Big Data

Think Again: Big Data

Why the rise of machines isn't all it's cracked up to be.

BY KATE CRAWFORD | MAY 9, 2013

"Big data" is the jargon du jour, the tech world's one-size-fits-all (so long as it's triple XL) answer to solving the world's most intractable problems. The term is commonly used to describe the art and science of analyzing massive amounts of information to detect patterns, glean insights, and predict answers to complex questions. It might sound a bit dull, but from stopping terrorists to ending poverty to saving the planet, there's no problem too big for the evangelists of big data.

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Given the immense amount of information collected about us every day -- including Facebook clicks, GPS data, health-care prescriptions, and Netflix queues -- we must decide sooner rather than later whom we can trust with that information, and for what purpose. We can't escape the fact that data is never neutral and that it's difficult to anonymize. But we can draw on expertise across different fields in order to better recognize biases, gaps, and assumptions, and to rise to the new challenges to privacy and fairness.