Reassessing the Facebook experiment: critical thinking about the validity of Big Data research

The Facebook experiment of 2014 manipulated the contents of nearly 700,000 users’ News Feeds to induce changes in their emotions. This experiment was widely criticized on ethical grounds regarding informed consent. This controversy, however, diverted attention from a more important concern the experiment was intended to address, which is the impact of Facebook use on well-being. In this paper, I explore the well-being concerns raised by prior research and argue that the experiment does not alleviate them, owing to poor research design. As the question of Facebook's impact on well-being is of great importance, both to Facebook and to society overall, there is a pressing need for more experimental research that is both sensitive to informed consent and carefully designed to yield reliable results. In turn, the lessons of this case have implications for general issues of validity that emerge in Big Data research, now in vogue at major scientific venues.     

梅·萨藤日记中的语言使用与衰老的相关性研究

人类的衰老与语言使用密切相关,通过纵向跟踪一个人语言使用中的变化规律,可以在一定程度上为我们从语言的角度提供依据来诊断衰老变化与质量,为老龄化时代的健康衰老模式提供理论参照。文章以美国著名作家梅·萨藤在57-82岁期间撰写出版的8本日记为历时性语料,利用LIWC词频统计软件,统计8本日记中7个文本参数的词频数量及其变化趋势,通过定性分析与语料解读,考察作者的语言使用是否或如何随着年龄而变化以及变化的原因。结果显示:年龄对于自我参照、社交词汇、消极情感词汇、冠词和大词的使用影响较大,而对于积极情感词汇和认知词汇的使用影响不明显。主要是因为随着人的变老,其自我关注程度、社交和情感需求、其他生活关注以及类别化思维程度等发生了变化。