Big Data: New Opportunities and New Challenges [Guest editors' introduction]

We can live with many of the uncertainties of big data for now, with the hope that its benefits will outweigh its harms, but we shouldn't blind ourselves to the possible irreversibility of changes—whether good or bad—to society. The first Web extra at http://youtu.be/24czULRCI9c is an audio recording in which Katina Michael at the University of Wollongong discusses the June 2013 Computer magazine special issue on "Big Data: New Opportunities and New Challenges," introducing the special issue, the guest editors, the authors, the articles, and the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). The second Web extra at http://youtu.be/9zpFqEDydDA is an audio recording in which Katina Michael at the University of Wollongong talks about the IEEE Society on the Social Implications of Technology (SSIT), IEEE Technology and Society (T&S) magazine, and the International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS). The third Web extra at http://youtu.be/mn_9YHV2RGQis an audio recording in which Katina Michael at the University of Wollongong discusses how we can live with many of the uncertainties of big data for now, with the hope that its benefits will outweigh its harms, but we shouldnít blind ourselves to the possible irreversibility of changes—whether good or bad—to society.