Algorithms are the secret recipe rendering unmanageable amounts of data useful to the naked eye. In fact, according to the Economist, a recipe is an algorithm! A recent article, pages 85-7 in the September 15 issue and dated September 13 online, entitled “Business by numbers,” provides an excellent overview for the lay reader of the various purposes to which algorithms are put: verifying credit card numbers (the Luhn algorithm); projecting shipping logistics at UPS; rerouting delivery trucks out on the road, internet traffic across the globe, and airplanes on the runway using real time optimisation; or detecting fraudulent shopping behavior.
Algorithms are also used to make sense of folks’ daily activities – yours and mine – and provides opportunity “to respond to each customer in a personalised way.” My grocer can compare my inordinate love of orange juice with those of other juice purchasers and soon get a pretty good idea of what else I might like to buy that I am not yet already buying – and pitch me with a coupon. Amazon now tries to get us to buy two books instead of just the one we were looking for. Search engines, like Google, where algorithms underpin every results screen sent us, analyze our every browse and click. The bigger the pile of data the more precisely can be the response – as long as the algorithm sorting works. The author describes the fine art of discrimination required in creating effective and useful algorithms. Just like recipes, they require testing. This is how “they” hope to get ever closer to answering differently and well for each one of us that all important question: “what should I do on my day off tomorrow?” (See previous post.)
Loyalty cards and logins help peel back the curtain shielding us from corporate prying eyes. So while tailored offerings might delight us, one should not forget the title of this article, either. It is commercial consideration ultimately driving business by the numbers.
