scholarly journals Big Data: Some Ethical Concerns for the Social Sciences

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Michael Weinhardt
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Online Behavior ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
State Actors

While big data (BD) has been around for a while now, the social sciences have been comparatively cautious in its adoption for research purposes. This article briefly discusses the scope and variety of BD, and its research potential and ethical implications for the social sciences and sociology, which derive from these characteristics. For example, BD allows for the analysis of actual (online) behavior and the analysis of networks on a grand scale. The sheer volume and variety of data allow for the detection of rare patterns and behaviors that would otherwise go unnoticed. However, there are also a range of ethical issues of BD that need consideration. These entail, amongst others, the imperative for documentation and dissemination of methods, data, and results, the problems of anonymization and re-identification, and the questions surrounding the ability of stakeholders in big data research and institutionalized bodies to handle ethical issues. There are also grave risks involved in the (mis)use of BD, as it holds great value for companies, criminals, and state actors alike. The article concludes that BD holds great potential for the social sciences, but that there are still a range of practical and ethical issues that need addressing.

scholarly journals Bought and Sold: Exploring the Effects of Big Data on User Agency and Commodification

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristia M. Pavlakos
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Privacy Regulation ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
User Interests ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Big Data1is a phenomenon that has been increasingly studied in the academy in recent years, especially in technological and scientific contexts. However, it is still a relatively new field of academic study; because it has been previously considered in mainly technological contexts, more attention needs to be drawn to the contributions made in Big Data scholarship in the social sciences by scholars like Omar Tene and Jules Polonetsky, Bart Custers, Kate Crawford, Nick Couldry, and Jose van Dijk. The purpose of this Major Research Paper is to gain insight into the issues surrounding privacy and user rights, roles, and commodification in relation to Big Data in a social sciences context. The term “Big Data” describes the collection, aggregation, and analysis of large data sets. While corporations are usually responsible for the analysis and dissemination of the data, most of this data is user generated, and there must be considerations regarding the user’s rights and roles. In this paper, I raise three main issues that shape the discussion: how users can be more active agents in data ownership, how consent measures can be made to actively reflect user interests instead of focusing on benefitting corporations, and how user agency can be preserved. Through an analysis of social sciences scholarly literature on Big Data, privacy, and user commodification, I wish to determine how these concepts are being discussed, where there have been advancements in privacy regulation and the prevention of user commodification, and where there is a need to improve these measures. In doing this, I hope to discover a way to better facilitate the relationship between data collectors and analysts, and user-generators. 1 While there is no definitive resolution as to whether or not to capitalize the term “Big Data”, in capitalizing it I chose to conform with such authors as boyd and Crawford (2012), Couldry and Turow (2014), and Dalton and Thatcher (2015), who do so in the scholarly literature.

A Systematic Review of the Use of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool on the Social Ethical and Privacy Context

2020 ◽  
pp. 226-255
Author(s):  
Ghadah Althawwad
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
The Social ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
Recruitment Tool ◽  
The Impact

The influence of social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter plays an increasingly influential role in the daily lives of people. Despite the rise of interest in this topic, the research discussing the ethical concerns of using social media for recruitment purposes remains in exploratory stages. This chapter provides a systematic review of recent research that was published from 2012 to 2018 and focused on ethical issues related to the use of social media for recruitment purposes. The techno-ethical lens, which studies the impact of technology on ethics, was used to explore the social and ethical aspects of how recruiters use social media for recruitment purposes.

scholarly journals Nanotechnologies, Risks and Societal Concerns

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Gaymard ◽  
Wilson Engelmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Exact Science ◽  
Psychology And Law ◽  
Inherent Risk ◽  
Human And Social Sciences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social And Ethical Issues ◽  
New Challenges

The question of nanotechnologies and societal concerns is a subject which has been developing for several years and constitutes an indicator of an evolution in the awareness of nanotechnologies as an inherent risk with social and ethical issues. Two disciplines in human and social sciences, social psychology and law, associate their fields of competence and their view of this new societal phenomenon. First an exploratory study of the social representation of nanotechnologies is conducted with Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) students vs Exact Science (ES) students. Results highlight differences between these two groups. Then Law and the challenges to appropriate the innovations brought about by nanotechnology is discussed. In the light of these two disciplines the question of knowing if the human and social science are ready to deal with these new challenges is debated.

Social Media to Social Media Analytics

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Kumar ◽  
Pooja Nanda
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Media Analytics ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Media Data

With the amplification of social media platforms, the importance of social media analytics has exponentially increased for many brands and organizations across the world. Tracking and analyzing the social media data has been contributing as a success parameter for such organizations, however, the data is being poorly harnessed. Therefore, the ethical implications of social media analytics need to be identified and explored for both the organizations and targeted users of social media data. The present work is an exploratory study to identify the various techno-ethical concerns of social media engagement, as well as social media analytics. The impact of these concerns on the individuals, organizations, and society as a whole are discussed. Ethical engagement for the most common social media platforms has been outlined with a number of specific examples to understand the prominent techno-ethical concerns. Both the individual and organizational perspectives have been taken into account to identify the implications of social media analytics.

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