Information Access and Control in an Age of Big Data

Abstract

In his 1941 short story "The Library of Babel," Jorge Luis Borges imagined an infinite Library whose books contained all knowledge in the Universe. When people discovered this grand secret, they felt great joy because the solutions to the world's problems-as well as the answers to life's mysteries, the explanation for each individual's existence, and prophecies of the future-were within their grasp if they could just find the right book. They began searching the Library intently.Yet the promise of all knowledge proved hollow because, although the Library surely had a comprehensive catalog somewhere, no one could find the key to access the information. Not even the librarians could control the chaos that resulted from individuals frantically searching for knowledge but being unable to reliably find what they wanted and needed. The result was depression, fighting, death, and looming extinction.In today's world, it is not difficult to look at Borges' Library and see Big Data, with its promise of answers, solutions, and knowledge. But as with the Library of Babel, the key to avoiding severe Big Data disappointment is unlocking the mechanism that controls access to the knowledge contained in the virtually limitless digital information that surrounds us. This special issue did not set out to answer life's mysteries or solve the world's problems. Instead, we and the authors attempt, in the context of mass communication, to explore the problems and possible solutions surrounding the issue of who controls Big Data and how to access the information contained therein.The Call for Papers for the special issue went out at the end of 2014. Thirty-eight papers were submitted by the deadline of June 1, 2015. The lead authors of the 38 manuscripts submitted for the special issue were affiliated with a variety of institutions in six different countries. More than 100 peer reviewers read and critiqued the manuscripts. In the end, the eight articles published here were determined to be of high quality and representative of the issues encompassed within the parameters of the special issue. We wish to thank the reviewers as well as all the authors, regardless of whether their articles are published here or not, for their contributions.We also thank Dr. Louisa Ha of Bowling Green State University and the editor of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Dr. Ha adeptly guided the conceptualization and development of this special issue. She answered our numerous questions by phone, email, and over lunch in Santiago, Chile. Dhiman Chattopadhyay deserves special mention for expert editorial assistance.The articles in this special issue present important questions that can be loosely grouped into three categories even though the manuscripts themselves are difficult to 646790J MQXXX10.

Libel by Algorithm? Automated Journalism and the Threat of Legal Liability

“…Amid the pursuit of "big-data solutions" in many sectors of society, there is a chorus of concern about the implications of big data for matters of privacy, surveillance, ethics, bias, manipulation, and power imbalances in a world dominated by algorithms and automation (Boyd & Crawford, 2012;Carter & Lee, 2016;Crawford et al, 2014;Stewart & Littau, 2016;Stoycheff, 2016). Thus, big data, algorithms, and related phenomena are of great importance for the fundamental nature of digital information: how it is captured, configured, and ultimately made visible in society.…”

To Post or Not to Post

“…These changes in journalism are occurring during an unprecedented increase in the volume of data collected by private industry and government, including personal data, and an equally unprecedented expansion of computing power and storage necessary to process and analyze data in new ways (Carter & Lee, 2016;Mayer-Schonberger & Cukier, 2013;Podesta, Pritzke, Moniz, Holdren, & Zients, 2014). As a White House review of big data (Podesta et al, 2014) conducted in the wake of the National Security Agency (NSA) scandal (Liptak & Peters, 2013) pointed out, big data are a two-edged sword: "Like other transformative factors of production, big data generates value differently for individuals, organizations and society.…”