Data Science and Computational Thinking [inc Big Data and Internet of Things]

Grab your glasses, Protect your pockets, Prep your Inhaler. It's gonna get mildly technical.

Gartner's 2014 Hype Cycle (below) shows the relative expectations of various technologies, including Big Data, Data Science, In-Memory Databases, and Prescriptive Analytics. In my mind, this illustrates it's time to stop tossing around buzz-words and start realizing value.

There’s a problem within big data. The problem is that there’s too much information and not enough talent to manage it. The supply of analysts and data scientists can’t keep up with the ever growing demand for this type of talent. This shortage presents a problem, because even the most advanced data platforms are useless without experienced professionals to operate and manage them.

How do we solve this? More training and better academic programs? Possibly, but what if there was another solution. What if instead we trained computers to do the work for us, or at least make it easier to manage data tools? Improvements in cognitive computing are making that an approaching reality.