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tbt⁠⁠ 24 Hours in Cyberspace Book⁠⁠ Published 1995 as part of the 24 Hours series⁠⁠ After six years working for Dell Computer, one of the first tech companies to land in Austin, was working with a company creating content for 8-12 year old girls-- one of the first gaming projects directed at girls-- and mentoring in my downtown Austin studio⁠⁠ End of a great era in Austin and that gorgeous downtown studio. Packed up for Chicago the next year and started a new life.⁠⁠ #24hoursincyberspace #tbt #austinpainter #earlyadopter #dellcomputer #ricksmolan #dayinthelife #press #thisartistslife ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ (at Cyberspace) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNsI2NuF7UD/?igshid=1mntzt919uqq1

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There are those of us that, over time, will remain willfully ignorant of the perspective being developed by an evolving toolset of technology and consciousness. This includes language as a method of conveying realities in such a way as to pull a person out of their stasis and mute the cognitive dissonance that occludes their ability to perceive at a higher level. #waves #ricksmolan

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Big Data, Should we be Excited or Afraid?

“Big data is a buzzword, or a catch-phrase, used to describe a massive volume of both structured and unstructured data that is so large it’s difficult to process using traditional database and software techniques (Webopedia, 2014). It’s scary to think that no matter what we do, computers are able to store information about us and use it without our knowledge. Data isn’t the most exciting thing, I know I didn’t even give it a second thought until last weeks lecture. However according to Siegel (2013) data provides endless opportunities for us to learn, computers process this information, which can help us to understand “what drives people and the actions they take – what makes us tick and how the world works”. Social media is one of the most useful tools in gathering big data, “the explosive growth of social media is one of the reasons that 90% of all data in the world has been generated in the last two years alone” (Uganec, 2013). We share endless amounts of personal information on these websites that could easily be used against us. So what exactly does big data mean for the future? Big data can be both scary and exciting.

The scariest idea of big data is predictive analysis “a commonplace and affects everyone, every day. It impacts your experiences in undetectable ways as you drive, shop, study, vote, see the doctor, communicate, watch TV, earn, borrow, or even steal” (Siegel, 2013). Through running this data through sophisticated algorithms organisations are able to use this information to “predict how you will respond to various marketing offers” (Weisbaum, 2014). I often purchase clothes online, just the other day I was looking at a dress on The Iconic online store now it keeps popping up in advertisements all over my browser. I probably wouldn’t of thought twice about the dress but now I want to buy it, because I have constant reminders of how much I like it.

  Through my research for this blog post I came across a YouTube video where photographer Rick Smolan discusses what big data says about you and what this information is used for. He used an example of how the Gates Foundation is working to eradicate Polio in Nigeria, through the use of satellites and GPS they located villages that no body knew existed. Through the use of new media technologies and big data “the Gates Foundation has helped implement a satellite mapping technique, to ensure house-to-house vaccinators use aren’t missing any villages or settlements” (Fox, 2013). How can we not be impressed with what big data can achieve when we hear things like that?

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on big data, what do you think should we be excited or afraid?

References

Fox, Zoe. 2013. “Bill Gates: Satellites and GPS Are Fighting Polio.” Mashable, April 25. Accessed May 10, 2014. http://mashable.com/2013/04/24/bill-gates-vaccines-interview/

Funk-e Studios. 2013. “What is Big Data and how does it work?” YouTube video, posted November 12, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2014. http://youtu.be/TzxmjbL-i4Y 

Siegel, Eric. 2013. “Introduction: The Prediction Effect.” In Predictive analytics: the power to predict who will click, buy, lie or die, 1 – 16. Hoboken: Wiley Publishing. Accessed https://qutvirtual3.qut.edu.au/qv/olt_material_search_p?p_unit_code=KCB206

THNKR. 2013. “What Big Data Says About You.” YouTube video, posted April 12. Accessed May 10, 2014. http://youtu.be/fc1zBNC9wNY

Uganec, Cameron. 2013. “Social Media, Big Data and Visualization.” Hootsuite n.d. Accessed May 10, 2014. http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-big-data/

Webopedia. 2014. “big data.” Accessed May 10, 2014. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_data.html

Weisbaum, Herb. 2014. “Big data knows you’re pregnant (and that’s not all).”  CNBC, April 9. Accessed May 10, 2014. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101566276