Communications of the ACM
Searching Big Data For 'digital Smoke Signals'
Analysis of Twitter can provide early indications of unemployment, price increases, and disease, offering "digital smoke signals of distress" that typically precede official statistics by months, according to the leader of the United Nations Global Pulse
Credit: RailgunTogepi
Development and aid programs are embracing the emerging field known as big data for development, which enables real-time monitoring and prediction to help efforts move faster, adapt to changing circumstances, reduce the number of communities in poverty, and sometimes save lives.
The United Nations Global Pulse team is using data from social networks, blogs, cellphones, and online commerce to improve economic development and humanitarian aid in developing nations. For example, Twitter analysis can provide early indications of unemployment, price increases, and disease, offering "digital smoke signals of distress" that typically precede official statistics by several months, says Global Pulse leader Robert Kirkpatrick.
However, obtaining data from private companies presents a challenge, and one of Global Pulse's key goals is to persuade mobile phone operators to enable access to text messages, digital-cash transactions, and location data. Global Pulse analyzes this data using the same software used for targeting customers with online advertising.
Kirkpatrick believes that companies should engage in data philanthropy with the goal of creating a public "data commons" without personally identifying information, for development and public health research.
From The New York Times
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