Book says ‘Big Data’ becoming a global nervous system — from USA TODAY by Chuck Raasch — with thanks to Ray Schroeder for the resource
Explosion of “Big Data” collection and analysis is hopeful, yet worrisome, trend

Excerpt:

Smolan, a former National Geographic photographer, built the book around a simple premise: That “big data” are becoming a “planetary nervous system,” the potential and consequences of which few have even started to contemplate.

It’s “an extraordinary knowledge revolution that’s sweeping, almost invisibly, through business, academia, government, health care and everyday life,” he says.

That revolution, he says, is being built on “a set of technologies coming together at just the right time, brought about by widespread and low-cost sensors that can now communicate with each other, the plummeting cost of computing power, the ubiquitous everywhere and always-on aspect of the Internet, the rapidly proliferating spread of smart devices.”

Also see:

 

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Exploring the field of tech for engagement — from knightfoundation.org by Damian Thorman; with a special thanks going out to Sue Ellen Christian for this find/resource

Excerpt:

Knight Foundation launched its Tech for Engagement Initiative two years ago because we believe technology has the power to transform our democracy.

In big and small ways, we see the potential for reinventing citizens’ relationships with their neighbors, leaders and governments, as a way to build the informed and engaged communities where we all want to live.

Since then, Knight has invested $10 million in two dozen projects, with some early successes. I think most readily of Community PlanIt, which helped the Boston Public Schools involve more people, more deeply in planning efforts.

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From DSC:
Readers of this blog will know that I am pro-technology — at least in most areas. However, as our hearts can sometimes become hardened and our feet can sometimes find themselves on slippery ethical ground, we really need hearts, minds, and consciences that prompt us to care about other people — and to do the right thing as a result of that perspective.

 


Example articles that brought this to my mind recently include:


 

7 sinister technologies from Orwell’s 1984 that are still a threat — from dvice.com by Hal Rappaport

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Technology is a wonderful thing, but in the words of Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” If we are not careful, the technology we know and love could be used against us, even subtly. In the year 1984, Apple thought IBM was the bringer of “Big Brother.” In reality, the technology of today better resembles George Orwell’s dystopian vision than a 1980s era PC.

Every day we are in the process of becoming a more connected society. With social networks, cloud computing and even more specific, less-thought-about tech such as Internet-connected home surveillance systems, we may find ourselves in a delicate balance of trust and paranoia.

While we are grateful that we don’t live in a world as bleak as Orwell’s Oceana, it’s clear that the technology now exists to make his world possible if we let it. Keeping our paranoia in check, we should all be mindful of our technology and how it’s used. Security is a good thing and so is saving money, but consider how much of each your personal freedom is worth.

Wiping away your Siri “fingerprint” — from technologyreview.com by David Talbot
Your voice can be a biometric identifier, like your fingerprint. Does Apple really have to store it on its own servers?

Excerpt:

“What I’ve discovered through building and running very targeted online ad campaigns using this data is that users respond favorably to ads that are more targeted, but only if the ads don’t make it clear that I’m targeting sensitive information about them,” he said. “What’s most interesting, and what I’m learning, are which attributes are considered too creepy, and which ones are acceptable.”

“Google Now” knows more about you than your family does – are you OK with that? — from readwriteweb.com by Mark Hachman

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Google Now aggregates the information Google already collects about you on a daily basis: accessing your email, your calendar, your contacts, your text messages, your location, your shopping habits, your payment history, as well as your choices in music, movies and books. It can even scan your photos and automatically identify them based on their subject, not just the file name (in the Google I/O demo, Google Now correctly found a picture of the Great Pyramid). About the only aspect of your online life that Google hasn’t apparently assimilated yet is your opinions expressed on Google+. But that’s undoubtedly coming.

Social network privacy settings compared — from techhive.com by Nick Mediati

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

It should go without saying that protecting your privacy online is kind of a big deal. While people are generally good at not giving out their personal information to just any website that asks for it, those same people can be found filling their Facebook accounts with everything from their birthday to where they live and work. Putting this sensitive information onto a social network not only leaves your data exposed to third-parties (advertisers and so forth), but also to anyone who happens across your profile.

Facebook, Google+, and Twitter all have settings that let you tweak what others can see on your profile—but navigating them can be a bit of a mess. Not all social networks give you complete control over your privacy online, so here’s a quick overview of what Facebook, Google+, and Twitter allow you to do.

U.S. companies lost at least $13 billion to espionage last year — from ieee.org by Robert Charette

Google Glass & Now: Utopia or Dystopia? — from extremetech.com by Sebastian Anthony

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

If you didn’t watch the Google I/O keynote presented by Vic Gundotra, Hugo Barra, and Sergey Brin, let me quickly bring you up to speed.  Google Now is an Android app that uses your location, behavior history, and search history to display “just the right information at just the right time.”  For example, if you regularly search for a certain sports team, Now will show you a card with the latest scores for that team.  When Now predicts or detects that you’re leaving home in the morning, it will display a card with any relevant traffic information.  If you have a lunch meeting in your Google Calendar, Now will show you the route you need to take to get there — and when you need to leave to get there on time.  If you search Google for an airline flight, Now will show a card with the flight details (and any delays).

Big e-reader is watching you — from PaidContent.org  by Laura Hazard Owen

Why privacy is big business for trial lawyers — from technologyreview.com by Antonio Regalado
Tech companies that make privacy mistakes can expect a lawsuit.

Legal discovery: The billboard is imaginary, but the trend is real.
Trial lawyers are ramping up lawsuits over online privacy breaches.
Flickr Creative Commons | AdamL212 and istock/stocknroll


Addendums
On 7/6/12:
  • Your e-book is reading you — WSJ.com by Alexandra Alter
    Digital-book publishers and retailers now know more about their readers than ever before. How that’s changing the experience of reading.

On 7/16/12:

On 7/23/12:

"Bully" shows that we have too many hearts of stone

Please also see:

 

Discuss online reputation using historical figures — from byrdseed.com by Ian Byrd

Excerpt:

Internet

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that students need instruction in online behavior and consequences. Unfortunately, we’re stuck with textbooks that feature “internet” lessons like the one seen above. We have to prepare our students for an online world that our curriculum isn’t even aware of.

.

Concept Attainment — from byrdseed.com by Ian Byrd

Excerpt:

Concept Attainment is probably my favorite model of instruction. It takes the opposite road of direct instruction, and forces students to make their own connections. It builds drama, gives students ownership, and is plain old fun.

Here’s a video explaining the steps…

Facebook’s ad business is a $3 billion mystery — from Peter Kafka

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

So the numbers are out, and we know that Facebook’s ad business really is huge.  And it really is growing like a weed.  Just like we thought.

But how exactly does Facebook’s ad business workWe still don’t know a lot about that part.

The S-1 mentions “advertising” 123 times, and “advertisers” another 117 times.  But when it comes to describing how the company actually sells advertising, it is vague.

And that’s why a good chunk of the S-1 talks about the overall market for advertising — not just Web advertising, but all advertising. The message: There is a lot of money being spent on ads, and as we get even bigger, and smarter, we’ll figure out how to capture more of it.

And at some point they may share some of that knowledge with the rest of us.

From DSC:
If this figure were $3,000, no big deal, right? But $3 billion?!  How is it that it’s a mystery when they’re making that kind of $$$$?  I wonder if that has anything to do with Mark Zuckerberg’s and Facebook’s perspectives on privacy…

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Good to know [from Google]

 

From DSC:
I originally saw this at elearningexamples.com.

Big Brother is watching: Document reveals surveillance of social media, blogs, image-sharing sites — from techland.time.com byGraeme McMillan

Click here to find out more!
Jim Urquhart / Reuters

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

From DSC:
As a side comment:

  • What occurs in the legislatures and courtrooms across the world lags — sometimes a great deal — behind what technology can do.  With facial recognition, cyberwarfare, trojans, keyloggers, and other items out there these days, privacy is under attack and I don’t think the courts — and the citizens of the world — are keeping up.  Minority Report comes to mind…which is unsettling to me.

 

Six ways to be a media-savvy parent in 2012 — from CommonSenseMedia.org by Liz Perle
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Recording everything: Digital storage as an enabler of authoritarian governments — by John Villasenor, a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies and in the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. He is also professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Within the next few years an important threshold will be crossed: For the first time ever, it will become technologically and financially feasible for authoritarian governments to record nearly everything that is said or done within their borders – every phone conversation, electronic message, social media interaction, the movements of nearly every person and vehicle, and video from every street corner. Governments with a history of using all of the tools at their disposal to track and monitor their citizens will undoubtedly make full use of this capability once it becomes available.

The Arab Spring of 2011, which saw regimes toppled by protesters organized via Twitter and Facebook, was heralded in much of the world as signifying a new era in which information technology alters the balance of power in favor of the repressed. However, within the world’s many remaining authoritarian regimes it was undoubtedly viewed very differently. For those governments, the Arab Spring likely underscored the perils of failing to exercise sufficient control of digital communications and highlighted the need to redouble their efforts to increase the monitoring of their citizenry.

Declining storage costs will soon make it practical for authoritarian governments to create permanent digital archives of the data gathered from pervasive surveillance systems. In countries where there is no meaningful public debate on privacy, there is no reason to expect governments not to fully exploit the ability to build databases containing every phone conversation, location data for almost every person and vehicle, and video from every public space in an entire country.

This will greatly expand the ability of repressive regimes to perform surveillance of opponents and to anticipate and react to unrest. In addition, the awareness among the populace of pervasive surveillance will reduce the willingness of people to engage in dissent.

© 2024 | Daniel Christian