CHICAGO–Data. Analytics. Big Data. Big data analytics. It’s impossible any longer to attend a get-together of credit unions and not have analytics come up in some fashion, with the message often one (or all) of three things: that credit unions aren’t leveraging all the data they have; that credit unions don’t have sufficiently deep pockets to build the kind of warehouses and data analytics they need; and that credit union are falling behind.
In CUToday.info’s The Corner this week, we offer three different TED Talks that all have to do with various components of and views toward big data.
The trio:
Susan Etlinger: “What do we do with all this Big Data?”
In this TED Talk, industry analyst Susan Etlinger addresses strategists and corporate executives at medium to large enterprises with what’s been called a “surprisingly moving” discussion of Big Data, its legal and ethical implications and how to plan for data ubiquity.
Etlinger believes the greatest disruptor in the modern age is the imperative to extract insight from data in a manner conducive to building trust. How do we extract insight from data? How can we use data in a manner that gains and maintains customer trust? These are questions which Etlinger explores, making it clear that the twin challenges of insight and trust will occupy data scientists, analysts, engineers and even lawyers and the public for many years to come.
Etlinger’s talk can be found here.
Kenneth Cukier: “Big Data is Better Data”
In this TED Talk, Cukier, a data editor with The Economist, examines how Big Data is already changing the way we think about deeply-entrenched truisms and about how scientists are utilizing Big Data to improve humanity’s future. That includes the future of how we do business, and Cukier is optimistic—yet cautious—about the seemingly boundless potential of Big Data to transform how we live and work. Warns Cukier: “This is a tool, but this is a tool that, unless we’re careful, will burn us.”
Cukier’s talk can be found here.
Ben Wellington: “How We Found the Worst Place to Park in New York City—Using Big Data”
In this TED Talk, data scientist Ben Wellington offers a cautionary tale in which he suggests that despite the fact that government agencies, and by inference companies, have access to a wealth of all-encompassing data and statistics, sometimes they just don’t know what to do with with it all.
In this engaging talk, Wellington demonstrates the importance of why data acquired by organizations must be made accessible to the general public, and in easy-to-handle file formats like csv and Excel, not pdf or docx, which require much data cleaning before any significant analysis can be done.
Wellington’s talk can be found here.