thinking about big data in the broad societal context

Thinking About Big Data in the Broad Societal Context

ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions March 4, 2015

Never Discuss Floods With Noah In the Audience

Thinking About Big Data in the Broad Societal Context - ORAU 2015

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My talk will focus on

Some issues that stand out to a scientific generalist around “big data”

The societal context for issues like “big data“


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Some general issues that stand out to a scientific generalist around “big data”


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Big Data, as a modern term, refers to the data collection and analyses that have evolved from

Database management in the 1960’s

Data warehousing in the 1970’s

Knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) in the 1980’s

Enterprise resource planning and data mining in the 1990’s

Customer relationship management and business analytics in the 2000’s

Source: Chen, The Bridge, 2014


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Having to deal with large datasets has been around for decades

Astronomy data

Social science databases


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Some of the major issues are the same

Management

Curation/archiving

Manipulation

Standardizing measurements/datapoints

Data corruption


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So what’s new?

Pervasiveness of large data sets

Exponentially expanding volumes and types of data

Ability to work simultaneously with multiple and varied datasets

New technologies for working with very large data sets


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Thinking About Big Data in the Broad Societal Context - ORAU 2015 9

Diverse technologies are being used for analysis Data mining

Data fusion

Data integration

Image and speech recognition

Natural language processing

Machine learning

Social network analysis


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Ability to work with big datasets holds great promise in diverse domains

Complex scientific questions

Health-care

Agriculture

Environment

Commerce

National or transnational security


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But also big scientific/technical challenges

Lack of standardized measures and languages

Insufficient technologies and computing power to support big data analytics

Security of the cyber infrastructure and data repositories


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And some significant societal and individual risks

“Dual-use”

Cybersecurity

National and transnational security

Privacy and confidentiality violations

Human rights issues


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AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition Big Data and Human Rights, January 15-16, 2015


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These issues lead us to ask about the broader societal context in which the “big data” questions are imbedded


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The broader society (the public) provides

Sources of data

Receptors for products of big data analyses

Undergirds the policy context for big data and its use


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So, what is the broader societal context?


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Turbulent


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Science and technology are imbedded in every major issue of modern life

Direct component

Cause

Cure


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Some major global societal issues Environmentally sustainable development Need for renewable energy sources Information and communications technology Universal access to education Poverty and economic opportunity Technology-based manufacturing and jobs Intellectual property rights Terrorism International security Natural disasters Science and technology capacity building Vaccines and medical therapies against infectious

diseases Quality and accessibility of health care


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Corollaries:

For people to prosper in modern society, they need fundamental understanding and comfort with S&T

For nations to prosper they need Scientific capacity

National policies that reflect the best science

For science to prosper, the science-society relationship must be positive and strong


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An array of issues within science are not going so well…and negatively affect the broader (societal) climate for science

Incidents of scientific misconduct

Mistakes in scientific papers

Failures to replicate

Human subjects concerns

Animal welfare issues

Conflict of interest problems

Publishing by press release

Hyperbolic or exaggerated claims

Appearing to suppress dissenting views


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These are violations of the ethics, norms and values of our enterprise


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Even rare instances of any ethics violations tarnish the entire scientific enterprise

Likely need to crank up ethics and values training for our students

We need to be clear that we take even rare events seriously That we’re working to keep our own “house” in order


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These are factors internal to science, but…

There are also many issues at the intersection of science and the rest of society


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How the public feels about science is critical to its success We need public support

We need ready receptors for the products of our work Or why bother?


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Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Abraham Lincoln


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The relationship between science and its potential receptors isn’t so smooth right now


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People generally still respect science and technology….


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They have little understanding of what is and is not science

60% of Americans believe in extrasensory perception

47% still do not answer “true” to the statement: “Human beings developed from earlier species of animals”

41% think astrology is somewhat scientific

Science and Engineering Indicators, 2004


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Latest (Jan. 29, 2015) Pew/AAAS survey of the public’s view of science-related issues

88% of scientists think GM foods are safe to eat versus 37% of the public

89% of scientists favor using animals in research versus 47% of the public

68% of scientists say it’s safe to eat foods grown with pesticides versus 28% of the public

87% of scientists accept that climate change is mostly caused by human activity, versus 37 % of the public

98% of scientists accept evolution, versus 65% of the public


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A very scary point:

Only 54% of the public thinks American scientific achievements are among the best in the world, versus 92% of scientists


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Science-society tension can result from

Widespread misunderstanding Vaccines and autism

GMO’s

Tarnished image of science

Political or economic inconvenience Climate change

Conflict with popular or peer group beliefs

Conflict with core societal values


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Current scientific issues that abut against core values

Embryonic stem cell research

Studying “personal” topics Sex

Genetics of behavior

Teaching “Intelligent Design” versus evolution in science classrooms

Origins of the universe

Synthetic biology

Neuroscience – mind/body issues


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These kinds of disconnects and resultant tension have significant consequences

Science is less able to serve societal needs

Public support of science is undermined

Society wants to exert influence on what science is (or is not) done

The receptors for science are less receptive


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What to do about the science-society tension?


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We always feel we need more public education or communication about science

And we do


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But here’s where we need to get a bit more nuanced


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The right approach to communication depends on the goal: • Simply share the excitement

• Fulfill “broader impacts” or other outreach requirements of funding

• Garner public support of scientific research

Traditional “public communication” might well do

• Solve “problems” and reach common ground

• Work with policymakers

Need to shift to a different approach


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We often can’t just “educate” our way out of science-society tension The problem is not just lack of understanding

People do understand much of what we’re saying or want to do

They don’t like it

The conflict with their core values trumps their view of societal benefits


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We need a different strategy

Public engagement


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Communicating Communicating to the public with the public

In “public engagement” we are changing not only the style and content but also the intent of the conversation:

Monologue Dialogue


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We need to listen to the public about:

Their concerns about science and technology and their concomitants

Risks and benefits

Encroachment on human values

Their priorities among research areas

Questions they would like or need us to answer

Help frame the research agenda

And try to find common ground


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Effective public engagement is not easy

• Many scientists are not prepared to talk about their work and its implications with the public

• Listening to and respecting public concern can be difficult for scientists • It’s a learned skill


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www.aaas.org/communicatingscience


http://www.aaas.org/communicatingscience


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We’ve learned some important lessons


It’s important to get out to the public as early as possible

But do it without precipitating problems


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Differences in Communication Styles


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Only scientists are stuck with what science says

The rest of the public can disregard, deny, or distort findings With relatively little immediate consequence


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The gist of the message is all that matters

No caveats or clauses


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We need to remain the “fact people”

When scientists bring in their personal values, their credibility as scientists is compromised Leave your personal values at home

It’s unfortunate that scientists are also people


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Some “cultural” conditions for effective engagement

“Know before whom you stand”

Attend to both cognitive and emotional aspects of the issue

You need “warmth” to build relationships


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Engage with, don’t harangue, the public


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Go “Glocal”

Julia Taguena Parga, 2005


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In-person engagement works best • Group problem solving

• Hands-on exhibits or demonstrations

• Lab visits, science camps, museums

• Science fair

• Science café

• “Over the neighbor’s fence”


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Big town meetings are a loser!

To thrive in the modern societal climate, we need to

Explain what we do in clear and simple language Education

Make sure our scientific “house” is in order

Engage the public and policymakers in true dialogue about science-society and value-laden issues And do it earlier, rather than later


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We Need to Maintain Equilibrium in the Science-Society Relationship

Or both lose out!


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thinking about big data in the broad societal context

Data & Analytics

big data thinking

big data questions

data repositories

data collection

broad societal context

big data analytics security

big datasets

s data warehousing