Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Data Junkies: Straight to the Vein

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It seems that everyone is talking about #bigdata- I found the album cover for the Data Junkies haphazardly the other day and had to write a post that would make sense to use it with, so here it is.

I have been in the business of selling 'news' data for a long time, and often our customers come to us for big chunks of data from our news full text archive- all for a nice chunk of cash, so paying for data is nothing new for companies that have budgets for it. There have always been two types of clients that wanted the news archives, big companies with big budgets or students, with little to no budgets- lately there is a bunch of other companies small, medium, big, technology, finance, retail, social etc. that want access to news data for analytic/predicitive/trending proposes.

A couple weeks back i bookmarked this O'Reilly Radar article that looks at data market offerings from four providers- Infochimps, Factual, Windows Azure Data Marketplace, and DataMark. I spent some time looking at their datasets, the typical fees, the terms of use, etc. Below is a chart (which is clickable on the site) that compares the 4 providers they highlight.

There are a lot of companies working in this space, and the numbers - from the technology companies, to the data providers, to the service providers have ballooned over the last year. Even the WhiteHouse has gotten in front of the trend and this Thursday, "The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will host a live webcast at 3 p.m. eastern time to outline how the government can “help big data” with its Big Data Research and Development Initiative" (Via GigaOM).

Technologists, data scientists, geek out on this stuff- but usability for general users that need data insights to make business decisions still needs to be addressed. Consumers can get excited but need tools to be able to do things with it- they need the tools and skills to make sense of the data- general skills for everyday business users (although there is also a big demand for data scientists). There are some companies working on that issue/opportunity usability. For example, ClearStory is interesting company in the space, trying to address the 'ease of consumption' for the regular user but also the IT department.


Image| Local Market in Cuenca, Ecuador- picture by me

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Information Overload Not Just About Productivity But Quality of Life

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Last month i was invited to attend an 'unconference' put together by the Information Overload Research Group. IORG, is a group of researchers, practitioners and technologists from academia, corporations, solution vendors and consultancies that are dedicated to reducing information overload, a problem that they believe "diminishes the productivity and quality of life of knowledge workers worldwide".

Charlie Davidson, CEO of Attensa who i have known for years via other industry events, sent me the invitation. Attensa is trying to solve the problem of Information Overload for businesses because "Overload not only hurts productivity, but also prevents people from using the information and knowledge that is critical to revenue generation, innovation and overall business results."

I had never heard of the Information Overload Research Group and upon Charlie's invitation i was immediately interested in having the opportunity to spend the day with academics and practitioners who are researching the issue of Information Overload.

It was a great day (and for me to say that because it was a Saturday, it was really worth my time, when i could have been running around with my toddler after a long week of work!)- i took many notes, and lately have been inspired to draw the concepts that are being discussed or that pop into my mind as the discussions happen- perhaps inspired by my two year old as she said ' mommy, so pretty' when i pulled the notes out to review recently.

I embedded them below as a flickr slideshow or you can click on the pages below for a bigger image. If anything doesn't make sense, or you need clarification on my 'wacky' imagery, drop me a comment!

I look forward to the next Information Overload Research Group Event, if you are interested in joining the group please visit their site.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

RIP iPad 1 (Rest in Pieces)

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Oh iPad 1, you have been a true member of our family since the summer of 2010. But now it is time to say goodbye....

You have helped us navigate the streets of Rome, Paris, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Lisbon and oh so many other little cities in far away places as well as close to home. Using 3G, or snapping screen shots of maps in preparation on the hotel WIFI- we always found the way with your help, bought the tickets before we got there, confirmed the open hours and the train schedules, read up on the collections and you told us exactly what we needed to enjoy ourselves.

And on those long flights to get to those faraway places, with an infant and then a toddler- you entertained and made the time 'fly' from your many kid Apps, to Angry Birds when the kid fell asleep. When we went out to eat and it was way past her dinner time, in the streets of some romantic town square- you entertained her so she could enjoy being with us, we with her and the other dinner guest with themselves.

You taught my 9 month old the swipe motion (and at 2 she swipes many a thing that just don't swipe because that is how she expects all electronics to work), you also taught her ABCs and all the animal sounds, her love of Toy Story , the Monster at the End of the Book, Monkey Pre-school lunchbox, Peekaboo Barn and on and on.

During the evenings you let me read interesting content, from people i follow on twitter, facebook and other feeds with a fascinatingly beautiful interface in Flipboard that more and more is becoming a standard experience in consuming content as i predicted. There was no movie star that ever went unidentified or spoofs that we didn't keep an eye out for as we tuned into a movie.

You became my cookbook companion- never a recipe that couldn't be found and followed from the counter. Oops no butter in the house, no worry a substitute is a swipe away.

There was rarely a question that went unanswered when you were around.












But i failed you, i left you behind once and miraculously you were 'returned' to me and now i just committed the ultimate sin.

I left you on the roof of my car and drove away, at about 65mph you flew off. My husband saw something 'black that looked like a record' that the car behind us swerved to avoid, we had the sun roof opened, but the screen was on and the kid couldn't have thrown anything and we didn't think of you because you were supposed to be safely stored in my bag. Latter on when i was about to pull you out to keep the kid entertained as we ate, i shrugged it off and she didn't miss you- i must have left it at home . When i got home 5 hours later, i looked for you, i panicked- where did i leave you- and then snap- i asked- "you saw something that looked like a black record behind us on the highway as a car swerved???....."

He went out to find you on US1, risking life and limb so you could be put to rest. Lucky for me iPad3 is due next week, you my friend are not so lucky. Rest in Pieces.......


Grave Stone Image|Flickr|bknittle
Raising Arizona Image|Bill's Movie Emporium- if you don't get the reference you need to watch the movie!
iPad Images|Unfortunately my own...