22 de julio de 2013

Book review: "Ethics of Big Data". Balancing Risk and Innovation

This book provides early thoughts to be considered while implementing Big Data initiatives in any organization.  Authors did a great job explaining ethical issues about possible uses of data  from customers/patients/citizens which can be easily understood by technical and non-technical people involved in any Big Data project.

Davis and Patterson argue that Identity, Privacy, Ownership and Reputation are the elements required to define a framework for Big Data ethics.  I agree with them that those elements help balancing between "risks and benefits of the innovations that big data can provide."

Additionally, this book describes the Alignment Methodology Framework as the tool provided to help you align values and actions of any  organization. It is composed of four components: Inquiry, Analysis, Articulation and Action.

In general, I think this book is an early exercise of the different kind of issues regarding the use and abuse of huge amount of data already available for public and private enterprises/organizations/institutions. It is recommended for people involved in designing any big data project.

O’Reilly Media: "Ethics of Big Data" by Kord Davis