Throughout human history, it is safe to say that we have put the planet through more than our fair share of grief and turmoil. Through unprecedented revolutions set in stone with the aim of furthering our own progress and longevity as a dominant species, we have changed the world time and again. Some of these changes have proven to be positive, while others have proven to be quite the opposite. It all depends not on the intent of the initial actions that spur on the evolution, but on the consequences, on how the chips fall. In recent months, we have seen one of the worst evolutions in a long time. In fact, for many of us, this is the first (and hopefully the last) time we have lived to see a pandemic rise and play out around the globe. The ongoing now-global Coronavirus pandemic has drastically revolutionised the world as we know it in just about every possible way. Believe it or not, we can become more digitally and technologically inclined (or obsessed, if you will). We have never seen innovation happen so quickly, such as the rapid development of COVID-19 test kits such as the A*STAR Fortitude Kit 2.0.
As the virus has continued to wreak havoc around the globe, this motion has peeled into reality, as borders have shut down around the globe and self isolation and stay-at-home orders have been enforced, all in a collective effort to minimise the spread as much as possible. With all this time at home, individuals are paying more attention to their devices – and thus inputting more and more data into them in the process. Over the years – and especially in recent years – the rise of data collection has become all the more prominent. Ecommerce came to fruition and with it, a significant increase in online traffic around the globe, 24/7. This has proven to be especially true in recent years – and even more so now amid the virus – as consumers around the globe have been becoming more and more invested in the digitalised devices that we have all become so fond of. Many companies have been and continue to rely on big data for marketing and search result gains. Analysing such data can inform your decision to bid on branded keywords through Google Ads. This is proving to be a reliable and effective method as the economic downturn sees SMEs to large businesses turning to online business models as a default.
Obviously, these devices contain a lot of personal or otherwise sensitive data, which is then tracked to determine patterns and trends among users. Now that we are living in the midst of a global pandemic, this type of data collection has been thought to be extremely useful in figuring out if individuals are actually following the advice of laws and regulations, as well as revealing patterns in how individuals are spending their time at home. The utilisation of big data right now might seem like an obvious approach to what is going on around the globe right now (and in some ways it is), however ultimately it could present as more of a threat than a genuine advantage. Defined as extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions , big data is all about revealing underlying patterns and trends, however there are always blind spots.
This is where the concern stems from. See, big data is extremely useful. This much is true. However, it can also present itself as being quite risky because any data offsets or gaps in the data may look like one point, but ultimately turn out to be quite another. This is where there is a genuine risk of threat to basic human rights not just as the virus continues to play out but in the aftermath and the following years. Educational institutions for instance must address the privacy issues as they scramble to organise virtual instruction alternatives for their students – from online aptitude test, college paper writing services, and online teacher feedback – educational authorities must keep their students‘ privacy at the forefront. Government bodies and other official processes and systems have been warned by tech officials and the like that gaps in big data findings are not necessarily gaps that are entirely transparent and therefore wholly representative of what is happening in the world and how individuals around the globe are responding. It is of course expected that big data will be utilised to a degree during and after this virus begins to dissipate, this is to be expected. However, ultimately it is important to not pay too much mind to it all.
As the now-global Coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc around the globe, we all become more and more focused on our devices and all they offer – whether through boredom or by recreation, the details of how we got to this point are not necessarily important. What is most important of all, however, is how we address it all. Practically every aspect of life as we know it has been turned upside down and we are spending more time on our devices. As a result, more data is being entered into these devices and thus perhaps inevitably) collected through big data implementation. The role of big data during this pandemic was always going to be prominent, however what is most worth noting and paying close attention to right now (and going into the future and beyond, for that matter) is how much emphasis we should realistically and safely be placing on big data, and how much we should (literally) leave to our own devices.
