This workshop reviewed the history of Big Data and gave an overview of the main technologies developed over the course of that history. The workshop was organised and presented by SRAP-IEAP member Dr. Óscar Pérez-Concha (UNSW).
The workshop was divided in five parts:
- The power of data: how data have been used through history as a source of power and knowledge;
- Transition: how we move from paper and analogue technologies to the digital world where we live to today. We talked about the first computers, the concept of digitalisation, the progress in hardware, the role played by the Internet and the different software that contributed to create what we all know as Big Data;
- Big Data: Oscar gave examples of Big Data of what a day in the Internet looks like, the used of linked data in the field of health research and the differences between structured and unstructured data.
- How do we make sense of Big Data? Oscar explained how data are just data, and we need to analyse them in order to extract useful information.
- What is AI? One of the ways of extracting that information is by the means of Artificial Intelligence. Oscar gave an overviewed of the history, the definitions and the challenges to analyse and interpret Big Data using AI. Practical examples of how we can extract information from these data were shown. How we can use them for practical purposes; from informing daily decision-making by corporations to the practice of precision medicine in hospitals.
Finally, there was an open discussion and Q&A.
The full workshop was recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel: