[AISWorld] CFP-AMCIS2017 Minitrack 8: Social and Ethical Issues in Big Data

[Ariyachandra, Thilini]

AMCIS 2017 in Boston: https://amcis2017.aisnet.org/

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Mini-track: Social and Ethical Issues in Big Data

(https://amcis2017.aisnet.org/submissions/track-descriptions/#toggle-id-4 )


Mini-track Description
Proliferation of social media, online networks and web technologies are enabling individuals and companies to personally engage with digital technologies at an unprecedented scale. An individual's digital footprint is further informed by their communication preferences, purchase behavior, financial transactions, geospatial location tracking, medical records, and even personal characteristics such as heredity. These vast amounts of data, also referred to as "big data", include structured and unstructured data that can be combined to profile individuals, groups and various collectives in society.
These data can be used by the governments, business organizations, research agencies, marketing companies, and agencies from various fields to peer into the human behavior and characteristics at a granular level that had never been possible before. The recent scandal involving Yahoo secretly scanning customer emails for US intelligence is one such example. Target retail store sending prenatal product promotion material to a teenager whose family was unaware of the pregnancy is another. Whether it is Volkswagen, Whole Foods, Ashley Madison social media or General Motors, the ethics and societal impacts of big data and analytics has grabbed center stage as a major concern for the public and organizations adopting a data driven decision making culture (Fang 2015). It is now recognized that the implications of big data reach beyond organizational benefits into the societal and ethical realm. According to Gartner it will grow in significance as a key issue in the field as it predicts that the improper use of big data analytics will cause half of all business ethics violations by 2018 (Marr 2016).
Big data can be used to predict spread of diseases, potential genetic anomalies, and provide other useful insights; however, these benefits come at a price.  Society is increasingly questioning the ethical risks associated with unfettered Big Data technologies. For example, use of these data raises privacy risks such as mass surveillance, profiling, selection bias, secondary use of Information, and collection of irrelevant information without users' volition. This mini-track focuses on research that addresses social and ethical issues associated with Big Data technologies and their uses.


Now Accepting Submissions (Due March 1, 2017):  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2017


Mini Track Chairs:
Thilini Ariyachandra, Xavier University, ariyachandrat at xavier.edu
Babita Gupta, California State University Monterey Bay, bgupta at csumb.edu
Gloria Phillips-Wren, Loyola University Maryland, gwren at loyola.edu