{"id":65209,"date":"2014-03-20T11:30:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T16:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=65209"},"modified":"2014-03-18T17:19:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T22:19:52","slug":"why-big-data-matters-to-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=65209","title":{"rendered":"Why Big Data Matters to Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Christina Wilson, Head Editor of\u00a0INALJ Alberta<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Manitoba<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Why Big Data Matters to Libraries<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"ChristinaWilson\"<\/a>Earlier this week I attended a lecture at Red Deer College as part of their \u201cPerspectives on the World\u201d\u00a0series. I was invited to represent Red Deer Public Library, a co-sponsor of the series.<\/p>\n

The topic was \u201cBig Data\u201d and the engaging speaker was Nora Young, a Canadian newscaster and\u00a0author. If this name is new to you, then I urge you to listen to her program \u201cSpark\u201d, which is heard\u00a0from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), the Canadian equivalent of National Public Radio.\u00a0\u201cSpark\u201d episodes can be downloaded from ITunes or heard on the CBC website (www.cbc.ca<\/a>). During\u00a0the course of several broadcasts in March, Nora examined, various issues surrounding Big Data, both\u00a0positive and negative. Her overarching thesis is that our digital travels results in massive amounts of\u00a0data being generated all around us, being collected and then being used by all kinds of groups and for a\u00a0variety of purposes. While privacy is an issue, it\u2019s not the solution to stay safe and in control of our own\u00a0\u201cdata exhaust\u201d, her term for the data each of us generates through Facebook updates, Tweets, Flickr\u00a0tags and other digital travels. We\u2019re in this world and need to learn to function in it to get value from\u00a0Big Data but not be negatively impacted. Via Spark and her recent book, entitled \u201cThe Virtual Self: How\u00a0Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us\u201d Young argues that everyone needs to wrestle with\u00a0issues like privacy and data control now so that all of us, not just governments and corporations, can\u00a0harness the power of big data.<\/p>\n

Herein, lays the role that Young identifies for libraries, especially public libraries. She loudly and\u00a0proudly stated that she\u2019s a \u201cbig fan\u201d of public libraries. Libraries can help individuals understand this\u00a0new digital realm. Ms. Young suggests that libraries can bridge what she sees as a persistent disconnect\u00a0between the general population and the knowledge of what happens with data and how it can be\u00a0used. Ms. Young clearly stated that this is a role for public libraries, who hold the public\u2019s trust, even\u00a0above governments and corporations. Our involvement and success in this realm adds continuing\u00a0value to libraries in anticipating needs and then providing the community based service. In her book\u00a0and newscasts, Nora argues that if we wrestle now with issues like privacy and data control, we can\u00a0harness the power of that data. Libraries are the best agency for helping people better understand\u00a0data generation, provide scalable norms for how to function in a digital world with a level of privacy and\u00a0safety, yet learn how to use the various tools. In other words, libraries can help people decide what kind\u00a0of data world they wish to function in by helping them to become more digitally savvy and engaged as\u00a0citizens.<\/p>\n

Ms. Young recommended that people actually write their local representatives and demand public\u00a0policies that encourage new customs and ways to help navigate the new world, with some protections\u00a0as well. This goes beyond anti-spam laws and extends to the ubiquitous use of tracking technology,\u00a0which can be helpful (think of the value of Google Maps\u2019 traffic views during rush hour) but also\u00a0intrusive (those nuisance pop-ups, especially when searching for commercial goods). Nora Young\u00a0gave an extreme example that occurred recently in the Ukraine, at the start of the revolution. The\u00a0government used tracking technology with crowd tagging to identify bystanders who were then charged\u00a0as criminals, just for being bystanders. \u201cThe Virtual Self\u201d is a compelling read with an important take\u00a0away for libraries seeking to show their value and relevance in our brave, new world of Big Data. Spark\u00a0continues to be a great resource for tracking technology trends and their impact on our digital lives.\u00a0Both are great resources for 21st\u00a0Century libraries and their staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Christina Wilson, Head Editor of\u00a0INALJ Alberta\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Manitoba Why Big Data Matters to Libraries Earlier this week I attended a lecture at Red Deer College as part of their \u201cPerspectives on the World\u201d\u00a0series. I was invited to represent Red Deer Public Library, a co-sponsor of the series. The topic was \u201cBig Data\u201d and the engaging…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":34335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,6054,3592,3974,6055,6056,3666,5888,5955],"class_list":["post-65209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-big-data","tag-blog","tag-christina-wilson","tag-digital-footprint","tag-digital-world","tag-inalj-alberta","tag-inalj-manitoba","tag-libraries-and-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/ChristinaWilson.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-gXL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}