Introduction
It’s all about Big Data and how your information is used, in this post.
Writing about technology give me the opportunity to improve on my knowledge. Literature search is important for every blog post I write. As a medic, I strongly believe in evidence based practice except when it comes to issues of ‘faith’🧐.
(If you are in rush, go straight to the take home message, I have a great tip for you on how to switch off your ‘off Facebook activity’ 😎)
Big data appears to be a new phenomenon. It isn’t! It has evolved due to
- Cheaper technology
- Mobile computing and smart devices
- Social networking
- Cloud computing https://lifeofadocpreneur.com/2020/11/12/chicken-salomi/
Definition of Big Data
It is ‘capability to manage huge volume of disparate data, at the right speed and within the right time frame to allow real time analysis and reaction’ . Judith Hurwitz, Alan Nugent, Fern Halper, and Marcia Kaufman. 2013. Big Data For Dummies (1st. ed.). For Dummies.
Big data has the following characteristics
- Volume: how much
- Velocity: how fast
- Variety: the various types
- Veracity: how accurate?
Uses
Blogs, e-mails, search engine queries and social media traffic generate a daily data of about 2.5 quintrillion bytes. This may increase to over 40 trillion gigabytes by 2020.
Most individuals own a mobile device. Combined with easy accessibility and development in communication technologies, the information collected enables analyst to predict the future from present and past observations. Other uses include:
- Politics: the information from social media traffic can enable political scientist forecast voting behaviour
- Criminology: criminals behaviour can be predicted from past crime information by criminologist
- Health:
- Academic institutions/ pharmaceutical companies analyse data for research and development, clinical trials, screening statistics.
- healthcare providers/hospitals own clinical data e.g electonic patient records, clinical images
- Retail/apparel companies: keep consumer behaviour and purchase history
- Gyms: keep fitness information recorded by electronic exercise equipment and smart electronic devices
- Insurance companies own claims information
- Finance: Mobile banking has given easy access to data. This allows in-depth insight into financial habits (spending and saving) of individuals, businesses and institutions. Digital financial history enables credit scoring and histories. A good Financial history enables individuals qualify for loans and mortgages.
Examples of Big data use in action
- Detecting influenza epidemic using search engine query: Information was analysed into real time, specified by region and used to track the spread of the virus. DOI: 10.1038/nature07634
- Facebook use of consumer data: Most recently Facebook made known to its users how data is used. Specifically, off-Facebook activity. “Off-Facebook activity includes information that businesses and organisations share with us about your interactions with them, such as visiting their apps or websites”. Facebook explains further: “How did Facebook receive your activity? When you visit a website or use an app, these businesses or organisations can share information about your activity with us by using our business tools. We use this activity to personalise your experience, such as showing you relevant ads. We also require that businesses and organisations provide notice to people before using our business tools”.
What is Data Mining?
This term is used to describe the analysis of data for the purposes of identifying patterns and relationships, especially undiscovered and unexpected associations. The intention is to correctly forecast conditions and possible responses. From watching trends and analysing appropriate information, an insight into the future is possible. http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-health-communication/n113.xml.
An example of predicting the future:
Disaster and emergency responses: Following Haiti’s earthquake in 2010, mobile data patterns enabled researchers to understand how refugees moved and the associated risk to health. Data was collected by tracking SIM cards. The destination of 600,000 refugees was correctly analysed. This data was made available to the necessary organisations. Similarly, during the cholera outbreak, this same method was used to track how people moved in the affected regions. The researchers where based in the USA. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TC_MFS_BigDataBigImpact_Briefing_2012.pdf
Any concerns about Big data?
As always, Pros and cons are always in play. It also depends on which side of the fence you are on i.e individual or a business.
For me, sharing my information is irritating especially if you bury the terms and conditions relating to this deep in the web page that it take me more than 10 clicks to find it.😡
- Security and Privacy: Analyst need to plan ahead and secure data against internal and external risk. Many of this data will have private information that needs to anonymised.
- Data personalisation: it is difficult to trace data back to an individual who has more than one SIM card. To me that is a good thing but data miners might disagree.😂
- Data sharing incentives: Most individuals like myself are concerned about sharing personal data and I resist it, when I can. Some individuals will be happy to share if given an incentive. However, an incentive will not change my mind.
- Human workforce: Though the data is all around us, the analysis requires trained workforce and expertise. They are short in supply. Excel spreadsheet cannot handle this volume of numbers/information. The few trained analysist want to own their own business or are expensive to employ.
Take home message: To turn off your “off Facebook activity” go to
- Facebook settings
- Scroll down to your Facebook information
- Click on “Off-Facebook Activity”
- “Manage your future activity”
- “Turn off”
- You can download you data and clear your history
- Thank me in the comments section😂
