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hiker1
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Joined: 29 Aug 2009
Posts: 1624 | TRs | Pics
Location: West Coast |
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hiker1
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 Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:58 am |
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As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple With Ethics
| Quote: | | Scholars are exhilarated by the prospect of tapping into the vast troves of personal data collected by Facebook, Google, Amazon and a host of start-ups, which they say could transform social science research.
Once forced to conduct painstaking personal interviews with subjects, scientists can now sit at a screen and instantly play with the digital experiences of millions of Internet users. It’s the frontier of social science — experiments on people who may never even know they are subjects of study, let alone explicitly consent.
“This is a new era,” said Jeffrey T. Hancock, a Cornell University professor of communication and information science. “I liken it a little bit to when chemistry got the microscope.”
But the new era has brought some controversy with it. Professor Hancock was a co-author of the Facebook study in which the social network quietly manipulated the news feeds of nearly 700,000 people to learn how the changes affected their emotions. When the research was published in June, the outrage was immediate. |
falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly
~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
falling leaves / hide the path / so quietly
~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com
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NacMacFeegle
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Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States |
I don't see anything ethically wrong with it- everyone should realized that everything they do online is basically public knowledge anyway!
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Voxxjin
made of hamburger
Joined: 05 Sep 2013
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Location: Dupont |
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Voxxjin
made of hamburger
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Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:53 pm |
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Nothing wrong with gathering data publically available. But it is wrong when they mess with stuff like that Facebook study they did where they manipulated things.
Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war
Cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war
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trestle
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Joined: 17 Aug 2008
Posts: 2093 | TRs | Pics
Location: the Oly Pen |
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trestle
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Sat Aug 23, 2014 4:50 am |
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Substitute facebook for the NYT and you can quickly see the reason for phobia. Manipulated newsfeed is the forefront of thought-control.
If you're not outraged then you're not thinking. Frankly, the whole thing and the Cornell prof sound pretty perverted. Creeps, get a life and quit "microscoping" others.
I'm feeling it this morning. 
"Life favors the prepared." - Edna Mode
"Life favors the prepared." - Edna Mode
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VicTrekker
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Joined: 15 Jan 2014
Posts: 37 | TRs | Pics
Location: Victoria, BC |
| Quote: | | “This is a new era,” said Jeffrey T. Hancock, a Cornell University professor of communication and information science. “I liken it a little bit to when chemistry got the microscope.” |
Let's hope he knows more about 'information science' than he does about chemistry. Chemistry-microscope?
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wildernessed
viewbagger
Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 9275 | TRs | Pics
Location: Wenatchee |
In the digital age people are the product.
Living in the Anthropocene
Living in the Anthropocene
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