In class we learned about how Big Data is used in Society today.
People in society naturally generate a lot of data, whether it is through social media, e-commerce or the websites they access. This information can be useful to government institutions, allowing them to track citizens behaviour and influence them in different ways.
One application would be the GDELT project (Global Database of Events, Language and Tone), which maps a number of themes on society, particularly media, that spans across the world. This tracks human sentiments and creates a network of events happening on a global scale.
Education would be another factor. Big Data can look at students test results and highlight those who need extra support. This might seem insignificant, however multiple students dropping out of education will contribute to a larger societal issue. By providing extra support highlighted by these algorithms, these numbers will decrease. Furthermore, the same can be applied to the courses themselves, those with low pass rates may indicate the need for further funding and development.
Crime is another application in which Big Data has been implemented. Records of previous crimes and their locations is vital information. Comparing this data on a graph can show key areas where crime rates are higher and more police are required. This is currently a work in progress however, as some criticisms have come forward arguing that predictive policing is seen as racist and targets certain communities. Fraud detection would be another application, as algorithms can be trained to look for certain anomalies online.
References:
https://ilearn.fife.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9751#section-9
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