Big Data

Baidu and UN Development Programme to Utilise Big Data to Solve Environmental Issues
Big Data marches towards more imminent expansion this time as Chinese web services outfit Baidu announces that it is working in tandem with The United Nations Development Programme to build a big data lab together. The agenda includes exploring solutions to global issues such as environmental protection, health, education, and

U.S. SEC Taps into Big Data and Cloud Computing to Make Big Savings and Enhance Prospects
The U.S. Government’s regulator of federal securities, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly utilising Big Data analytics processes and cloud computing in making records public and sifting/sorting through millions of trading data which in turn is saving the agency upwards of $3 million each year. The SEC’s move

Big Data Reveals the Smartest Have Been Magnetised to the Cities for 2,000 Years
The idea of the smart and talented in the hinterlands packing their bags and heading for the city is a well-known trope. But a new study investigating the cultural movements of the past 2,000 years using big data reveals that this is a story as old as time itself. The

US Attorney General Raises Concerns About Big Data in Criminal Justice
US Attorney General Eric Holder spoke on Friday about the risks posed by big data in the criminal justice system. In a speech to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, he highlighted the potential of big data tools, as well as the perils- namely, that such programmes could adversely

How Utilities Are Wrestling with Big Data…And Winning
Big Data has been making noise in almost every facet of corporate America. From targeted marketing to reducing manufacturing defects, the promise of Big Data seems like the 21st century version of Warbug’s Tincture – a comprehensive, all-inclusive cure to the gross process negligence and overall corporate excesses of the 1990s. What

How big data is being used to solve Chicago’s rat problem
At Cisco’s recent IoE symposium in Chicago, the commander of public safety information technology for the Chicago Police Department discussed how big data was being used to forecast crime and clean up the streets. Yet, it was another street-cleaning initiative which really captured the audience’s imagination; how big data is

Big Data’s Diminishing the Organ Transplant Waitlist
Last year, 28,594 organs were transplanted in the US. Although this seems like an impressive number, it pales in comparison to the number of people who currently need an organ transplant, which is over 120,000. 18 people die each day waiting for an organ according to United Network for Organ

Bitcoin and Big Data: Can We Predict the Future Value of Virtual Currency?
We often discuss the inherent value of data; perhaps the most obviously valuable data is virtual currency. Bitcoin in particular has garnered vast media recognition and speculation in recent years; Jason Kolb named Bitcoin’s distributed proof of ownership model as a world-changing technology. Another area with incredibly high valuable potential

KPMG and Imperial College Aim to Harness the Power of Big Data
KPMG and Imperial College London yesterday announced the launch of a new initiative that aims to meet the excess demand for data scientists. With an investment of £20m from KPMG, the two organisations will open the “KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics”, where the focus of the project will be
Big Data at Oxford University, with Professor Eric T. Meyer
We met with Professor Eric T. Meyer to discuss how the Oxford Internet Institute is researching Big Data. Professor Meyer is Senior Research Fellow and Director of Graduate Studies at the Oxford Internet Institute, where he has been on the faculty since 2007. His research focuses on the transition from