"We know who you are and we know where you live": A research agenda for web demographics

Abstract

In the digital era, personal data, such as full name, address, age, phone number, and household members, may scatter across various administrative records, databases of private companies, and social networks, as well as through information contributed as volunteered geographic information (VGI). People-finder sites gather such data and provide user interfaces for Internet users to query web demographics. The emergence of web technologies such as mash-ups, web mapping, and webscraping presents opportunities to capitalize on the availability of web demographics and opens up new frontiers of research. The main objectives of this chapter are to (1) examine web demographics as an example of VGI and (2) explore the research agenda of web demographics. More research and development are needed to enhance extraction rules, identify and remove erroneous enumeration (e.g., duplicate, fictitious, and incomplete records), validate the coverage and accuracy of web demographics, and explore potential applications. Web demographics must be used cautiously in light of the uncertainty of web demographics (e.g., digital divide), privacy issues, and other societal impacts.