[IS/MDIA 590]Yohta's Workspace-Community Data

week6(2/20)

The Mismeasure of Crime
(Clayton J. Mosher, Terance D. Miethe, and Dretha M. Phillips)

Human factor vs Social factor of crime

“everything which pertains to the human species considered as a whole, belongs to the order of physical facts; the greater the number of individuals, the more does the influence of individual will disappear, leaving predominance to a series of general facts, dependent on the cause by which society exists and is preserved”.(Quetelet/p.30)

“Crime rates were determined by larger societal, as opposed to individual level”(Guerry/p.30)

Dark figure-Gap between the true extent of crime and amount of crime recorded by police-

A notable number of crime remains uncounted due to:Self-report studies(e.g. Kinsey) is one way to improve the validity of data, 
but a great amount of consideration is required to avoid bias by respondents.

Classification of crime-UCR(Uniform Crime Report program)-
Lack of uniformity in the definition of a crime 
Issues:

The hierarchy rule

-When multiple offenses are committed at the same time by same.
→Only the most serious offense in the series is counted 

Question

1. Apparently, there are several socio-cultural factors that potentially affect crime data.
(e.g. How we define “serious” crime, reluctance for citizens to report a crime)
 Are there any cases that ethnographic intervention or perspectives incorporated in the criminology?

2. Conventional survey method to measure crime is problematic in many ways, due to contradicting incentive for central government(whose role is to measure accurate data) and local government(whose incentive is to promote local city).
Although not everything would be solved by automation, is there any alternative to collect crime data by technology? 
e.g. Number of calls for 911/ Encourage citizens to report minor crime by a mobile app?

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Discipline and Punish, Ch. 2 "The Correct Means of Training," (Michel Foucault)

Hierarchical observation

"The exercise of discipline presupposes a mechanism that coerces by means of observation"(p.170)
Spatial 'nesting' of hierarchized surveillance→Surveillance becomes an economic operator and improved productivity.

Normalizing judgment

"The perpetual penalty that traverses all points and supervises every instant in the disciplinary institutions compares, differentiates, hierarchizes, homogenizes, excludes* In short, it normalises."(p.183)

"In a sense, the power of normalization imposes homogeneity; but it individualizes by making it possible to measure gaps, to determine levels, to fix specialties and to render the differences useful by fitting them one to another."(p.184)

The examination

the article focuses on the historical background of knowledge production by using an example of hospitals or schools in 18C
  1. The examination transformed the economy of visibility into the exercise of power
  2. The examination also introduces individuality into the field of documentation
  3. The examination, surrounded by all its documentary techniques, makes each individual 'case'

Question

1. What kind of system, or team is the best mix to make a chunk of data/information into knowledge/insight"?       
As hospitals and schools became a correlation of knowledge in the 70s', emerging dataset generated from social media can be a potential source of knowledge. 
Who take initiative? Data scientists, statistician, scholar, mixed team?
        
2. What kind of cultural environment creates examination? As more use of mobile devices lead to the emergence of big data, Is there any cultural factor to cause sophisticated examination? e.g. Cafe in France?