Big Data and Social Media: Where Are They Headed?

Posted on March 24, 2013 | 1 comment

The information world seems abuzz with the possibilities big data and social media present. What’s more, the two are often related: social media often feeds the big data seekers, and big data often acquires life and meaning through social media. The impact that this relationship can have on our personal lives is potentially huge.

The benefits of such a partnership could take place on a scale and at a pace once only imagined. Consider the example of Deng Fei, a Chinese journalist and activist who leverages the power of social media to raise social and environmental awareness in China and to create change (Ford, 2012). In 2009, using Google Maps, Deng plotted 40 locations in China where cancer rates are unusually high and appear linked to the presence of chemical and other industrial plants perched alongside waterways (Millar, 2012). There are now approximately 100 such locations on the map (Brown, 2013). These areas quickly became known as cancer villages and the ensuing outrage amongst Chinese people has finally led the national government to author a five-year plan which proposes to regulate the use and disposal of 58 toxic chemicals (Brown, 2013). Another example of Deng’s social media savvy was his use of Weibo, “a Chinese Twitter-like service” (Ford, 2012), during the Chinese New Year, a time when city-dwellers return to their hometowns for celebrations. Deng asked his compatriots to snap pictures of their local creeks and rivers and to share them on Weibo (Brown, 2013). Images streamed in (sorry, couldn’t resist!) depicting polluted water bodies (you can see them here) and raising environmental awareness. The national government can no longer ignore these environmental issues; in fact, they are quickly becoming a top priority (Brown, 2013). These are hope-inspiring changes brought about by the partnership of big data and social media.

However, the relationship between the two isn’t always ideal. This year, for instance, Google’s Flu Trends suggested that “in mid-January, nearly 11 percent of the United States population had influenza” while more reliable estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were 6 percent (Bilton, 2013). Since Flu Trends are based in part on “flu-related search queries in Google,” many researchers think that the search numbers may have been inflated by “widespread media coverage,” including “social media, which helped news of the flue spread quicker than the virus itself” (Bilton, 2013).

Torture numbers, and they’ll confess to anything. ~Gregg Easterbrook

What stories like this tell us, I think, is that we need to think more carefully about the nature of big data and its relationship to social media. How is data collected, manipulated, and used? Is it sufficient to simply regulate how data is used rather than what kinds of data are collected (Lohr, 2013)? We also need to distinguish between the following types of big data: “big dumb data” (data that doesn’t offer any insights), “big scary data” (data that is uses to stalk and pry), and “big useful data” (this speaks for itself) (Bloomreach, 2013). What kind of a role ought social media to play in helping us to judge data quality, advocate for privacy, and challenge/question data collection, storage, and dissemination methods?

I tend to feel torn by these questions, but of one thing I’m certain: our legal systems need to catch up, not just with technological trends and the growing desire to put everything online but also with economic and environmental issues.

Resources

Bilton, N. (2013, February 24). Disruptions: Data without context tells a misleading story. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/technology/big-data-and-a-renewed-debate-over-privacy.html

Bloomreach, J. K. (2013, March 19). Is your big data dumb, scary or useful? Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/03/is-your-big-data-dumb-scary-or-useful/

Brown, P. (2013, February 22). China cancer villages [Audio podcast]. As It Happens. Toronto, ON: CBC Radio. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/As+It+Happens/ID/2338005092/?page=8

Ford, P. (2012, February 6). Once a top investigative reporter in China, Deng Fei now writes a popular microblog that moves readers to action. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2012/0206/Deng-Fei-goes-beyond-journalism-to-right-wrongs-in-China

Lohr, S. (2013, March 23). Big data is opening doors, but maybe too many. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/technology/big-data-and-a-renewed-debate-over-privacy.html

Millar, H. (2013, March 13). Cancer villages [Blog post]. WebMD. Retrieved from http://blogs.webmd.com/cancer/2013/03/cancer-villages.html

1 Comment

Posted in big data, Deng Fei, Google Flu Trends, social media, Uncategorized

Can Social Media Help Save Endangered Languages?

Posted on March 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Aside from taking one undergraduate course, I have never really delved into the world of linguistics, but I do enjoy languages. In my neighbourhood during the summer, tourists from other countries often mill about by the river or in the local park, conversing with one another in a variety of languages. It’s a joyful mix of sounds, tones, and cadences that reflects the diverse ways in which human beings experience the world. So, when I read predictions, such as those made by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, which “estimates that half of the world’s spoken languages will disappear by the end of the century if nothing is done” (Meigs, 2011), I am disheartened.

As we know, North American indigenous languages “are now seriously endangered” (Gadelii, 1999), and despite the thoughtful and multi-pronged efforts of language planners, “our Native American languages [keep] dying” (Littlebear, 2010). But as one of my personal heroes, the acclaimed American linguist Joshua Fishman (2002) points out, most language revitalization programs simply focus on the language itself, rather than taking a big-picture approach of viewing languages as reflections of cultures and communities. Without a culture or community to support it, a language has little chance of survival (Fishman, 2002).

Here is where social media could prove to be an invaluable tool. Because “social media provide many or all seven of the functional building blocks of social life—identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups” (Kietzmann et al. as cited in Coronel-Molina, 2011, p.289), they can foster, to a degree, the kind of community and culture building initiatives that are required for language support. Moreover, social media increase the “functional domains” of a language (Coronel-Molina, 2012, p.279), those areas in day-to-day life in which the language is actively employed. “In general, the more public domains in which a language is used, the higher its status” (Coronel-Molina, 2012, pp. 279-80). This observation explains the focus of language planners on a language’s status: Only once the attitudes of speakers and potential learners shift from dismissive to appreciative does language corpus planning become purposeful, and language acquisition planning seem realistic (Schreyer, 2011). Social media, by placing endangered languages into more public domains, may help bring about these much needed attitudinal changes.

Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Current examples of social media at work include IndigenousTweets.com, which enables people to tweet and to follow other tweeters in any of approximately 100 indigenous languages (Meigs, 2011). Quechua and Aymara, indigenous languages of South America’s Andean region with 6+ and 2+ million speakers, respectively, have found new life in social media, such as YouTube, blogs, and Facebook (Coronel-Molina, 2012). Both languages are also appearing in Twitter tweets and in wikis (Coronel, Molina, 2012). In BC and Alaska, Tlingit speaking community members are using Facebook and video conferencing tools to practice their language (Schreyer, 2011). These are exciting developments, particularly as the “coolness factor” of social media could go a long way towards building a language’s prestige (Miegs, 2011; Schreyer, 2011).

However, social media does present some access problems: 1) there’s the digital divide to consider, and 2) typing in certain languages may present difficulties (Meigs, 2011). Additionally, the most avid social media users “often lack Native language fluency” (Meigs, 2011).

Despite these challenges, social media holds hope for those interested in and passionate about linguistic and cultural diversity. But because social media tools can never be as powerful as face-to-face communication and strong “real world” communities, I hope that these cyber realm initiatives lead to these languages and their related cultures thriving offline.

References:

Coronel-Molina, S. M. (2012). New functional domains of Quechua and Aymara:  Mass media and social media. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (pp. 278-300). London, UK: Routledge

Fishman, J. (2002). Commentary: What a difference 40 years make! Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 12(2), 144-149. Retrieved from http://linguisticanthropology.org/journal/

Gadelii, K. E. (1999). Language planning theory and practice: An evaluation of language planning cases worldwide. France: UNESCO. doi 10.1.1.119.2871(3)

Littlebear, R. (2010, April 26). And still the languages kept on dying. Multilingual Mania: Cultivating a Multilingual World. Retrieved from http://multilingualmania.com/and-still-the-languages-kept-dying/

Meigs, D. (2011, June 14). Tweet hereafter: Social media is saving native languages. Indian Country. Retrieved from http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/tweet-hereafter%3A-social-media-is-saving-native-languages-37472

Schreyer, C. (2011). Media, information technology, and language planning: What can endangered language communities learn from created language communities? Current Issues in Language Planning, 12(3), 403-425.  doi 10.1080/14664208.2011.604965

2 Comments

Posted in endangered languages, language planning, language prestige, language status, social media, Uncategorized

Social Media Use in the Workplace: The Conundrums of Free Speech

Posted on February 18, 2013 | 3 comments

Should a workplace have the right to fire employees or pass them over when considering promotions based on their social media usage? Should a business make a practice of suing professionals for libel? These are questions raised by a recent New York Times article “Even if It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected” and another article in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Librarians Rally behind Blogger Sued by Publisher over Critical Comments.”

The latter article describes the case of Dale Askey, a librarian at McMaster University, who in a blog in 2010, described Edwin Mellen Press (EMP) as “dubious” and many of its publications as examples of “second-class scholarship” (New, 2013). A sympathetic commentator on Askey’s site then went on to call Herbert Richardson, the founder of EMP, a “’fascist and evangelical Scientologist’” (New, 2013). Richardson, in his claim, ascribes the commentator’s words to Askey: the Internet Archives, however, disprove that claim (New, 2013). According to a CBC article, Richardson also says that Askey’s posting “badly hurt our business….[and] the reputation of our authors” (Ruf, 2013). Askey is now being sued by the publisher (which is also suing McMaster) and by Richardson.

By the way, if you wish to read the blog entry that has led to these lawsuits, you will find a copy in the action notice served by EMP. The original blog has been removed from the web.

The joys of blogging

Fortunately, many in the academic community have rushed to Askey’s aid, including York University Faculty Association’s library chapter, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Libraries (CAPAL), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and its Canadian counterpart CARL. In addition, Askey supporters can sign a petition started by Martha Reineke, a University of Northern Iowa professor.

While I do support Askey’s right (and duty) to critique publishers, I think his case raises , among other questions, the question of how information professionals should critique publishers, works, vendors, and the like in their blogs and other social media platforms. As the CAPAL site recommends, reading the HLWIKI entry on “Blogging and the Law” is an excellent place to begin this question. I took their advice and found that the following points stood out for me in this entry:

  1. Bloggers are starting to face more lawsuits or SLAPPS (strategic lawsuits against public participation).
  2. Bloggers should know that what they consider to be mere opinions are no longer protected from charges of libel although the “fair reports privilege” (i.e. a “well-informed opinion” or the “truth”) serve as a strong defense against such charges.
  3. Bloggers have a “duty of care” to moderate comments in order to prevent libel.

Askey will be able to defend himself successfully if the fair reports privilege holds for him, but he might fall short on the third point.

A blog posting in Percolator entitled “How Rude! Reader Comments May Undermine Scientists’ Authority” highlights the third point. It describes how a recent study (presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and soon to be published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication) demonstrates that rude reader comments result in more people feeling negatively about a given topic. In this instance, the topic was the risks of nanotechnology: after reading the article, a greater percentage of those who then read rudely expressed comments (as opposed to those who read only politely worded comments) thought that nanotechnology posed high risks (Basken, 2013). So, moderating comments may serve purposes other than lawsuit prevention.

And while I have focused thus far primarily on academia, social media usage is a topic of hot debate in the broader business world as well. In his NY Times article , Greenhouse (2013) draws attention to several cases of perceived inappropriate social media use in the US which have led to employee termination. Of course, what is “inappropriate” is currently being determined by policy makers and the National Labor Relations Board (Greenhouse, 2013). The legal system has yet to catch up with technological changes, but labour lawyer Denise Keyser advises policy makers to write clear and “specific” policies (Greenhouse, 2013).

In the meantime, social media users and information professional especially (we have an example to set, don’t we?) will need to exercise ever greater levels of restraint in media forms that make impulsive behaviour all too easy.

References:

Blogging and the law. (n.d.) In HLWIKI Canada. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php/Blogging_and_the_law 

Basken, P. (2013, February 14). How rude! Reader comments may undermine scientists’ authority [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/how-rude-reader-comments-may-undermine-scientists-authority/32071

Greenhouse, S. (2013, January 21). Even if it enrages your boss, social net speech is protected. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/technology/employers-social-media-policies-come-under-regulatory-scrutiny.html?pagewanted=all

New, J. (2013, February 14). Librarians rally behind blogger sued by publisher over critical comments. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Librarians-Rally-Behind/137329/

Ruf, C. (2013, February 14). Book publisher sues McMaster librarian, university for libel. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2013/02/12/hamilton-librarian-lawsuit.html

3 Comments

Posted in comments, lawsuits, legal concerns, libel, netiquette, workplace social media use

Social Media, Selfies, Personal Branding, Narcissism… What’s a Librarian to Do?

Posted on February 17, 2013 | 5 comments

During our Wiki group assignment, which focused on the pros and cons of altmetrics, I wondered about the effects that personal branding exercises would/could have on the personality. Would the process of promoting one’s work (and one’s self) help improve ties between post-secondary institutions,  and broader communities? between academics and non-academics? between people?; would social media tools help researchers grow on a personal level, and would that, in turn, increase their motivation to be more innovative?; or would communication with others  become an unhealthy popularity contest?

Then one morning on CBC Radio’s The Current, in an episode entitled “Selfies: Narcissistic, Empowering, or Just Fun?,” I heard three people vigorously debating the merits and perils of selfies: “self-photos” which  young women, in particular, enjoy sharing with others over the Internet using tools, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr. Their debate made the questions above still more difficult to answer.

The selfie, I think, epitomizes the best and worst of aspects of social media, as demonstrated by the passion with which the panel members (Sarah Nicole Prickett, Andrew Keen, Hal Niedzviecki), writers all, debated the topic. Prickett, a twenty-something woman, and two pre-recorded female photographers argued that selfies have little to do with narcissism and everything to do with self-empowerment, especially in a world where women are frequently judged by their appearance. They asserted, too, that selfies were a part of personal branding, a necessity when traditional jobs and their attendant financial security are going by the wayside and being replaced by projects and tasks (Bersin, 2012). Niedzviecki responded that this act of seeming empowerment actually enslaves the selfie creator: her audience might become more demanding, and she, if naïve about how easily people—including herself—are influenced by others, might succumb to those demands to her later regret. Keen cautioned that selfies simply reflect the “democratization of celebrity culture,” and that in the “attention economy” only an “elite” few will win the attention they pursue: the others will look like fools or idiots. Keen himself maintains a presence on Twitter and other social media but is strongly opposed to selfies.

A selfie with a “smoke them” – created by jnyemb

I thought all of the panelists made valid points; they also inadvertently raised some interesting questions. For instance, I wondered why Keen, although comfortable with verbal self-promotion, was so fiercely opposed to images. He was further concerned about people appearing to be fools or idiots, which seems a weak argument against potentially courageous acts of self-empowerment. If we were all afraid of ridicule, very few of us would take any risks in life. Niedzviecki, like Keen, is convinced that all selfies are created for an audience, but are they? Many creative people simply enjoy the act of creating. An interested audience is a pleasant bonus. And Prickett’s argument for selfies as personal branding in precarious economic times did not fly for me, as most of the selfies I have seen posted are, at best, part of a personal development activity. How will an online diary help jobseekers acquire work? Further, Prickett’s out-of-hand dismissal of narcissism playing a role in selfie creation sends up red flags for me.  I think that such overconfidence in one’s motives can invite the insidious creep of self-absorption.

A great deal of research indicates that this aspect of selfies—and of social media use in general—must be taken seriously.  The work of many scholars (this chapter by Konrath offers a great review) has shown that “[s]elf-esteem and narcissism have been rising in college students from the late 1970s to 2010, with simultaneous declines in empathy” (Konrath, 2012. p.1). But while the drop in “empathic concern” (feeling what another feels) and “perspective taking” (understanding what another may be experiencing) has  occurred over four decades, the most significant decline began in 2000 which is the time when social media started coming to the forefront in the cyber world (Konrath, 2012, p.9). One reason may be because social media use can cut down on face-to-face interactions: some believe that this increased distance between people leads to decreased empathy, much as the famous 1965 Milgram experiment illustrated (Konrath, 2012, p.13). While Konrath notes repeatedly throughout her review that these phenomena are correlational and thus open to interpretation, she does also state that “every single study… that has measured the relationship between narcissism and social media use has found some sort of correlation between the two” (Konrath, 2012, p.15).

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish — you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one’s name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Emily Dickinson

So where does this leave the librarian? While my Wiki group was researching altmetrics this term, we learned that librarians have an important role to play in teaching scholars how to make optimal use of social media tools (Galligan, 2012). The possibilities are exciting, but it’s crucial for us to remember that our role is to educate, not evangelize. I think that this cautious approach is much needed, especially in light of such articles as “Historians Get Advice on Writing for the Readers of Today” in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  In this piece, Perry (2013) observes that many in- and outside the field of history, believe that historians should change their approach to writing history in order to appeal to larger numbers. As one commentator (px7_mq9) pointed out, however, the more popular history books, particularly the more thoroughly researched and accurate ones, “are a payoff of normal work done by historians… [work that] though necessary, will be dry as dust.” I think the lesson here for librarians is to avoid shoehorning scholars into communication models that don’t feel comfortable with. After all, social media, when used well, is about inclusivity and sharing—not conformity.

References

Bersin, J. (2012, January 31). The end of a job as we know it [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/31/the-end-of-a-job-as-we-know-it/

Brotzel, P. (Producer), & Mattar, P. (Producer). (2013, January 30). Selfies: narcissistic, empowering, or just fun? [Audio podcast). In J. Moroz (Executive Producer), The Current. Toronto, ON: CBC Radio. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/01/30/selfies-narcissistic-empowering-or-just-fun/

Galligan, F. (2012, August 31). Altmetrics for librarians and institutions: Part II [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.swets.com/blog/altmetrics-for-librarians-and-institutions-part-ii#.USBvdKXR2So

Konrath, S. (in press, 2012) The empathy paradox: Increasing disconnection in the ageof increasing connection. In Rocci Luppicini (Ed.), Handbook of research on technoself: Identity in a technological society, IGI Global. Retrieved from http://www.sarakonrath.com/media/publications/Konrath_-_Empathy_Paradox_2012.pdf

 Perry, M. (2013, January 4). Historians get advice on writing for the readers of today. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://chronicle.com/article/Historians-Get-Advice-on/136489/

5 Comments

Posted in narcissism, self branding, self promotion, selfies

Substance Trumps Style

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 8 comments

Several years ago, I enrolled in a nineteenth century literature class in which we were assigned the standard readings, novels by Dickens, Eliot, Gissing, the Bronte sisters, Gaskell, Hardy, Wilde, and Thackeray, and then an anomaly: a hefty work of fiction entitled The Heavenly Twins and written by a relative unknown named Sarah Grand. I remember feeling somewhat annoyed with the instructor for asking us to read a non-canonized novel. What a waste of time! We were there to learn about and from the real literary giants, were we not? What could this Grand woman possibly have to teach us that we couldn’t learn so much better from her more highly respected peers? Well (surprise, surprise), her novel and her biography left a more lasting impression on me than anything else I studied in that class.

An acute observer of human behaviour, Grand depicts the hardships and challenges of three very different middle class Victorian women with unflinching honesty. Yet despite the riches her writing had to offer, Grand had to self-publish, and her book was met with rather harsh criticism. A good many critics derided her style of prose as exceedingly plain and consequently were quick (and perhaps eager) to dismiss all that she had to say.

Sarah Grand’s Birth Place: Donaghadee, Ireland

So what does the preceding have to do with social media? All too often when I visit interactive sites on the Internet, I find that discussions quickly degenerate into childish personal attacks, and of all the various types of attacks I witness, the ones I find the most annoying are those from clearly well-educated individuals who, rather than set an example and elevate the discussion by paying attention to the arguments being forwarded by participants, simply exercise their “literacy privilege” (more about that in a moment) by pointing out the grammar and spelling deficiencies of others.

A couple of weeks ago, a colleague of mine shared a link to a wonderful blog written by a woman named Chandra and called Painting the Grey Area. An entry there entitled “Literacy Privilege: How I Learned to Check Mine Instead of Making Fun of People’s Grammar on the Internet” has captured the attention of many and has certainly held mine. The writer of this entertainingly clever and informative piece admits to being a “recovering grammar snob.” At one time, she took pleasure in deriding the comments of those she disagreed with or whose attitudes she disliked by criticizing their grammar and spelling. Her later experiences as an adult literacy teacher, however, have dramatically changed her views on this practice. She now recognizes that such actions stem from a lack of awareness surrounding literacy issues and do nothing to improve conversation quality. Instead, this type of public shaming encourages others to engage in online bullying, silences people who may already exist on the margins of society, and reveals a smallness of character in those who do it.

Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~Mark Twain

 If you haven’t already read this blog, please do. I think this piece should be mandatory reading for all librarians and information scientists because most—if not all—of us will teach literacy skills of one kind or another in our professional lives and will likely be responsible for establishing connections with individuals and organizations through various means, including social media. It’s important, then, that we cultivate a strong understanding of literacy issues in order to become more effective communicators.

Further, if social media is going to play a significant role in our quest to become a more just, inclusive, compassionate, and wise society, then we have to be willing to excavate through poor grammar, bad spelling, and non-standard dialects to the heart of a message, keeping in mind what Chandra reminds us of early on her blog: that there is no correlation between intelligence level and literacy skills.

Please do not misunderstand me. I admire elegance, wit, sophistication, and polish as much as the next person, but I cannot help thinking that in this age of branding, we’ve become far too enamored with packaging (of all kinds) at the expense of substance. The co-existence of substance and style are ideal, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d pick the former.

8 Comments

Posted in comments, literacy, netiquette