely is being recorded somewhere for future use. Although Herships may be speaking more about certain negative aspects relating to Big Data, there are certainly pros to this new networking scheme.

Kenneth Cukier is an American Journalist and author of books relating to technology and society. In his TED Talk, “Big Data is Better Data”, he speaks about certain functions we can have performed once we amplify our data. He reminds us about how “datafying” more aspects of our lives could lead to the production of certain components that could make our lives easier (7:00). He gives the example of developing a car that senses once a driver is drifting off or falling asleep and thus instigates an alarm within them to wake up and take action, preventing a collision or accident from occurring (7:25).  This can all be possible thanks to Big Data. With the constant collection of our information, locations, and statuses, scientists are able to develop machines that are aimed to better humanity and make life easier, such as how researches in Tokyo are using Big Data as an antitheft device in vehicles (Cukier 6:00). Although there may be some negative aspects of this new Networking Theory, there are definitely pros to it as well. It is something we must consider as individuals and determine what is best for ourselves and for the future development of our society and generations to come.