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Publication

Barriers for academic data science research in the new realm of behavior modification by digital platforms

Book - Report

The era of behavioral big data has created new avenues for data science research, with many new contributions stemming from academic researchers. Yet, data controlled by platforms has become increasingly difficult for academic researchers to access. Platforms now routinely use behavior modification techniques to manipulate users’ behavior, leaving academic researchers further isolated in conducting important data science and computational social science research. This isolation results from researchers’ lack of access to human behavioral data, and crucially, to both the data on machine behavior that triggers and learns from the human data and the platform’s behavior modification mechanisms. Given the impact of behavior modification on individual and societal well-being, we discuss the consequences for scientific knowledge creation and the roles and responsibilities of academic data scientists. Finally, we consider how current and future regulatory actions may enable academic data scientists to conduct meaningful research on platform environments in the realm of behavior modification.
Publication year:2021
Keywords:Minutes and reports
Accessibility:Open