Two interesting (and fun!) articles I came across as I made my return journey to Scotland from the States.

Big Data (link to article)
 David Weinberger in The Atlantic Monthly explores the idea that the complexity of the data we accumulate and the models generated to process it, may in cases be too great for our human minds to ever understand. He uses as an analogy, "It's a bit as if Einstein dreamed E=mc2, and we confirmed that it worked, but no one could figure out what the c stands for."

He identifies three drivers of data generation: (1) "economics of deletion", ie it costs less now to store something digitally than it does to filter through it, (2) "economics of sharing", ie digital items are increasingly easier to share, especially if compared against items that previously only existed as a physical object, such as a book or photo and (3) the incredible increases in the processing power of computers.

Big data itself then leads to what he calls "database-based science" that may be too complex to be broken down into theories, as the real world can be more complex than any model can depict. He says that we might understand how something works, but not why. In response to this, he mentions Cornell University's Eureqa computer programme that through iterative steps generates equations to identify data that is likely related.

The part that I identified with was his summary of a letter written in 1963 by a Mayo Clinic doctor, in which he refers to facts as bricks. "And so it happened that the land became flooded with bricks. ... It became difficult to find the proper bricks for a task because one had to hunt among so many. ... It became difficult to complete a useful edifice because, as soon as the foundations were discernible, they were buried under an avalanche of random bricks."

In my project work as a data analyst, it reminds me that I need to seek out and focus on the causal elements in the work I do. It also highlights to me the business value of my company's real-time complex event processing solutions, like the example showing how to effectively manage electrical car charging stations in London.

Digital Marketing (link to article)
A writer from my hometown identifies five trends he sees in digital marketing. The Number one: explosion of mobile. This is in line with trends that Danny Wootton (Mobile Channels) and Pete Blunsdon (Intranet Design Annual 2012…) referenced in recent entries in their blogs.

I hope you enjoy these articles too.  

For some of us, it may have been 15 years ago. For others, maybe 5 years. For me, it was 5 months ago. Nearly all of us at some point have gone through a job search. Perhaps we might even be going through run right now.

If you had the opportunity to pass on lessons you learned (or are learning) during this process to people who are or will be going through a similar search, what would you say? What could you tell them that might improve the effectiveness of their search?

I had the chance on 20 April to speak to full-time on-campus programme students at Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Business School.

My closing summary comments:

• your objectives & environmental factors are unique to you; so too should your strategy 
  
• generate opportunities & make a difference
• get involved with the H-W EBS community, now & after you graduate