The Promise and Peril of Big Data

The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened 25 leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics from the realms of technology, business management, economics, statistics, journalism, computer science, and public policy to address these subjects at the 2009 Roundtable on Information Technology. This report captures the insights from the three-day event, exploring the topic of Big Data and inferential software within a number of important contexts. For example: Do huge datasets and advanced correlation techniques mean we no longer need to rely on hypothesis in scientific inquiry? When does "now-casting," the search through massive amounts of aggregated data to estimate individual behavior, go over the line of personal privacy? How will healthcare companies and insurers use the correlations of aggregated health behaviors in addressing the future care of patients?