active information

Recently, I dusted off my soapbox to respond to Thomas C. Redman’s post  Get Responsibility for Data Out of IT:

“As companies devote increasing time and energy in gathering massive quantities of data, many neglect a critical first step: Get most responsibility for data out of the IT Department.”

…”Since this step flies in the face of most current practice and may seem counterintuitive, I want to explain carefully. First, it seems obvious enough that one ought to put management of data (or anything else for that matter) as close to the action as possible.”

…”In a somewhat different vein, management responsibility should lie with the parties that have the most to gain or lose. Business departments gain mightily when they create new value from data. In contrast, IT reaps little reward when data is used to improve a product, service, or decision.“

I disagree with Redman on two points. Read about them at HPIO: Getting data responsibility out of IT is dangerous – Input Output.

Why, oh why, didn’t I come up this point:

“Organizations that capitalize on big data stand apart [because] they pay attention to data flows as opposed to data stocks.”

I highlight this concept, and the source article, in this week’s active information post: Shifting from data stockpiles to flows, thats the… – Input Output.

In the strange but true category…

“A paper in EPJ Data Science asserts that analysis of social networking data can be used to accurately predict societal events, such as election outcomes. The authors reached this conclusion by studying Twitter activity related to the 11th season of American Idol.”

I wrote about the study in my latest active information post: Can American Idol and Twitter teach us about Elect… – Input Output.

Yes, it’d be fair to say I have vacation on the brain. This week’s active info post:

“Over the years, I’ve highlighted many interesting, and even oddball, usages of sensor technology, from cow containment to mollusc-based oil spill detection. As my writing is directed at a business audience, I tend to highlight the commercial nodes on the ever-expanding internet of things.

Not today though. It is summer, after all. And like most, summer brings out my weekend sports warrior. Thing is, I’m not that talented. My golf outings would be better described as a watersport. My high school tennis prowess is long gone. And I have no foot-eye coordination.

But, there is hope for me…”

read: Weekend sports warriors: Improve your game, via se… – Input Output.
Related posts:

1. Active Info: Football and Weekend Data Warriors

The research explored in my latest active information post caught the attention of my inner retailer, figuring out why customers do the things they do:

“…Sifting, cleansing and connecting disparate pieces of data to unearth a clue or two to customer behavior. Think click-stream analysis. And in the case of multichannel businesses, follow-on activities to correlate in-store visits, customer service calls and such.

That’s a significant amount of up-front time and effort. Compounding the issue, the shortage of data explorers is well documented. No wonder organizations are focusing on data collection and procrastinating on data discovery.

But perhaps, the big problem of big data isnt one of analyzing the data stockpiles. Rather, the problem is in our data collection techniques and scoping…”

Read the post: Customer behavior data: better collection, better … – Input Output.
Related posts:

1. Big Data, ambiguity & the new era of Data R&D – active information
2. 8 Rules for Big Data – Active Information
3. Developing data literacy: Informed Skeptics & Big Judgment — Active Information

My latest active information post highlights Bechtel’s case study on implementing an API strategy to satisfy the needs of data consumers without all the heaviness of the current, data creation focused, applications.

It’s a great case, covering the use of APIs at Bechtel, the business and technology drivers, the benefits, the underlying technology, challenges and future plans.

The post: Lessons from Bechtel on making information valuabl… – Input Output.
Related posts:

1. Roadmap for Digital Government: Information Centricity — Active Information
2. Developing data literacy: Informed Skeptics & Big Judgment — Active Information
3. Big Data, ambiguity & the new era of Data R&D – active information

This week on Active Information, I highlighted research published in MIT Sloan on Finding Value in the Information Explosion. Jeanne Ross is a co-author, so you know it’s good stuff.

The good news is that IT organizations are stepping up to manage the data explosion.  The bad news is that these vast stockpiles of data aren’t generating a business return.

To turn Big Data aspirations into realized value, the research proposes three essential practices that BUSINESS leaders must embrace.

Read about these practices: Turn Big Data aspirations into business value – Input Output.
Related posts:

1. Active Information: Data Scientists, Moneyball, Competitive Analytics & Big Data Definition
2. Big Data, ambiguity & the new era of Data R&D – active information
3. Active Information: Big Data from left field; Big Data Rx

My active information post this week meanders from a case  on the creation of VinSpin — a wine recommendation app — to ambiguity, and lands in (potentially) a new branch of corporate R&D: Data R&D. And no, I wasn’t testing out the effectiveness of VinSpin while writing. I’m tangential naturally.

Check out the post: Big Data, ambiguity & the new era of Data R&D – Input Output. Let me know your thoughts.
Related posts:

1. 8 Rules for Big Data – Active Information
2. Active Information: Data Scientists, Moneyball, Competitive Analytics & Big Data Definition
3. Developing data literacy: Informed Skeptics & Big Judgment — Active Information

This week, I took a bit of a stretch and wrote about augmented reality on active information. Since AR applications involve superimposing data/information within an individual’s active context, it felt like a fit to me. Plus, it’s interesting.

My post starts with a piece from the WSJ on augmented reality glass and then touches on other uses, such as in consumer products and for office productivity.

Even if none of that sounds relevant to you, you should still check out Marco Tempest’s TED Talk: A magical tale (with augmented reality).

My post on HPIO: Activating information and business via Augmente… – Input Output.
Related posts:

1. Roadmap for Digital Government: Information Centricity — Active Information
2. 8 Rules for Big Data – Active Information
3. Developing data literacy: Informed Skeptics & Big Judgment — Active Information