Description: Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that? ” Source:… Read more »
Posts Categorized: data analytics
Big Data is watching you
Description: In the past few years, companies have amassed trillions of digital bread crumbs: from credit card transactions, from people’s online wanderings on social media and search sites, from GPS devices embedded within smart phones. Source: theglobeandmail.com Date: Jan 6, 2012 The Christmas season may still be a recent memory, but many marketers are already… Read more »
Idaho ‘Ground Zero” in Cyber-Terror War?
Description: CNN’s Dan Simon pays a visit to a U.S. government lab that protects the nation from cyber-terrorism. Source: CNN .com. Date: Oct 1, 2011 Questions for discussion: What do you feel are the major risks from cyber terrorism in your geographic area? How should Canada best prepare for cyber war attacks?
Fighting viruses, defending the net
Source: Ted.com. Date: July, 2011 Questions for discussion: Is this technical threat a manageable risk for the modern organization? How would one manage theses risks 2. Should this threat be managed by governments or by the private sector? Why?
When Machines Get Ahead Of Us
Description: Two recent articles in the New York Times highlight two different aspects of a single phenomenon: we build powerful machines, their capabilities lead to unintended consequences, and they ensnare us in some unforeseen way. Source: Forbes.com. Date: Sept 20, 2011 The first discusses a new technology, an improvement, really, of a technology that’s been… Read more »
Using the Webb to Investigate Jurors
Description: The internet is being seen as a legitimate way to screen jurors to see if they will benefit a particular case for one side or the other. There are two sides as the benifits and downsides of using theses technologies in this fashion. Source: Cnn.com Date: Sept 20, 2011 Questions for discussion: Do you… Read more »
Data Analytics: Crunching the Future
Description: New analytics technology is predicting behavior—and building businesses. In the early 2000s a wave of startups made it possible to gather huge volumes of data and analyze it in record speed—à la SecureAlert. A retailer such as Macy’s (M) that once pored over last season’s sales information could shift to looking instantly at how… Read more »