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