Who Is Minding the Mined Data?

By
Social media tracking and the algorithms that keep people spinning in their own information and thought patterns are creepy enough, but questions about who keeps and distributes the data being collected in the process and what might be done with it are also disturbing. A recent profile about a man who “figured out how to turn American’s private information into big business” is a cautionary tale of a person who worked outside of many systems and eventually had mass amounts of stored data. While his information was gathered from all sorts of public sources, such information pertaining to all the drivers’ licenses in Florida, the overarching concern is that a person moved about freely collecting peoples’ data, amassed it, and sold it: The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases . 
As we are studying social media tracking, and the massive amounts of data being collected in the process, I can only think of what could be done with everything that has been aggregated by the many social media groups. In describing Twitter’s attempts at various business models, Van Dijck (2013, p.13) states that “From the very beginning, Twitter encouraged third-party developers to design APIs by opening up its metadata to everyone, from researchers to commercial developers, without charge.” As journalist Julia Angwin described the concern about who is at the helm of such major companies with such major access, “Never has the power to control public discourse been so completely in the hands of a few profit-seeking corporations with no requirements to serve the public good.”(Angwin, 2023) 

 "Twitter and the Paradox of Following and Trending". Ch 4, in Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: a critical history of social media. Oxford University Press. 

 Angwin, J. (2023, August 17). What if You Knew What You Were Missing on Social Media? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/opinion/social-media-algorithm-choice.html#:~:text=On%20most%20social%20media%20platforms,the%20celebrity's%20in%20your%20feed.

Comments

  1. Jourdan LSeptember 26, 2023 at 9:47 AM

    You touch upon some really great stuff here Ellen! I actually just watched a video about the shopping website TEMU and how a study showed that they are loosing an average of 30 dollars per product that is sold. Given this is not a sustainable business method a lot of people were wondering how they where making up for it. Turns out someone was able to look into it a bit more and found out that the people in charge of TEMU's software had actually had another app in which you could buy things, but it was taken off the google store after it was found that they were mining peoples data in the background. Theory is (and it seems highly plausible) that the only way they are staying afloat is by getting people to download their app, steal their data, and sell it to others on sort of a data black market. Makes you wonder how often this is actually being done!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Medial Platform for Libraries Only?

By
  The number of libraries, large and small, that have jumped into the social web is impressive and Choi’s literary review and marketing analysis indicates that libraries are more comfortable about the concept of integrating social media. A couple of small Maine libraries I am familiar with each handle things very differently, which makes me think about the staffing issues and user needs that our blogging group read about this week, but also information needs that are the core of our information science program. As if trying to strike a timing and outreach balance isn’t enough, libraries need to decide which platform(s) to use. Considering the wide age range of users they may be working with, it must be quite a challenge. Some people may have settled into their favorite platform, some simply don’t want to engage in social media through the library, and other members of the library community may be jolted by political issues such as those of X and TikTok. Pew Research  recently ...
Read more

Your book club is where?

By
When considering public libraries' involvement in social media, the biggest reasons for use tend to be marketing and communication with the community. Social media platforms are great avenues to connect with existing or potential library users, and I wonder about employing them more for virtual programming. I remember after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US in March 2020, libraries like mine scrambled to still offer services to the community with virtual programming largely not being practiced. As a society, we often talk of how busy life is today and know nearly everyone has a device constantly at their fingertips, which begs the question... why are more libraries not using that knowledge to their advantage for virtual programming?  A popular library program that could be moved to or have additional groups in a virtual setting are book clubs. With an increasing number of social media platforms out there that promote book discussion or discussions in general, now seems easier than e...
Read more

We'll keep you posted!

By Anna V.
  After reading this week’s articles about social media and libraries, how to get (and keep!) the attention of one’s audience has been on my mind.  It seems to be an ongoing challenge.   I have very little extra time lately, so I am very selective about how I spend that time on social media.   I looked into this a little more and found several sources. Some addressed social media in libraries, others were libraries themselves that had been recognized for their social media.   These suggestions are from the New Jersey State Library.   I enjoy seeing   what other libraries are doing! Taylor and Francis provide some helpful information  here.   This library ’s TikTok and Instagram became extremely popular, and I want to follow them myself now!
Read more