Big Data
I think big data and data analytics promise revolutionary changes that will ultimately benefit human life. Like any other technology big data could be used in bad and in good. I think the good that it could be used in trumps the bad side of it.
The book DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY& CULTUREA Open Education Resource defined data analytics as “ the discipline of turning raw data into information, and making conclusions about that information. The techniques of data analytics are often automated with programmed algorithms that collect, process, clean and organize vast raw data sets so that patterns can be detected and results presented in a form that can be analyzed for human consumption.” Clearly human have the final word on how to understand the data and using it. As long as we do not give up the power of make decision to the artificial intelligent, I believe we will use data in benefiting human, nonhuman, and environment.
To ensure that our digital technologies work to improve human and nonhuman lives we need to have good quality data. Bad quality data will cause bad quality decision. As explained by John Green in the YouTube video Data & Infographics: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #8 we need to make sure if the source of the data reliable or not, who commotion the research behind the data, who conduct the research and why, are they in good position to gather the data in the first place, what perspective the source may have, how the data represented ,and if it is a real data or not. The data has to be accurate and relevant. Good data is the base of good decisions.