For my post this week I wanted to focus on the question that was asked in class, which was the how do the measurements of data shape the realities that they measure, and what are examples of this phenomenon.  The example given in the text is economic measurement tools.  The ability to quantify and interpret big data in the economy shape the reality.  Discovering the patterns and mechanisms give the entity meaning that we were unaware of.  This phenomenon reminds me of the proverb, “If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound.”  Does the awareness of the meaning behinds big data equal it’s existence?  Does the data not exist without the ability to understand it?

The measurements shape the reality by opening our eyes to it’s existence, but does it shape it in another way?  In the case of a mechanism that can be easily swayed by analytics, such as the stock market, does Big data shape the reality by changing people’s feelings toward it?  When patterns and trends that imply a dip in the market is coming, people often will sell their equity thus fulfilling the prophecy.  On page 675 it asks “But we do think there are serious and wide-ranging implications for the operationalization of Big Data, and what it will mean for future research agendas. As Suchman (2011) observes, via Levi Strauss, ‘we are our tools’. We should consider how the tools participate in shaping the world with us as we use them.”  Big data is used to analyze patterns, but can also cause patterns, so it is important to be weary of it’s use.