The Book

In the first part Christian Rudder details how data connects people, specifically through his online dating website. People include all types of information in their profiles like hobbies, profession, favorite food, anything and all that data goes into how people are matched up and engage with one another. With all this information, how are people supposed to get down to what they are actually looking for as opposed to what they think they are looking for. Those two things don't always match up, and Rudder recognizes this when he comes to the conclusion that it is really easy to find what you want on the internet, but not always that easy to find what you need. So, why is is it so hard for people to find what they need? As Tarleton Gillespie explains, "data is both already desiccated and persistently messy," and also that "naturally, complex information systems are prone to error." (Gillespie 2014) Even with all the advanced technology that goes hand-in-hand with amount of data collection, it is still not enough to ensure that users will always find what they set out to. It also comes down to how the actual algorithms work. Gillespie mentions that "algorithms are not always about exhaustive prediction; sometimes they are about sufficient approximation."(Gillespie 2014) In other words, algorithms are "close enough," and this can lead to some muddling of what people are looking for. Despite the fact that there is a ton of data about a huge amount of people, obviously not every single detail can be one about a person. "What is less legible or cannot be known about users falls away or is bluntly approximated." (Gillespie 2014) When some aspects of a person are being emphasized and other overlooked, it would be impossible for the algorithm to get it right every time. Because algorithms are designed and created by humans, it is impossible to eliminate human error despite the fact that algorithm were made for that specific purpose. So while they are about as close to prefect as humans could make, they are inherently flawed, just like us.

In the second section of his book titled, "What Pulls Us Apart," Rudder talks about the things in data and in algorithms that separate people. His key argument in this section of the book is that race is confounding factor in all of the data that he is showing in that race place a huge role in what people think about one another and how people interact with each other. This kind of thing is also very prevalent in the world of big data today with algorithms being evolved to take part in social sorting. "Both security measures and marketing techniques exploit the interactivity of ICTs to identify and isolate groups and individuals of interest to the organization concerned." (Lyon 2007) This is the idea that people are classified into separate groups so that a company or firm can advertise or solicit their product with amazing accuracy, however social sorting leads to some scary outcomes. "Classification may be innocent and humanly beneficial, but it can also be the basis of injustice and inequity." (Lyon 2007) Sorting people can turn into segregating people when firms choose to advertise to one person and not another due to a perceived  image of a person based on what their algorithm is telling them. This can also set a frightening precedent for our society in that it encourages sorting and segregation. It is unfair for a firm to advertise to one person and not another just because that other person might not fit the stereotypical mold or image of their product. That person may still want that product and because they are being sorted out they won't know about it. And with that precedent that I mentioned earlier things like environmental injustice come into play with people either ignoring the issue or accepting it as okay. Environmental injustice is the idea that minority workers face worse working conditions than do white people. "Globalization was initially sold as benefitting everyone. When that didn't turn out to be the case, the information was modified to "potentially benefitting everyone," where the "potentially" part involved compensating losers through redistribution of income." (Spence 2011) It is clear that race plays a huge role in how people are viewed and how they are treated. Rudder recognized this, and admitted it affected which data he chose to present in his book. While sorting can be a good thing for more accurate advertising, it can also set a nasty precedent for the future on how we view people are are different from us and how we treat and interact with those people.

In the last section of his book titled, "What Makes Us Who We Are," Rudder ties all of his ideas together in his main thesis that big data is very human in that it is inherently flawed, and it is what we do with all that data that we are collecting that will decide our future. Rudder acknowledges the fact that big data is a so-called "flood" of information in that it came really fast and it is an overwhelming amount information to deal with. But what are we going to do with this flood? It is already clear in some aspects of our society today. 1:1 technology programs are being instituted in schools all over the country and at almost every level of education. "Every student and teacher in 18 of Guilford County's 24 middle schools would receive one(tablet), 15,450 in all, to be used for classwork, homework, educational games- just about everything, eventually." (Rotella 2013) In other words, technology will be taking over the classroom. That is just one effect of the "flood" of information that is big data. Another is social media. On social media, everyone has their own opinion and it is very easy to voice that opinion to the world, especially when people don't know exactly who is saying it. "The anonymity social media enables is indeed empowering." (Srinivasan 2013) So while social media makes it very easy for a person to share or say whatever they want via multiple platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, there are drawbacks to all that freedom. "Here we see that while media ecologies present dramatic possibilities for information to rapidly travel across and between diverse populations, media ecologies may also work to unintentionally distort and misrepresent information." (Srinivasan 2013) Social media also enables slacktivism, the idea that people will just post something about an important issue on social media and think they are helping the cause instead of going out and actually doing something about it. Those are some of the things that are coming of the "flood" so far, and like Rudder said it will be interesting to see what comes next.

I think that Christian Rudder did a great job with this book, and it was very easy to connect the data and the information he was sharing from his dating website, OkCupid, to other aspects of today's society that are affecting everyone. Although he broke is book into three different sections and had a different argument and different data to back up that argument in every section, he did a great job of tying it all together at the end. I really agree with his overall argument that big data is inherently flawed and that it is not the fact that we have all this information that will change society, but it is what we decide to do with it that will ultimately decide our future. That argument made a lot of sense to me because if we decided to do nothing with all that information it would be irrelevant. The fact that we are already putting it into use in everyday society via introducing tablets into schools, social media, and things of that nature are what is making the information useful, albeit sometimes harmful. I think Christian Rudder had a very unique perspective on big data since he interacts with it everyday, and I think that perspective really helped shape his argument and view of big data in his book. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see what exactly comes of all the information.