Data Mining: Big Data's Increasing Challenge and Payoff

Kurt Breitenmoser's short documentary presents a somewhat sketchy overview of how contemporary data analysis is being aggressively used to plumb the behavioral patterns of Americans. From seemingly benign projects, such as trying to predict grocery shopping trends, to the serious methodology used in formulating crime-reduction strategies, data mining is aggressively reshaping how U.S. society functions—and there is certainly no shortage of source material available, ranging from product barcode scanning, to social media messaging, to other daily digital transactions. Of course, the question of how this information is used—and gathered—is raising ethical concerns that have yet to be fully ironed out. Unfortunately, Breitenmoser overloads the viewer with jargon—phrases such as “data warehousing,” “neural networks,” “machine learning,” and “decision trees” are rarely defined with any depth, and the concepts being discussed are not well-visualized. As a result, we see endless shots of the same female model gazing into a computer while animated zeroes and ones swirl around the screen. On top of that, the talking head experts here (mostly analysts at major consulting firms) engage in awkward posturing (squinting over laptop screens, gesturing when speaking on cell phones, gazing skyward while walking down a Manhattan street) as their narration fills the soundtrack. A perfunctory introduction to a complex subject, this is an optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)