September 13, 2014

Learning about Big Data

The emerging field of big data is being hyped everywhere. I too, am pretty excited about what is happening and even more excited about the potential it represents. The big data movement is primarily about leveraging unusually large amounts of data in a way to make better decisions.

Some of the more notable examples being referred to include Moneyball, where the data showed that on-base percentage was a better predictor of runs, then the traditional batting average in Major League Baseball and the NetFlix competition for a movie recommendation system and similarly Amazon’s website.  Others that may not be as notable, such as IBMs work with a beverage retailer that looked at hyper local events (social media postings about soccer practice ending), the weather (sales above 70 degrees), and other relative data points. In this case they analyzed over a billion points of data that could potentially impact consumer behavior.

Today, there is more and more investment in capturing and analyzing data. Communities like these are getting more popular.  These are interesting times.      



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