I hesitated for a long time before deciding to start Lesestunden. On one hand, I was concerned that a blog would take up too much time (it does, but not to a degree that bothers me); on the other hand, I had doubts about data privacy. I\u2019m writing about this now because I\u2019m curious how you feel about it. After all, through our choices and reflections on literature, we reveal quite a lot about ourselves \u2014 publicly, accessible to absolutely anyone. To potential employers, to colleagues we might not like, or even to former classmates. In any case, people learn something about you without you learning anything about them, and that\u2019s quite an unusual situation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The question, then, is whether all book bloggers are even aware of the possible consequences. Let me sketch an example I once came up with as an experiment (though, due to lack of time, I\u2019ll probably never carry it out). Suppose I take all roughly 1,000 book blogs from the toplist, automatically crawl all their content, and extract the books mentioned there. That shouldn\u2019t be too hard \u2014 just grab the titles and look them up via the Amazon API. Or even easier: read the Goodreads accounts, since many users\u2019 entire bookshelves are publicly accessible. I\u2019d then have a list of all the books each blogger has read. I could then enrich this list with additional metadata \u2014 for example, the bloggers\u2019 ages (most are on Facebook, and for many, that information is available). That may not sound like much, but using machine learning techniques, a great deal could already be inferred. Let\u2019s assume 30% haven\u2019t published their age. I could then train a neural network using the vector of read books and the known ages of the remaining 70%. That\u2019s not difficult \u2014 several cloud APIs make this easy (for example, Google<\/a> or Microsoft<\/a>). From those 70% of known data, I could then estimate the ages of the remaining 30%.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What I\u2019m trying to say with this constructed example is this: the information about which books we read \u2014 and how we rate them \u2014 may reveal far more than it seems at first glance. It might even allow conclusions about one\u2019s religious orientation, financial situation, or level of education. Perhaps even sexual preferences. Is that far-fetched? Maybe \u2014 or maybe not, if you consider Big Data and how such analyses have already become routine in many areas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n One could also ask whether this even bothers us. Would it matter if someone knew, for example, whether I\u2019m attracted to men or women, or how much I earn \u2014 considering it takes some effort to conduct such an analysis (and success isn\u2019t guaranteed)? Maybe that doesn\u2019t bother some people. Perhaps my example is too extreme, and for many the real issue is more down-to-earth \u2014 like a neighbor in the hallway joking that I, as a guy, have read yet another chick-lit novel. After all, it\u2019s unlikely that a life insurance company would raise your premiums because you read too many thrillers and might therefore have a tendency toward risky behavior.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Or do you see it quite differently? Am I exaggerating again \u2014 as in, do you think of your blog as a form of online reputation management? Do you consciously build an external image of yourself that\u2019s appealing to visitors? Only highbrow literature, refined small talk about literary theory? Well, perhaps I am exaggerating \u2014 I haven\u2019t come across such a blog yet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As for me, I\u2019ve decided not to blog about every book I read. I only write about roughly half of them. That\u2019s partly due to the example above \u2014 I know some of these analytical methods and understand how much can be inferred from disclosed data. But it\u2019s also because sometimes I simply want to read for myself, without talking about it. Completely privately \u2014 even when it\u2019s not \u201cguilty pleasure\u201d reading. Some reading hours are mine alone; I don\u2019t share them, not even in retrospect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n What about you? Have you ever thought about this? Do you write about every book you read?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I hesitated for a long time before deciding to start Lesestunden. On one hand, I was concerned that a blog would take up too much time (it does, but not to a degree that bothers me); on the other hand, I had doubts about data privacy. I\u2019m writing about this now because I\u2019m curious how … <\/p>\n