In the modern age, we often talk about the importance of protecting our privacy and data online. Our computers and smart devices have the capacity to collect immense amounts of data about us and our online habits, especially with tools such as auto-filling passwords and saving our credit card information. This data capture is extended even further with other smart devices being purchased and used (for example: refrigerators, smart speakers, security systems, vehicles). In our increasingly digital age, there is often much debate about how much of our data should be accessed by commercial organizations, and how it could be useful for science. Researchers are often provided access to large amounts of data and devices of data collection for studies involving large populations or naturalistic observations of the general public. Human mobility is one of those topics, in which social science researchers are trying to find information about human migration and movement in response to different factors over time. The question arises- to what extent can this research go for data use and is it justified?
Published in February of 2022, a paper entitled “Shifting Temporal Dynamics of Human Mobility in the United States” looked specifically at differences in human mobility according to peak times of day. For example, seeing the most movement (defined as “the use of public space”) during the hours of 7am and 5pm would indicate that people start and end their day at these times. The researchers used data from SafeGraph, an organization that collects data and sells it to researchers, businesses, and other consumers. Over the course of 2019 to 2020, they looked at differences in mobility during the day throughout the country. Once the pandemic struck at the beginning of 2020, they noticed major differences in some areas that they noted in their conclusion. They argued that following with the policies restricting human mobility in March 2020, there was a significant difference in temporal mobility compared to 2019; with daytime mobility starting later, evening mobility starting earlier, and differences in these trends across the country.
A team of researchers including a man named George Thiruvathukal wrote a paper (awaiting publication) entitled “Observing Human Mobility Internationally During Covid-19” that analyzed a large sum of human data during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their goal was to quantify human mobility during different stages of the pandemic in different regions of the world according to how strict the policies were surrounding isolation and restrictions. Using a network of public cameras (such as security cameras on buildings), they were able to develop a system of capturing movement data from April 2020 through March 2021 in three states of the US and five countries outside the US. They analyzed the data using a model capable of recognizing people and vehicles in the images and put together the results in graphical form. They found that the areas with stricter restriction policies and lockdowns had mobility that closely matched the leniency of the policy (when the policy changed, so did mobility). Areas with more relaxed policies had less direct correspondence between policy change and mobility change. The authors concluded that their method of computer analysis using data from cameras was an effective method of quantifying mobility, and one that future studies could also make use of with more cameras and areas being analyzed.
Both of these studies have interesting findings regarding how mobility changed during the pandemic. However, it is still difficult to conclude how human mobility is classified. From the research perspective, these two papers could point to how the collection of human data already produced these significant findings, proving that it is a goldmine that could inform many research discoveries and policies in the future. In the personal perspective, it could be considered an invasion of privacy if data is being collected and used without knowledge of it. I hope that researchers in the future will use the increasing available data about individuals responsibly and ethically or seek informed consent. Ideally, we can find a compromise where researchers can achieve their research goals as well as respect the privacy of personal data.
References:
Sparks, Kevin et al. “Shifting temporal dynamics of human mobility in the United States.” Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 99, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103295.
Thiruvathukal, George et al. “Observing Human Mobility Internationally During Covid-19.” IEEE Computer Society, 2021.
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