In the early 1900s, a Swiss linguistics professor named Ferdinand de Saussure died, and in the process, almost deprived the world of the concept of “Language as a Science.” From 1906 to 1911, Professor Saussure offered three courses at the University of Geneva, where he developed an approach describing languages as “systems.” Within the language, a sound represents a concept – a concept that shifts meaning as the context changes.…

“Data Governance is the creation of rules, the execution of those rules, and the adjudication of any violation of the rules,” remarked Frank Cerwin in a recent DATAVERSITY® interview. He likened its structure to the three branches of the government: “The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch executes the laws, and the judicial branch adjudicates violations of the laws.” Cerwin is the President and Managing Principal with Data…

“When you’ve got a mass of data, how do you analyze that data and get to a point where you can get the gemstones, the diamonds out of it?” Mike Young, Chief Information Officer with Centrica, knows what it’s like to wade through a sea of petabytes and terabytes to find value. Centrica is an energy utility and services company, providing gas, oil, and renewables to businesses and consumer markets…

The term “prescriptive analytics” denotes the use of many different disciplines such as AI, mathematics, analytics, or simulations to advise the user whether to act, and what course of action to take. In that sense, prescriptive analytics offers an advisory function regarding the future, rather than simply “predicting” what is about to happen. This newer branch of business analytics informs and guides decision logic through the skillful use of analytics.…

Walk around any large organization and hear people groan about finding the right data to do their work. In the typical organization, data sits in multiple places, lost behind technical and functional boundaries. These isolated systems, referred to as “data silos,” have often existed for good purposes and reasons such as helping each business function do their job well and meet legal requirements. However, without a cohesive and unified data…

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques are altering the way organizations gather, process, and protect data. They are being used to gather massive amounts of information about internet users in the form of Big Data, and to secure and protect it. The challenge is how to maximize the use of Big Data, while simultaneously safeguarding the information and protecting the privacy of individuals. Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which…