Big Data and Digital Society: How to Understand the Systems which build Our Technological Society?

Big data provides us a profound knowledge regarding the methods and scope which attend the establishment of justified beliefs, personal or academic opinion. It offers new chances for research of objects, know-how and social life concepts. This huge capacity of information sets cannot be simply characterized by volume of details although scientists, institutions and producers constantly create great amount of documents and statistics. Big data`s main goal is to ease us while discovering new aspects and understandings of contemporary society. Still, there are plenty empirical and practical misconceptions to be managed before proposing a final explanation regarding the proper role and functioning of Big data into present digital world. Due to this fact, I initiate to examine further in this paper Big data as a scientific method with controversial for democratic institutions and society characteristics so to better understand the mechanisms which develop the current global connection systems.

Scientific Methods of Building Big Data Selectivity

Big data is defined to be constantly dynamic, fine-grained and multifunctional regarding its outputs (i.e. mobile phones and their ability to record and communicate the history of their own use and emails or online banking through which the logging of transactions and interactions across digital networks remain more accessible). Outcomes from these collecting services can be used in numerous private and public realms (i.e. survey and feedback interaction between enterprises, competitors and customers, governmental and institutional regulations concerning civic engagements) but the abundance, exhaustivity, rich source variety and timeless of Big data continue to be huge challenge for many analysers.

Certainly, Big data needs to be functional so to provide reliable services. In response of this prime public and institutional requirement many scientists propose selectivity as best solution regarding the attentive management of information (e.g. Buelens et al.; 2014). According to them, the good estimation of selectivity should be coordinated through the implementation of familiar background characteristics of sample units. Unfortunately, when once put in practice, this procedure run into several issues regarding the type of sources utilized in a certain Big data survey (i.e. whether the Big data set contains records at event or at unit level, where the events can be matched to units, if Big data are available at the unit level or they can be transformed into that form by linking events to units). The struggle with data sets accessibility is also attached to the process (i.e. whether the units can be recognized using identifying information that is available in registers, if background characteristics are not available and cannot be derived what other alternatives can be conducted).

To overcome these problematic main points, researchers determined the statistics as basic practices according to which the Big data should be selected and regulated properly. This choice was made due to three main reasons: first, statistics use Big data as a single information resource while examining a population of interest. In this case, a precise and attentive data selection is essential and equally important for all utilized sources. Second, while creating a survey or strategy the statistics can operate as independent variables so to predict the outcome of already applied model-based estimation techniques. Third, statistics may be of interest to the general public and thus may enrich the institutional scope on both local and global level (e.g. Google search behaviour in relation to alternative medicine).

However, good scientific intentions and methods are not always reliable when referring to contemporary democratic functionality and social understanding of technology and digital dynamics. Two obstacles stand before the complete and successful implementation of Big data into the global communication world: the issue with data control and public privacy and the social opinion regarding the Big data`s role in common life standards.

Governmental Data Control vs. Public Right to Privacy

The discussions regarding Big data frequently extend to some disagreements towards related subjects such as institutional monitoring over society, public right to privacy and data regulation measures concerning the previous two topics. From one side, these debates are inspired by Internet and its recognition from the institutionalists as a very powerful tool which requires an external control so to serve properly the global public audience and from other side, the extremely challenging task for democratic citizens to allow governmental surveillance. Moreover, the bilateral dialogue involves further subtopics regarding Web accessibility, freedom of expression and national security which still remain undetermined towards these matters.

In one of my previous texts, After the Shootings in Canada: between the Question of Citizens` Right of Privacy and National Security, I analysed the serial of unfortunate events which occurred in Ottawa and Quebec in late 2014 with the purpose to find out if the governmental surveillance can operate as a positive for society impact and how this act will reflect on privacy? As it was discovered, the biggest challenge remained to define privacy as a legal term so to prevent obstacles which can inspire social cohesion. Surprisingly, after further observations of similar content (European Data Protection Reform: Will Further Personal Data Restrictions be Beneficial for Network Freedom of Expression?), it became clear that the issues which concern data protection are not from legislative but rather of technical character since neither data protection law not right to privacy cannot give individuals control over their personal data due to the fact that informational self-determination is unenforceable.

Hence, if a certain law succeeds to establish balance between public and governmental sphere by giving a high priority to informational self-determination, this initiative will be in contradiction with the nature of private sector based mainly on management, consumption and distribution of benefits.

The Difficulty of Modern Society to Define Big Data`s Role

Contemporary society appears to be divided in its understanding of Big data. The controversial nature of this information system inspires constant civil debates regarding the real purpose of its distributive and supportive facets. Let`s take Internet for instance: is it a merchandized or an infrastructural network?

According to the latest survey of General Electric Company and Accenture management consulting agency, the highly productive aspect of Internet enables enormous opportunities for industrial sphere to promote new strategies by offering enough space for operational efficiency, financing and competitive actions (i.e. more than the half of healthcare head directors claim that current Big data analytics are truly helping the improvement of patient flow and facilitating the implementation of tracking clinical measures). As further stated in the research, 73 percent of the companies from Aviation, Power Generation and Distribution, Oil, Gas and Mining sectors are already investing more than 20 percent of their overall technology budget on adopting Big data analytics. Besides, three-fourths of business executives foresee that the spending level will continue increasing in year 2015.

Even so, in one of his essays, Bob Frankston, the co-founder of Software Arts Company, argues that Internet provides the global community more than communication tools or financially profitable services. The entrepreneur insists that citizens should comprehend Internet as a metaphysical aspect of modernity since the network system allows individuals to create values and exchange ideas without feeling restricted by commercial gains, professional targets or cost-effective business models. Internet, Frankston continues, is a space for innovation and it functions to assist the society as a whole. In the Web people are free to experiment with their own creativity without expecting high risks or high cost investments. In this sense, the Big data system is beneficial since we do not need to declare monetary strategies but simply to share benefits with others.

How to Break Standpoint Obstacles for Better Digital Community?

Although the represented issues describe Big data as highly delicate and complex digital structure, there still are certain researchers who can give us a comprehensible explanation towards this fundamental for our technological society system. Alex Paul (Sandy) Pentland is an American computer scientist, Toshiba Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and serial entrepreneur who assumes that Big data continues to be the most influential mechanism into the current global affaires due to the fact that it provides information based on people`s behaviour instead focusing on details related to their beliefs.

According to Pentland, Big data is unique because it indicates real human behaviour while individuals are in role of customers, employees, investors and merchants and it builds data sets which reflect on everyday preferences in relation to visited places and object of consumption rather than summarizing data which has been published on popular social network platforms such as Facebook and Google.

Unfortunately, he continues, Big data traditional methods no longer provide enough access to the present rich scope of information since they concentrate on already established systems (e.g. governments, institutions and organizations) including their corresponding features (e.g. political authority, juridical determination, defence of rights, obligations and commitments, etc.). This obstacle also seems to be inspired by the common style of human understanding and adaption towards modern connection systems.

Big data service is about discovering links between people`s behaviour and outcomes. It delivers us information regarding connections that cause various and significant global events such as financial crashes, heath deviances, industrial expansions and social revolutions. Big data enables for us the sources which are necessary to comprehend the bond between society and technology and to determine whether it is stable or not. Through this process of analysing modern interpersonal attachments established by digital and communication systems we will be able to design better functioning democracies, business markets, enterprises and other social structures. But to succeed in this initiative we first need to understand the true meaning of these modern connections. One point to start this change can be to deliberate our conscious from sceptical considerations towards Big data and related operational systems.

Stop thinking of George Orwell and Become Part of Technological World

Alex Paul Pentland laid out one truly sufficient description of current digital world and reasons explaining the not completely satisfying performance of certain action models. Although his opinion regarding Big data appears to be inspiring, it is still not totally supported by both citizens and democratic authorities. This lack of adaption leaves an impression that the classical and quite negative understanding of technologies which has been established by George Orwell in his novel 1984 is still valid.

The comparison of Big data, digital monitoring and national surveillance with a Big Brother who imposes censorship and complete control over society simply does not seems relevant the huge potential of contemporary information and communications technologies. Moreover, the standstill in perspective makes me wonder whether the permanent struggle between democratic institutions, scientists and individual attitudes can be overcome. My opinion is that the key of solution is hidden in us and our role as citizens.

Surely, it is not difficult to be anxious about people or Internet companies which are spying on our confidential data (i.e. Google have our personal photos and Yahoo holds every email we have ever written). Besides after agreeing with the corporative conditions of volunteer sharing data sometimes these attendants and enterprises fail to protect our privacy (e.g. celebrity photos are stolen and e-mail contents are distributed to public defence services). Such fact definitely make Big data looks like a very horrific space with unclear purpose but is it worth to remain doubtful towards changes and novelties in our lives?

In this sense, I suggest to leave aside George Orwell`s Cold War concept, to stop being furious and to become more open towards the contemporary technological initiatives which allow us to receive further knowledge regarding world dynamics which occur around us.

References:

Accenture and General Electric Company. Industrial Internet Insights Report for 2015. Accenture.2014.<http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Industrial-Internet-Changing-Competitive-Landscape-Industries.pdf > (04.12.2014)

Buelens, B. Daas, P. Burger, J. Puts, M & Jan van den Brakel. (2014), Selectivity of Big data, Netherlands: Statistics Netherlands Advisory Council.

Frankston, B.,‘’The Internet as Infrastructure’’, October 2011, <http://frankston.com/public/?name=InternetAsInfrastructure&pdf=t> (06.12.2014)

Kitchin, R. ‘’Big Data, new epistemologies and paradigm shifts’’ in Big Data & Society. April-June 2014 vol.1 no. 1: pp. 1-12 <http://bds.sagepub.com/content/1/1/2053951714528481.full>

Lane, J. Stodden, V. Bender, S. & Nissenbaum, H. (2014), Privacy, Big Data and the Public Good, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pentland, A., ‘’Reinventing Society in the Wake of Big Data’’, Edge, August 2012, <http://edge.org/conversation/reinventing-society-in-the-wake-of-big-data> (06.12.2014)

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