How does Google know what to show you?
Raw Data explores how what people look up is linked to search engine marketing.
Raw Data is a technology podcast that’s not about technology.
Instead it focuses on the effects tech has on society and people’s daily lives. Hosts Andrea Mustain and Mike Osborne have a decade each working in science and technology, as a reporter and climate scientist respectively, but understand the need to document and describe the ways digital environments are reshaping human experiences in plain language.
Twenty-first century technology, particularly the Internet, has tremendously changed the ability to collect, process, and distribute information and data. It has allowed people in power to consolidate their influence, while simultaneously empowering and bringing a sense of equity to others. Raw Data aims to tell those stories without the unbounded wonder sometimes found in science and technology narratives. And they break down complex topics with compelling storytelling and interviews with experts.
Common themes from the show are how data play into power and democracy. Take their latest release, “The Answer Machine.” In this episode, they talk with search engine marketer and certified Google partner Patrick Berlinqutte, and NYU Stern School of Business professor Vasant Dahr, about how the intimate — and sometimes dark — information we share with Google can be used to shape our behavior.
PRX caught up with Mustain and Osborne about the episode:
Raw Data is a podcast about how information becomes power. Can you talk a little more about what that means?
Andrea Mustain: We are looking at that question — how information becomes power — through the lens of technology and data, but the way we do that varies a lot. We want to understand how and why. How that change is affecting our lives.
Mike Osborne: Our show is an effort to look at science stories in a new light. Science is power, and the fuel for that power is data. We also want to tell stories that illustrate how the deluge of new information is interacting with existing power structures. It’s a show about how all of us are suddenly reckoning with data.
This week’s episode is about Google ads. Why do an episode about this?
Mustain: This is a perfect example of what we cover on the show, and why. First off, a whole show about Google ads might sound a little…boring. But that is, in part, its power!
Search engine marketing is an industry in which billions of dollars are changing hands. And that, alone, is a big reason to pay attention.
But it’s also an industry that is built on our data. It works the way it does because Google and marketers can learn so much about us because of the way we use Google. That is something people should be aware of. And, if you listen to the episode, you’ll see that this brings up some really fraught questions. We go to some dark places. Which is maybe not something you expect when you’re talking about digital marketing. We go deep on the process itself, but also on how the platform can be used to do some pretty interesting, and perhaps troubling, stuff.
Why should people be aware of this process?
Mustain: I think it highlights just how new and untested our experience in the digital world really is. We haven’t figured out what the rules should be. And in the meantime, there kind of are no rules — or, at least, in the United States, few rules around how our data can be used. And there are people who are using those data to, well, build amazing products, but also to get very rich, and to amass enormous power. We think it’s important to pop open the hood, and see just how all of this works. So people can at least understand a little bit more about how all this wealth and power is being generated. Especially, when they, by using technology, are essentially active participants in the system.
Did you learn anything while making this episode, or this season in general, that surprised you?
Osborne: One of the things that propels this particular episode is the realization that, whether people are aware of it or not, we are all constantly sharing our inner lives with Google.
That’s incredible, right? Never before has a technology like this existed, and how we handle this newfound power has major consequences for society.
And when I look think about how this episode fits in with our overall season, it’s a good example of just how quickly these questions about data come to have major consequences. Personally, I’ve been surprised at how much democracy has become a recurrent theme. A lot of people are worried that democracy is on the decline, and we’re living in a time of massive tech disruption, so it makes sense to explore how these two things might be linked.
Do I have to know a lot about data to listen to this podcast?
Osborne: Jeez, I hope not! In fact, we love the nerds, god bless ’em, but this is not a show where all we do is geek out on data. Mostly we’re trying to make sense of why these new forms of data are important for non-techy people.
Mustain: You absolutely do not need to know about data. This is a show for anyone who is curious, who likes a good story, and who is trying to make sense of life in the 21st century. So, ya know, everyone! I hope!
Raw Data episodes post on Thursdays. There are several mini-seasons throughout the year. Subscribe here, or wherever you get your podcasts; visit rawdatapodcast.com to learn more about the show.
Raw Data is produced by PRX and Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute. Funding for Raw Data is is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance.
