In the age of big data, we’re getting more personalized services from a wealth of data, but we’re also facing the risk of personal information leaks and invasions of privacy. Companies are using big data to analyze consumer patterns and develop marketing strategies, but privacy is becoming increasingly important in this process. Finding a balance between commercial utilization and protection of data is a major challenge in the modern world.
“○○, you’re going to be late for class. Hurry up and get to school!”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there, I’ll be right there, I’m on my way.”
Mornings for college students are not easy. Every morning, no matter how busy I am, there is one step I never skip: applying makeup! After cleansing my face with a good cleanser, I shake my skin. A few drops come out, but then it stops. My face is dry from the lack of skin and quickly turns red. As she hurries out of the house, she receives a text from ㅇㅇCosmetics, a company she has purchased from several times before.
‘Special sale for members only, 30% off skin products, only for two days, don’t miss this opportunity~!
A smile spreads across ○○’s face. “Wow, that’s great. A sale just when I need it, woohoo.” Within three minutes of receiving the text, she ordered and paid for the skin on her smartphone. Is it really a coincidence that ○○, who needed skin, received a promotional text from a cosmetics company?
In the 21st century, there’s money in data
Some have characterized the modern world as the age of data flood. This is because we generate a huge amount of data in the society we live in. One area that has been gaining attention in recent years is the field of big data. Big data refers to vast amounts of data that are difficult to collect, store, retrieve, and analyze using conventional methods because the volume, frequency, and format of data generation are too large compared to conventional data.
In the above example, suppose it is not a coincidence that the promotional text came when the skin fell off, but a strategic marketing of the company using big data. What passage can be a strong evidence to support this? The answer is the phrase “bought a few times”. If a consumer buys a skin and then repurchases it every A number of times, the company can analyze the consumer’s spending patterns with this purchase information. This data can be used to analyze the consumer’s consumption patterns, and when it’s time for the consumer to repurchase the product again, the company can run various promotional activities.
This isn’t something that’s going to happen in the future, it’s something that’s happening all around us right now. In fact, credit and loyalty card companies have very accurate information about their customers’ spending patterns through their spending history. Not only do they use this information to analyze the spending patterns of their cardholders, but they also sell it to various manufacturers as valuable marketing information. It’s not just financial information that is recorded. Social media, web portal history, medical records, GPS location data, and much more are being recorded secretly without our knowledge.
Data mining: finding the hidden gems in big data
But is all this almost infinite data meaningful and valuable? The answer is no. Not only is it impossible to analyze all of this information, but it would be highly inefficient to analyze all of it. In other words, we need to select only what we need, analyze it, and determine its value, and this is the field of data mining.
‘Mining’ is a word that means ‘mining’, and data mining means ‘to mine data’, so you can think of it as a field that can increase the efficiency of data analysis by selecting only the necessary data from a huge amount of data. It requires advanced statistical analysis and modeling techniques that are very demanding, and it is a field of study in industrial engineering.
The field of data mining is still in its infancy in Korea, but I am very optimistic about its future. There are two reasons for this: first, without data mining, data analysis would be significantly less meaningful and efficient. This means that without proper data selection, proper analytics results are impossible. The second reason is that data mining is a key technology for customer management, which is one of the most important aspects of business these days.
Big data, the all-rounder
It’s clear that big data has been a hot topic lately. The applications of big data analytics through data mining are very diverse. One of the most successful examples of big data analytics is Seoul’s “Owl Bus”. This is a late-night bus route that was established by analyzing KT’s call volume data, which records the incoming and outgoing locations of callers during late-night hours, and Seoul’s traffic data. This is an example of highly accurate data analysis to find the optimal route, resulting in high user satisfaction.
Experts predict that big data will be utilized in a much wider range of fields in the future. One of the earliest applications is personalized marketing. This means that the target of marketing will change from the entire consumer population or a specific group to an individual, which is a paradigm shift in marketing itself. In the medical field, big data analysis can be used to predict when a patient will become ill or to treat incurable diseases. Big data is expected to be developed and utilized in other fields such as agriculture, politics, and administration. Some scholars even predict that big data can be utilized to predict and overcome natural disasters, which were previously thought to be beyond human control.
The two faces of big data
However, there are also problems with utilizing big data, which is being treated as a “precious body” and is gaining a lot of attention. One of the most important and controversial issues is the issue of data leakage. A small category of information leakage is the leakage of personal information. It’s very easy to find out personal information by combining big data. A simple example of this is that by statistically analyzing a person’s internet surfing, sites visited, and social media usage, it is possible to learn not only their gender, but also very detailed information such as pregnancy or LGBT status. This is not only an invasion of privacy, but also has the potential to be used for criminal purposes.
Beyond this personal level, there is also the potential for national issues, such as the leakage of state secrets or military secrets. As we stand on the threshold of the so-called “big data era,” we should be wary of focusing solely on the commercial aspects of big data. If we ignore the side effects that big data can bring, it’s only a matter of time before our society suffers from ‘big data disease’. Before utilizing big data in earnest, I think it is the pride of modern intellectuals to prepare a plan to prevent the side effects of big data.
Combining Big Data and AI
The importance of big data is tied to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI can learn from vast amounts of data to help solve complex problems that humans can’t handle. In healthcare, for example, the combination of AI and big data is revolutionizing the way patients are diagnosed and treated. AI algorithms can analyze a patient’s medical records, genetic information, and lifestyle data to predict the likelihood of developing a disease and suggest personalized treatments.
The role of big data and AI is also essential in the field of autonomous vehicles. Self-driving cars analyze road conditions, traffic signals, and distances between vehicles in real time to ensure safe and efficient driving. This analysis would not be possible without AI technology that can process and learn from vast amounts of data. The combination of big data and AI is opening up new possibilities across industries and will have a major impact on the future of technology.
The combination of big data and AI is enabling new innovations that we have never imagined and will play a huge role in the future of social change. But with these technological advances come ethical and social issues that need to be addressed. Finding the balance between utilizing and protecting data will be a challenge for all of us, and will help us build a more advanced society.
