Communications and Ethics for Business Analytics

We live in an era characterized by collection of fine-grained data about all aspects of our lives and the use of sophisticated techniques to mine that data. Big Data has the potential to dramatically improve our lives by helping firms and individuals make data-driven decisions. However, significant risks still remain as algorithms enabled by big data supplant human judgement, upending our conceptions of privacy and fairness. This course will provide a broad overview of the ethical and legal implications of the use of big data. In addition, business analytics professionals need to convey quantitative information to diverse audiences when discussing the broader ethical implications; this course will help students improve their communication skills.