Do Google and Facebook understand us better than we do ourselves? Are we becoming lab rats every time we go online? Is the impartially designed algorithm for predicting the probability of recidivism truly fair for sentencing individuals? What are the ethical issues underpinning big data science? When big data analytics are routinely applied in our daily lives, the ability to audit the adopted algorithms becomes crucial. This course aims to build students’ big data literacy through three major areas of focus: (1) Defining what big data is; (2) Providing an overview of existing big data analytical techniques; and (3) Discussing opportunities and challenges of big data analytics in tackling social problems.



The course will focus on elaborating the core principles of a variety of techniques adopted when predicting future phenomena through the lens of big data. We will use a case study approach to provide an in-depth understanding of various big data analytics, with the goal inspiring the students to think creatively and critically about how big data analytics can be used to making scientific discoveries and do social good.

Assessment: 100% coursework