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  • 2019
  • Article
  • Consumption, Markets & Culture

Big Data

By: John A. Deighton
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Big data is defined and distinguished from a mere moment in the “ancient quest to measure.” Specific discontinuities in the practice of information science are identified that, the paper argues, have large consequences for the social order. The infrastructure that runs on big data is described as diffusing with unprecedented speed but as being difficult to analyze and critique, and, therefore, the designers of society’s big data infrastructure, whether human or machines, play an unacknowledged legislative function of great consequence.

Keywords

Big Data; Digital Infrastructure; Privacy; Algorithm; Data Generators; Marketplace Icon; Analytics and Data Science; Infrastructure; Power and Influence; Society

Citation

Deighton, John A. "Big Data." Consumption, Markets & Culture 22, no. 1 (2019): 68–73.
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About The Author

John A. Deighton

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  • The Economic Impact of the Market-Making Internet Advertising, Content, Commerce, and Innovation By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
  • The Internet's Effects on Consumption: Useful, Harmful, Playful By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
  • Sonder Holdings Inc: Using Technology to Solve Hospitality’s Frictions By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
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