Big Data: An all encompassing revolution
Big Data is like a new social circle. You meet new individuals and they learn things about you; your mannerisms, personality, humor, where you live, your name, your hobbies. The more they know about you the more productive and enjoyable your time is with the group. They can alter the way the act around you to adapt to your quirks and jokes and its more enjoyable. You work in unison more effectively because you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They also have more power over you now. The more they know about you, the easier it is for them to call you out on your flaws and play to your weaknesses to achieve what they want. It is harder to pull away from them because you are entrenched in the relationship. The only way to escape the benefits and drawbacks of their knowings about you is to cut all ties. Big Data is very much the same, except most of us don’t view it as concretely because our information is being collected all the time. The only real way to detach from big data is to totally detach from all mechanisms in which it operates. An almost impossible feat, just like isolating yourself from a friend or work group.
The contributions I made to big data for the day were several web page form sign ups, such as a investopedia. I had to fill out a form with my name, email, date of birth, etc. I also posted an Instagram and Facebook post which contributed to the giant mass of data in the cloud. I also clicked on numerous ads, links, and third-party websites which I am sure were all (or mostly) tracked via some kind of software.
This contribution says that I go to a university, because of my .edu email. It says that I am a young, male. The posts that I uploaded suggest that I have an interest in fitness and may be slightly outspoken. The links I clicked on may create the impression that I like gold and I also am very receptive to distracting ads and banners on the side of websites.
Tomorrow Question: Will there ever be a time where big data will be so complex and elaborate, you can log on to any computer in the world, and within minutes, based on your typing, the language you use, and the things you click on, and in what order and fashion, the computer will instantly recognize you?
It is possible to “opt-out” of my inclusion of big data (for the most part) but I think I would have to go to such lengths as not ever accessing the internet, not using a phone, living in a non-connected fashion. Operating with widely accepted digital devices, I think it would be almost impossible to be excluded from any kind of big data collection.
Thanks for the post, and I think you’ve come up with a really interesting future question here. Current research tends to suggest that it doesn’t take all that much data to identify someone, so this seems possible in theory. The key would be in figuring out exactly which metrics would most quickly identify us. Of course, with most laptops having cameras, and iPhones reading fingerprints, our fingers and eyes may be the easiest thing to use to identify us.
Hey Thomas. So I liked the way you personified big data, and I think it’s true that the owners of our personal data in a sense know us. I’d even go one step further to specify that big data can be seen as a mutual friend. It is someone who knows us, but also gets perspective from other people who know us. You may think of me as a nice guy, but Bob hates me because of that time I pushed him on the playground, and Jane think’s I’m the devil because I make fun of her all the time. Big data is the friend that knows me, knows your opinion of me, knows Bob’s opinion, Jane’s opinion, etc.