Young Writers Society

So shot this for my computer class . . . here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcI94Lt4hU0&feature=youtu.be

INT. TARGET STORE. DAY.

In a POV from the shopping cart, JULIA walks around the store.

JULIA (V. O.):

Millions of people go to Target every day. People will not only buy a carton of milk, but toys, school supplies, clothes, and furniture at Target. Using a system called “Data Mining,” Target and other companies use this information to their advantage.

CUT TO-

INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY.

Julia walks through the door.

JULIA:

Today, we’ll be learning about what data mining is, how some types of data mining work, and how companies use this data to their benefit.

INT. WHITE ROOM. DAY.

Julia stands in the center of the white room.

JULIA:

Let’s take a second to imagine something. Imagine you are the father of a teenage girl living in a small town. Each day, Target sends you coupons, usually coupons for milk, cereal, and school supplies.

An image of Target coupons appears on the screen.

JULIA (cont.):

Today, the coupons are for baby supplies, bottles, diapers, car seats. Enraged, you drive to the store and yell at the manager. “Are you trying to get my teen to become pregnant?” you scream. When you get home, your daughter tells you the big news. Oops, she really was pregnant!

FADE TO-

Title card. Screen reads: “Data Mining: How is your data being used?”

FADE IN-

INT. WHITE ROOM. DAY.

JULIA:

Now, you’ll probably want to know, what even is data mining? As the Google dictionary says, “data mining is the practice of examining large databases in order to generate new information.” In other words, data mining can simplify data and allow us to infer things about it based on patterns that have already been observed.

CUT TO-

INT. KITCHEN. DAY.

Julia unpacks a Target shopping bag. She pulls out coupons.

JULIA:

Huh, I needed these. Anyway, know that you know what data mining is, you must be wondering how data mining works.

CUT TO-

INT. WHITE ROOM. DAY.

JULIA:

Data mining will see what you buy and makes predictions according to it. So let’s say you are watching, hm, “Doctor Who”

A “Doctor Who” poster appears on the screen.

JULIA (cont.):

on Netflix, and you notice there are other TV shows recommended to you under the show.

A screenshot of “recommended” on Netflix appears on the screen.

JULIA (cont.):

Netflix sees you like Doctor Who and recommends other witty science fiction shows and popular BBC dramas. Netflix took your information and predicted what you would like, and that’s called “association learning.”

A picture of President Obama appears on screen.

JULIA (cont.):

For Obama, it was used to predict exactly how much money they would get back from each fund-raising e-mail. They saw what demographic of people weren’t donating, and they acted on it. 30-40 year old women weren’t donating, and Obama’s team added a Sarah Jessica Parker dinner sweepstakes for donors.

CUT TO-

INT. OFFICE. DAY.

Julia sits at her computer, searching for something on the internet.

JULIA:

Hey, new Harry Potter t-shirts! I was looking for those! Speaking of ads, data mining is also used to target customers with ads. They use different types of targets such as behavioral targeting and predictive targeting. Predictive targeting is like association learning, it takes what the user likes and recommends other products and services, it’s just that this is used for ads.

INT. CAR. DAY.

Julia sits in her car, a POV camera following her as they move.

JULIA:

Learning about what companies can do with your data is a little creepy. Believe me, I know. I shop at Target all the time. After learning about data mining, I can see the use of my data in the real world. I see how ads relate to me, I see how coupons relate to me, and I see how these companies use my data for their profit. Like Andrew Pole (the creator of Target’s pregnancy-prediction model) says, “Just wait. We’ll be sending you coupons for things you want before you even know you want them.”

Julia gets out of the car and grabs a Target cart.

FADE TO-

Credits.

Works Cited

Blogspot. (NA). Doctor Who Poster. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from Blogspot: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ntNwwRWgNgk/UM97WvAQFPI/AAAAAAACL4M/_ZpLLWvfoOc/s1600/doctor_who_poster15.jpg

Duhigg, C. (2012, Februrary 16). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Furnas, A. (2012, April 3). Everything You Wanted to Know About Data Mining but Were Afraid to Ask. Retrieved May 22, 2014, from The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-data-mining-but-were-afraid-to-ask/255388/

Google. (NA). What is Data Mining? Retrieved May 22, 2014, from Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+data+mining&oq=what&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0l4.2513j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Marwick, A. E. (2014, January 14). How Your Data Are Being Deeply Mined. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from NY Books: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/jan/09/how-your-data-are-being-deeply-mined/

Memory, J. (2014, May 30). Data Mining. (J. Memory, Interviewer)

The Best Daily Deals. (NA). Target Coupons. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from The Best Daily Deals: http://thebestdailydeals.com/images/target-coupons-saving-money-at-target_naete_4.jpg

Wikipedia. (NA). Official Portrait or Barack Obama. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from Wikipedia: http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Official_portrait_of_Barack_Obama.jpg