Tag Archives: big data

Mar 24 2017

What’s next for communications?

This week was our second to last Intro to Digital Communication class – I can hardly believe is already almost over! Over the last 10 weeks, we discussed digital convergence, public relations, advertising in the digital age, and much more. All of us talked about what we thought was the most interesting thing we learned in this class, and I must say we have a smart group!

I originally said in the class that digital convergence was the most interesting to me – mainly because we don’t really think about how technology has changed how we communicate, we just take it as it comes. However, one thing that interested me the most was the topic of “Big Data.” I talked about Big Data in a previous post, but I really think it is so captivating how it continues to advance.

It’s a little mind-blowing to think about how much digital communication has evolved over time, and how much of our personal life is out in the digital space. Our interests, thoughts, inquiries, etc. are all out there for the Internet to analyze and break down to assist organizations in targeting their consumers; thus, leading to more customization when we search the web. We continue to see advertisements for things we are interested in show up on our Facebook page or Pandora playlist, but where will they go next? We see how they play out in the current digital space, but with continuing changes, it makes you wonder what other types of data they can collect from us and how it’ll be used.

All of the changes over the years really makes you wonder – what else will be different in the future? We’ve seen many technologies played out in movies come to life, such as robots or self-driving cars, but what’s next? I’d love to hear what you think!

I’m sad to see this class is almost over, but very thankful for all I’ve learned. It has reminded me that I have taken on the right field for work!

 

 

Mar 3 2017

Can Big Data Prevent Fake News?

In this week’s Introduction to Digital Communication class, we discussed “Big Data” and how it influences what we do in our daily lives. According to SAS Institute Inc., “Big data is a term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates a business on a day-to-day basis. But it’s not the amount of data that’s important. It’s what organizations do with the data that matters. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.”

The bold part of the definition is important to consumers because it changes our buying experience. For example (a favorite example mentioned in class), if I am booking a flight on Expedia and it says “20 people are looking at this flight right now” or “2 spots left on this flight” – typically I would purchase the flight quickly so I don’t lose my spot. But, this is just marketing. Big Data is helping Expedia and other companies create tactics like the ones stated above to make consumers spend money.

Big Data changes how we shop, travel, eat and even how we interpret news stories. While their are tools to fight against fake news, sometimes it relies on the user to determine the validity of a story.

“The problem is that users are generally disinclined to take the extra effort to check. Even going to a website, tool, or app to verify a story before sharing it is more effort than most people will take,” Bernard Marr said in his Fake News: How Big Data And AI Can Help article. “Until big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning enabled tools become more sophisticated and reliable, we need to focus on educating people (starting as early as primary school) to be critical thinkers and not take every story at face value.”

While the above article mentions the tools that are helping fix this void of sharing or reporting fake news, I agree that the problem does rely on the user. We talked a couple weeks ago in our class about how the Internet has changed how we read, write, speak and listen – all of which definitely apply to social media. Our attention span is short; we want to read something short and know the point behind it immediately.

Many people don’t open an article before reading it – they just assume it is true. I believe this is how fake news is spread. Users see a headline of an article that sparks their interest, they share it, it keeps circulating, and before we know it – it’s everywhere (and it is fake). Most articles like this would be reported as “fake” if the users simply read it before sharing. I see this happen a lot on my personal feed.

Unless we educate users from the very beginning to be critical thinkers, will fake news ever stop being shared? Will users read more than just the headline? To that end, can Big Data really prevent fake news? I’m interested in your thoughts – leave your comments below!

P.S. Here is some other news about Big Data: