There are relatively few sources of really big data, and the best examples tend to be linked to consumer technologies and services. Even then, much of the data is something we agreed to when we engaged in its use. No one ever reads the entire terms and conditions, and most people recognize that someone somewhere is going to be watching. Otherwise, these technologies and services would not be commercially viable. Learning interesting things about people is the key to personalization, product placement, inventory, and advertising. We concede to the collection of data for our loyalty programs and banking, yet it seems with the costs of storage and computation decreasing, more advanced analytics are being performed to know you better than you know yourself. Goodman (no relation) calls to action designers to concern themselves with data policy and functionality, as they create a trusted conduit that can help or harm.

Goodman highlights four trends: the sensor-infused world, data as a commodity, the opacity of back-end information exchange, and mass scale. These four movements mark the confluence of an evermore-instrumented world, where everything can be stored at scale and the uses of such data are uncertain and obscure. She points out that consumers are not passive victims, as we consciously position our content to achieve outcomes that are not fully authentic (for example, online dating or amazing photos of food that was only okay). Studies have shown that spending too much time acting as a voyeur in a social space is actually depressing since in fact you are experiencing only the highlight reel [1]. What would it even mean to use such sources as analytic inputs? Goodman highlights an unfortunate story in which a father finds out about his daughter’s pregnancy through Target’s direct marketing mailings [2].

Data is being collected, analyzed, and used to help create the future of everything. Since slow regulation and clever legalese will delay any possible transparency, Goodman sees designers as the front line in creating more ethical and obvious systems. One can only hope that other interests do not trump these aspirations.