EdBoard – Big Data Basics

The GovLab Editorial Board Meetings (“EdBoard”) showcase news and events that encourage thought and discussion about The GovLab’s work.

EdBoard is a twice-weekly opportunity for The GovLab team to reflect on a) how approaches and technologies could help solve problems differently, and b) how news items relate to our projects with an eye toward ensuring our work creates real-world impacts. More than anything, EdBoard is about getting people talking.

EdBoard is held on Tuesday and Friday mornings. Each EdBoard is led by one or two members of The GovLab team. We will post recaps of each week’s EdBoards on our blog.

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Neil Kosslyn

• Summary
  • Data, big and small, can be confusing; this EdBoard was a lecture and discussion on what data actually is, and how we can use it. We discussed basic relational database structure and how technologies like Hadoop are used.
• Why it’s relevant for the GovLab
  • How can the GovLab utilize Big Data to quantify the impact of Open Government?
• Main highlight from discussion
  • Big Data is overused and its significance is overstated; many problems can be solved using more conventional Little Data techniques. The GovLab needs to figure out how it can use the data it has to glean more insights on topics like Expert Networks and the effectiveness of Open Data initiatives.