“

Big data is not just about the enterprise. The fact is that every company, from consumer giants like Facebook and Twitter to the fast-growing enterprise companies like Cloudera, Box, Okta and Good Data are all big data companies by definition of the word. Every technology company with a set of engaged regular users is collecting large amounts of data, a.k.a. “big data.” In a world where data is the key to most product innovation, being a “big data” startup isn’t that unique, and honestly doesn’t say much about the company at all.

According to IBM, big data spans four dimensions: Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity. Nowadays, in the worlds of social networking, e-commerce, and even enterprise data storage, these factors apply across so many sectors. Large data sets are the norm. Big data doesn’t really mean much when there are so many different ways that we are sifting through and using these massive amounts of data.

”

Why We Need to Kill “Big Data” l TechCrunch

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“There are a number of new business models emerging in the big data world. In my research, I see three main approaches standing out. The first focuses on using data to create differentiated offerings. The second involves brokering this information. The third is about building networks to deliver data where it’s needed, when it’s needed.”

What a Big-Data Business Model Looks Like - R “Ray” Wang - Harvard Business Review

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How Obama Used Big Data to Rally Voters | MIT Technology Review After the voters returned Obama to office for a second term, his campaign became celebrated for its use of technology—much of it developed by an unusual team of coders and engineers—that redefined how individuals could use the Web, social media, and smartphones to participate in the political process. A mobile app allowed a canvasser to download and return walk sheets without ever entering a campaign office; a Web platform called Dashboard gamified volunteer activity by ranking the most active supporters; and “targeted sharing” protocols mined an Obama backer’s Facebook network in search of friends the campaign wanted to register, mobilize, or persuade. But underneath all that were scores describing particular voters: a new political currency that predicted the behavior of individual humans. The campaign didn’t just know who you were; it knew exactly how it could turn you into the type of person it wanted you to be.

How Obama Used Big Data to Rally Voters | MIT Technology Review

After the voters returned Obama to office for a second term, his campaign became celebrated for its use of technology—much of it developed by an unusual team of coders and engineers—that redefined how individuals could use the Web, social media, and smartphones to participate in the political process. A mobile app allowed a canvasser to download and return walk sheets without ever entering a campaign office; a Web platform called Dashboard gamified volunteer activity by ranking the most active supporters; and “targeted sharing” protocols mined an Obama backer’s Facebook network in search of friends the campaign wanted to register, mobilize, or persuade.

But underneath all that were scores describing particular voters: a new political currency that predicted the behavior of individual humans. The campaign didn’t just know who you were; it knew exactly how it could turn you into the type of person it wanted you to be.

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How Can Marketers Have More Influence?

Join us for a FREE live virtual panel discussion to learn about the obstacles facing chief marketing officers, including control over marketing mix and access to customer data, and how to overcome the obstacles to gain greatest marketing influence and control.

Sign up now and get a free PDF download of the research briefing “The Gap Between the Vision for Marketing and the Reality.”

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. EST

PANELISTS

Peter J. Korsten, IBM Institute for Business Value

Peter J. Korsten
IBM Institute for Business Value

Bobby J. Calder, Kellogg School of Management

Bobby J. Calder
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Martha Mangelsdorf, MIT Sloan Management Review

Martha Mangelsdorf
MIT Sloan Management Review

Edward C. Malthouse, Medill School of Journalism

Edward C. Malthouse
Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern

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A look at social business in 2013

CIO’s will rise to the forefront of corporate influence; data ownership will be ever important… Rob Howard of Telligent reveals his predictions for a year of social business.

Article Image

In 2012, social business resounded throughout the business land as companies were beginning to realise the potential of going social. However, 2013 is the year when companies will invest more heavily in social business, and will have to take into consideration the implications of coping with big data. Various factors will impact the workplace and bring the role of the CIO to the forefront of corporate influence.

Rob Howard, founder and CTO of social enterprise and community software company Telligent, shares his predictions for 2013 in social business: 

1. Businesses will continue to shift investments from Facebook and back to on-domain communities:

In 2013, businesses that previously shifted marketing funds away from their traditional dot-com domain towards Facebook, will reverse that trend. Research from Forrester Research Inc. and other analyst firms continue to validate the need for organisations to invest in their own websites and community experiences. Why? Consumers have different expectations and behaviours in consumer social media and branded communities.

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Mayor Emanuel Expands Open Data on City Portal with Executive Order

smartercities:

Today, the City of Chicago expanded its open data efforts with an executive order by Mayor Emanuel.

“An open and transparent administration makes it easier for residents to hold their government accountable, but it also serves as a platform for innovative tools that improve the lives of all residents,” said Mayor Emanuel, in statement on the city website.

“Chicago’s vibrant technology and startup community will leverage this wealth of open, public data to create applications that will improve service delivery and lead to greater quality of service for residents and more public engagement in City government.”

The city released 21 new “high value” datasets today, including real-time traffic data from Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses, environmental data, liquor regulation, and recycling programs.

When asked what made these datasets high value, the Mayor’s Office responded via email.

“The datasets released today aren’t necessarily more critical than the more than 400 others that have been released,” wrote Caroline Weisser, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office. 

“They continue the commitment the administration has taken to being a leader in municipal open data. The executive order itself codifies the actions that Brett and John Tolva, the CTO, have taken over the past year and a half to pursue both open data policy and detailed analytics in tandem. Making a firm commitment to continue adding writable data to the dataportal about how the city works provides the raw materials for the City to collaborate and innovate with the developer community, which ultimately helps the City do a better job of serving Chicagoans.”

For more context on opening government, the Chicago way, read our feature from 2011 and more recent coverage of how Brett Goldstein, Chicago’s chief information officer and chief data officer, is using data in the public sector.

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Is Big Data The New Term for Business Intelligence? | Business Analytics The term “business intelligence” was first coined by IBM researcher Hans Luhn in 1958, and then used in its modern sense in 1989 by then-Gartner analyst Howard Dresner. Earlier this year, Gartner joined other analyst firms such as IDC and started using “business analytics” as an umbrella term for solutions for turning data into value : Business analytics is comprised of solutions used to build analysis models and simulations to create scenarios, understand realities and predict future states. Business analytics includes data mining, predictive analytics, applied analytics and statistics, and is delivered as an application suitable for a business user. These analytics solutions often come with prebuilt industry content that is targeted at an industry business process (for example, claims, underwriting or a specific regulatory requirement). There’s still lots of disagreement about the differences between the terms “business intelligence” vs “business analytics” (read the comments), but it now increasingly looks like the battle of the semantics has been lost to a newcomer: “big data”.

Is Big Data The New Term for Business Intelligence? | Business Analytics

The term “business intelligence” was first coined by IBM researcher Hans Luhn in 1958, and then used in its modern sense in 1989 by then-Gartner analyst Howard Dresner.

Earlier this year, Gartner joined other analyst firms such as IDC and started using “business analytics” as an umbrella term for solutions for turning data into value :

Business analytics is comprised of solutions used to build analysis models and simulations to create scenarios, understand realities and predict future states. Business analytics includes data mining, predictive analytics, applied analytics and statistics, and is delivered as an application suitable for a business user. These analytics solutions often come with prebuilt industry content that is targeted at an industry business process (for example, claims, underwriting or a specific regulatory requirement).

There’s still lots of disagreement about the differences between the terms “business intelligence” vs “business analytics” (read the comments), but it now increasingly looks like the battle of the semantics has been lost to a newcomer: “big data”.

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Bringing Hidden Healthcare Data Into the Open | Wired Business | Wired.com As anyone who has had the courage to research a sore throat or mystery rash online knows, there is an overabundance of information available to help you try and get a handle on what ails you. What has been missing, however, is easy access to other kinds of medical information that have a direct bearing on healthcare, including a patient’s own medical records, test results, copies of X-rays and MRIs, and how one doctor performs when compared to others in his or her area of expertise. Enter self-described health IT hacktivist and author Fred Trotter, who, with a bit of crowdfunding cash, and a whole lot of patience, has hatched a plan to bring hidden healthcare data into the open.

Bringing Hidden Healthcare Data Into the Open | Wired Business | Wired.com

As anyone who has had the courage to research a sore throat or mystery rash online knows, there is an overabundance of information available to help you try and get a handle on what ails you. What has been missing, however, is easy access to other kinds of medical information that have a direct bearing on healthcare, including a patient’s own medical records, test results, copies of X-rays and MRIs, and how one doctor performs when compared to others in his or her area of expertise. Enter self-described health IT hacktivist and author Fred Trotter, who, with a bit of crowdfunding cash, and a whole lot of patience, has hatched a plan to bring hidden healthcare data into the open.

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Help End Homelessness With This Simple Survey App According to National Alliance to End Homelessness report The State of Homelessness in America 2012, the estimated number of homeless people in the United States was 636,017 at the end last year. That’s a 1% decrease between 2009 and 2011, but there’s still cause for concern — economic and demographic indicators show that homelessness might escalate over the next few years. The 100,000 Homes Campaign is trying to change that with its new mobile-friendly app, Homeless Connector. The campaign, which is a national movement to find permanent homes for 100,000 chronically homeless individuals and families by July 2014, created the app to empower people around the country to help end homelessness. Homeless Connector is a web-based smartphone version of 100,000 Homes’ “Vulnerability Index,” a survey that records data regarding the age, health, institutional history (i.e., military, hospital, jail, prison), and length of homelessness of homeless Americans.

Help End Homelessness With This Simple Survey App

According to National Alliance to End Homelessness report The State of Homelessness in America 2012, the estimated number of homeless people in the United States was 636,017 at the end last year. That’s a 1% decrease between 2009 and 2011, but there’s still cause for concern — economic and demographic indicators show that homelessness might escalate over the next few years.

The 100,000 Homes Campaign is trying to change that with its new mobile-friendly app, Homeless Connector. The campaign, which is a national movement to find permanent homes for 100,000 chronically homeless individuals and families by July 2014, created the app to empower people around the country to help end homelessness.

Homeless Connector is a web-based smartphone version of 100,000 Homes’ “Vulnerability Index,” a survey that records data regarding the age, health, institutional history (i.e., military, hospital, jail, prison), and length of homelessness of homeless Americans.

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Nate Silver and Political Data: Every One of His State-level Presidential Predictions Proved True

Beyond just personal vindication, Silver has proven to the public the power of Big Data in transforming our electoral process.  We already rely on statistical models to do everything from flying our airplanes to predicting the weather.  This serves as yet another example of computers showing their ability to be better at handling the unknown than loud-talking experts.

http://pulse.me/s/fb1Z8

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“Dear Nate Silver:
My name is Emma Gertlowitz and I’m eleven years old and for a million years I liked Justin Bieber because he was so cute but now I like you. I watched you on MSNBC and HBO and on “Charlie Rose” and I can’t stop thinking about how you study polls and create probability models and predict elections and how you’re always right, which I think is so unbelievably cute, and I keep imagining you saying to me, “Emma, I think that there’s a 93.7% chance of me falling in love with you…”

Read “A Date with Nate,” one girl’s love letter to Nate Silver, by Paul Rudnick

(via newyorker)

(via newyorker)

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Memoto, A Wearable Camera That Documents Your Life Memoto is a tiny wearable camera that documents the wearer’s life by automatically taking a photo every 30 seconds (video). The 1.5 inch square, 5 megapixel camera has no buttons or controls, and automatically begins taking photos whenever it is clipped on by the wearer. The photos are tagged with time stamps and location (thanks to built-in GPS), and can be browsed and shared via an iPhone or Android app. The camera’s rechargeable battery allows it to take photos continuously for 2 days (that’s 4,000 photos) before it needs to be connected to a computer for charging and uploading to Memoto’s servers. Memoto’s Swedish designers are currently developing the camera for manufacture. They are pre-selling Memoto on Kickstarter. The camera is expected to ship in February, 2013.)

Memoto, A Wearable Camera That Documents Your Life

Memoto is a tiny wearable camera that documents the wearer’s life by automatically taking a photo every 30 seconds (video). The 1.5 inch square, 5 megapixel camera has no buttons or controls, and automatically begins taking photos whenever it is clipped on by the wearer. The photos are tagged with time stamps and location (thanks to built-in GPS), and can be browsed and shared via an iPhone or Android app. The camera’s rechargeable battery allows it to take photos continuously for 2 days (that’s 4,000 photos) before it needs to be connected to a computer for charging and uploading to Memoto’s servers. Memoto’s Swedish designers are currently developing the camera for manufacture. They are pre-selling Memoto on Kickstarter. The camera is expected to ship in February, 2013.)

(via laughingsquid)

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How Big Data Can Make Us Happier and Healthier

webcommdesigns:

Big data is getting personal. People around the globe are monitoring everything from their health, sleep patterns, sex and even toilet habits with articulate detail, aided by mobile technology. Whether users track behavior actively by entering data or passively via sensors and apps, the quantified self (QS) movement has grown to become a global phenomenon, where impassioned users seek context from their big data identities.

Moreover, with services like Saga and Open Sen.se, users can combine multiple streams of data to create insights that inspire broader behavior change than by analyzing a single trait. This reflects a mixed approach design (MAD) research methodology that purposely blends quantitative and qualitative factors in a framework where numbers are driven by nuance. The science of happiness, for example, is now a serious study for business, as organizations combine insights of the head and heart to create environments where workers feel their efforts foster meaningful change.

However it’s studied, the desire to understand monitored behavior has reached a fever pitch, and the QS movement is attempting to meaningfully interpret our daily data.

The Power of Passivity

“We’re moving towards a time when the ability to track and understand data is deeply woven into our daily lives,” says Ernesto Ramirez, community organizer for Quantified Self, the eponymous organization created byKevin Kelly of Wired and Gary Wolf. “Sensors are becoming cheaper and connectivity is more ubiquitous by the day.”

This ever-present nature of data availability will become even more powerful when the general public begins to use apps that require little ongoing attention or input. Passive data collection is especially relevant in the healthcare industry, for example.

“The data quantified self provides is not a replacement of any measurement to date — we haven’t had this type of measurement to date,” says Halle Tecco, co-founder and CEO of Rockhealth, the first seed accelerator for digital health startups. “Patients live very cautiously before trips to doctors, and this causes more trips to doctors. It’s better if physicians can get a more comprehensive view of people’s ongoing health.”

Tecco highlights the importance of passive monitoring. For instance, a mobile app can continuously measure glucose levels or other factors like heart rate over time. Spikes in those readings could immediately trigger a doctor, even remotely. “We can save money and improve outcomes by having data collection embedded in our everyday lives,” she adds.

[READ MORE] at Mashable

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