[AISWorld] CFP-AMCIS 2017 SIGDSA Mini Track 8: Social and Ethical Issues in Big Data

[Babita Gupta]

*AMCIS 2017*

*Boston, MA, USA*

*August 10-12, 2017.*

*Submissions due by 01-March-2017 1:00 PM EST (13:00 EST)*

*https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2017
<https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2017>*

*Instructions for authors at
https://amcis2017.aisnet.org/submissions/types-of-submissions/
<https://amcis2017.aisnet.org/submissions/types-of-submissions/>*



*** Mini-track: Social and Ethical Issues in Big Data ***

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



*Mini Track Chairs:*



*Thilini Ariyachandra, Xavier University, ariyachandrat at xavier.edu
<ariyachandrat at xavier.edu>*

*Babita Gupta, California State University Monterey Bay, bgupta at csumb.edu
<bgupta at csumb.edu>*

*Gloria Phillips-Wren, Loyola University Maryland, gwren at loyola.edu
<gwren at loyola.edu>*
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Babita Gupta, Ph.D.
Professor of Information Systems
Director of AACSB Accreditation
College of Business
California State University Monterey Bay
Room 326, Gambord BIT Building, Seaside, CA 93955
Phone: 831-582-4186