Big data are changing the ways in which individuals are tracked and the corresponding ways in which science must respond. Data uses run the gamut from public health modeling to personalization of online content to potentially discriminatory practices. Big data involve not just using new tools to get better answers but also new social, cultural and ethical issues. This award establishes a model for dealing with the ethical, social and legal impacts of big data projects from their outset, with an eye to developing next generation protocols to cover these kinds of impacts. A multidisciplinary council will be established to engage with and complement discussions already underway in mathematics, the sciences, engineering, and computer science. The goal of the Council will be to address issues such as security, privacy, equality, and access in order to help guard against the repetition of earlier mistakes and inadequate preparation. Through public commentary, events, white papers, and direct engagement with data analytics projects, the Council will develop frameworks to help researchers, practitioners, and the public understand the social, ethical, legal, and policy issues that underpin big data phenomena.
Functionally, the goal will be to help guard against the repetition of known mistakes and inadequate preparation by working across domains and disciplines involved in big data projects. In the process, those working on this project will develop new and powerful paradigms for identifying and understanding leading edge social, political, ethical, and legal issues. Both the research outputs and the coordinated network will help inform the design of scientific projects. Furthermore, the public-oriented nature and accessible outputs of this project will provide input for public discussions surrounding the big data phenomena by engaging with journalists, educators, and public policy makers. This project will create an influential community of thought leaders that can help shape the understanding of the complexities of the big data and also provide engagement for young scientists.
