By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Big Data: Good or Evil?
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
anti-spoofing tips
Anti-Spoofing is Crucial for Data-Driven Businesses
Security
ai in software development
3 AI-Based Strategies to Develop Software in Uncertain Times
Software
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Data Management > Privacy > Big Data: Good or Evil?
Collaborative DataCommentaryPrivacy

Big Data: Good or Evil?

DavidMSmith
Last updated: 2011/10/13 at 12:05 PM
DavidMSmith
3 Min Read
SHARE
- Advertisement -

An article in the New York Times stokes fears of Big Data:

Social scientists are trying to mine the vast resources of the Internet — Web searches and Twitter messages, Facebook and blog posts, the digital location trails generated by billions of cellphones — to do the same thing.

An article in the New York Times stokes fears of Big Data:

More Read

data analytics in sports industry

Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game

What Role Does Big Data Have on the Deep Web?
Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value
How Data and Smart Technology Are Helping Hospitalists
Niche Data Tactics to Take Your Business to the Next Level

Social scientists are trying to mine the vast resources of the Internet — Web searches and Twitter messages, Facebook and blog posts, the digital location trails generated by billions of cellphones — to do the same thing.

The most optimistic researchers believe that these storehouses of “big data” will for the first time reveal sociological laws of human behavior — enabling them to predict political crises, revolutions and other forms of social and economic instability, just as physicists and chemists can predict natural phenomena.

The article then goes on to cite fears of a society run amok: “I have Total Information Awareness flashbacks when things like this happen”. Those fears may well be justified; but “Big Data” isn’t where the finger of blame should be pointed. Certainly, Big Data enables applications that simply aren’t possible with the small samples of traditional statistical methods: 

“Big data allows one to move beyond inference and statistical significance and move toward meaningful and accurate analyses,” said Norman Nie, a political scientist who was a pioneering developer of statistical tools for social scientists and who recently formed a new company, Revolution Analytics, to develop software for the analysis of immense data sets.

Applications of Big Data can of course be nefarious (like the Total Information Awareness project), but they can be beneficial too: tools like Google Translate and the iPhone’s new Siri voice automation system simply wouldn’t be possible without an enormous corpus of data to match against. But neither case makes Big Data inherently good or evil: data is just data. It’s how it’s used that counts.

New York Times: Government Aims to Build a ‘Data Eye in the Sky’

TAGGED: big data
DavidMSmith October 13, 2011
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share
- Advertisement -

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
anti-spoofing tips
Anti-Spoofing is Crucial for Data-Driven Businesses
Security

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

data analytics in sports industry
Big Data

Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game

6 Min Read
big data technology has helped improve the state of both the deep web and dark web
Big Data

What Role Does Big Data Have on the Deep Web?

8 Min Read
analyzing big data for its quality and value
Big Data

Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value

6 Min Read
big data and smart technology in healthcare
Big Data

How Data and Smart Technology Are Helping Hospitalists

8 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?