#THINK2013: the ORION conference on Extreme Data (part three)

This is my third and final post about the ORION conference.

John Weigelt’s mention of the work that Microsoft Canada is doing in creating a platform to collect and show data about cities,  in this case in Vancouver. This is an example of the Open Data approach that other cities (and other levels of government) are adopting. The hope is that   by allowing people to access and even analyze or write apps for the data (yes, more crowdsourcing to developers) there will be greater transparency and more citizen and voter engagement. Potential problems that I see  include: selective presentation of data, uninteresting data, inaccurate data, incomplete data, and data that is just too Big and too raw to be useful for most people. You can count on more exploration of Open Data in this blog.

The value of Big Data in scientific research was Mr. Weigelt’s last topic. In 2009 Microsoft published The Fourth Paradigm: Data Intensive Scientific Discovery which is happily available as a free download (I haven’t read it yet). While this most directly affects scientific researchers , the potential benefits of faster, improved scientific discovery, aided by Big Data technologies, can affect many people. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s success at using data to predict the onset of disease in premature babies before there were any symptoms, mentioned by Daniela Crivianu-Gaita who is CIO of the Hospital for Sick Children, is just one convincing and beautiful example of this. Big Data can save lives!

All in all, ORION was a great conference and a great celebration of Big Data Week. All the speakers were engaging and knowledgeable. I look forward to next year.

#THINK 2013: the ORION conference on Extreme Data (part two)

Continuing my review of the #THINK2013 ORION conference … John Weigelt, the National Technology Officer of Microsoft Canada, presented a large buffet of Big Data-related technology trends and innovations, from the Canadian mint chip to robotic farm tractors to networked transportation and travel to intelligent washing machines. Touching on just some:

• The Royal Canadian Mint Chip Challenge  invited “… software developers to create innovative digital payment applications using MintChip, a R&D phase technology available only to challenge participants. Developers and the public are also encouraged to share ideas for how a digital currency can be used.”  In other words, the Mint opened the doors to a large numbers of contributors to create the new mint chip. This approach is similar to crowdsourcing the development of smart grid apps.
• Agricultural technologies that involve robotic tractors and soil sensors that monitor and report data on crops and soil, such as soil or leaf temperature, amount of fertilizer in soil, crop yield and much more. Looking at these Google images of agricultural sensors will help you appreciate the wide range of sensing practices in modern agriculture. Using sensors to collect data automatically  is a significant part of Big Data activity.  I will return to it.
• Wireless communication between automobiles which could allow, for example, coordination of cruise control to allow everyone on a highway to travel at speed and get there sooner. And it’s not just about cars connected to each other. To quote Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn, “The car of the future will be networked – with the environment, with the traffic infrastructure and with the world of the internet.”

So what does the above mean for you and I? The potential benefits of “wired” driving seem clear: higher speed, increased safety, and reduced fuel consumption and pollution. But might it also lead to drivers paying less attention to driving because they don’t need to do as much? I wonder if this simply, ultimately leads to self-driving automobiles which are already being road-tested.

Data-producing sensors and agriculture are nothing but wonderful if using them leads to increased food production at lower costs. But the technology itself costs money and may be a barrier, especially in developing countries. On the plus side: as the technology is further developed and costs decrease it will become more widely available, maybe even to home gardeners.

It’s too early to tell about the Mint Chip, which hasn’t been released yet and faces competition from other types of electronic payment technologies already available. It will be interesting to see if the Canadian Mint’s crowdsourcing approach to input and development will result in an innovative, easy-to-use product.

#THINK 2013: the ORION conference on Extreme Data (part one)

Big Data Week 2013 took place April 22-28.  Fortunately, Toronto was one of 25 participating cities, and I had the opportunity to go to the ORION THINK 2013 conference. My report will have to be  brief because it was a day jam-packed with overwhelming data in its own right. I can only give you the highlights focusing on the you-and-me perspective of this blog.  Even so, I think that I’ll have to do several posts.

The theme of THINK 2013 was “Extreme Data”  —  Big Data as the mind-boggling, ever-increasing amounts of data available AND the great potential that comes from those huge amounts of data, IF you use the right technology and the right approach. Privacy is a good example. Big Data is ever-more pervasive and Extreme, so it is essential that your privacy is protected. As Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of  Ontario, persuasively argued,  this can not only be done without getting in the way of Big Data, but it can enhance it by making Big Data become Smart Data. Privacy is really about control of your personal data as determined by you. Using artificial intelligence technology, that control can be embedded into the data itself so it can’t be misused, then your privacy is protected automatically without you or anyone else having to act as a watchdog.

Smart Data would know more than just how to take care of itself. Smart Data could be really smart. For example, you may want only a few people to have access to your medical information, and a different group of people to have access to your employment history. With Smart Data you could tailor the levels of access to your data very specifically.

If that sounds far-fetched, know that researchers at the University of Toronto are already working on Smart Data in partnership with the Commissioner’s Office.