There is a whole lot of buzz about Big Data ... My every click, every word, every pic, every tune that I enter/peruse is stored, dissected, and regurgitated for someone, somewhere who is willing to pay.
I have read some of the buzz, and what little I have read makes me little concerned but also hopeful. What I do on the Web may not light any fires, however what I search, read, view, or listen to is not something I would want available to my employer and/or prospective employers, government agencies, or anyone else, at least not where it can pinpoint who I am. If my data is bundled with others, and with personal information removed, than I am little less concerned.
The positive aspect is that this information, for example, people's Google searches yields insights on predicting likely outbreak of influenza, etc. And that such use of Big Data to predict the likelihood of certain events offers significant advantages in the field of development, i.e. for the greater good especially in the Developing countries.
Are there sufficient controls to protect the privacy and confidentiality of an individual? What additional controls are needed in the selling and marketing of this information? Can this real-time collection of information about me, you, and us be abused?
I have more reading to do (data mining and sifting to do) to gain a better understanding. And the more I read, more data points about myself are collected, tracked, sliced, and diced by Google, Amazon, Apple, NY times, Guardian, and Time magazine, to name a few.
Wikidata ...
http://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page
Guardian newspaper ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/apr/26/wikidata-launch
How BIG Data can be leveraged for the greater Good? ...
"Innovations in technology and greater affordability of digital
devices worldwide have ushered in an Age of “Big Data,” an umbrella term
for the explosion in the quantity and diversity of high frequency
digital data. This digital data is being produced, in real-time, at an
unprecedented rate, even across the developing world. In addition,
advances in computing and data science make it possible to process and
analyze Big Data in real-time. But can it be useful for development, and
enhancing resilience to global shocks? Can the innovations from data
science and tech be applied to the field of development? If so, how?
The paper aims to highlight the opportunity, as well as some of the
main concerns and challenges, raised by the opportunity of utilizing
new, digital data sources in the field of international development, as
concretely and openly as possible."
http://www.unglobalpulse.org/sites/default/files/BigDataforDevelopment-GlobalPulseMay2012.pdf
BIG Data: For Greater Good or an Invasion of Privacy? ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/12/big-data-greater-good-privacy-invasion
The Big Business of Big Data ...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/big-data/
Mapping and Sharing, the Consumer Genome ... (that's You, me, and us for sale) ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Big Data Knows What You Are doing Right Now ...
http://business.time.com/2012/07/31/big-data-knows-what-youre-doing-right-now/
