Links for August 26 2012

Technology Consultant - Eric D. Brown | Image for link posts
  • Sorry, Content Dudes, But It’s Just Plain Old Marketing – Danny Brown

    Quote: The thing is, though, it’s still just another tactic. The content is part of the overall strategy to get a customer to buy into your offering, and a solid part at that. But a standalone? I can’t see it.

  • Marketers are less statistical than, um, statisticians – Chief Marketing Technologist

    Quote: Of course, I believe that marketers should increase their fluency with statistics and statistical thinking. Daniel Kahneman’s new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, is a great place to start. Darrell Huff’s classic How to Lie with Statistics is another must-read.

  • I’ve Got Big Data, Now What?

    Quote: One of the most interesting points is the recognition that training is needed in order to have a broader knowledge base of just what this data is and what it can mean to an organization. We often talk so much that we leave the practical pieces to themselves and, unfortunately, they are often overlooked. Training and investment in people will be the key to unlocking big data’s potential.

  • Big Data and Human Potential « Inside the Biz with Jill Dyche

    Quote: The application of Big Data to humanity’s problems can be even more profound. Discovering the non-linear systems that could contribute to reversing climate change, improving patient health—at the bedside or even on the operating table—or driving economic stability are just the tip of the rapidly-melting iceberg.

  • Don’t Build a Database of Ruin – Paul Ohm – Harvard Business Review

    Quote: If we stick to our current path, the Database of Ruin will become an inevitable fixture of our future landscape, one that will be littered with lives ruined by the exploitation of data assembled for profit. But we can chart a different course, in various ways. I think our brightest engineers can develop innovative privacy-enhancing technologies which will enable new techniques for data analytics that minimize costs to privacy. I hope that public institutions and industry, through self-regulation, will devise ways to better balance the burdens on privacy and the benefits of Big Data. If nothing else, I anticipate that society will slowly develop new norms for engaging with the massive amount of information collected about us, creating informal rules governing when and how it is appropriate to release, collect, and use data, the way minors have learned to speak and listen carefully on social networks.

  • THE GLOSSY VENEER OF PROFESSIONALISM

    Quote: Most importantly, we should all look beyond the pretty coat of paint. Look past the Twitter followers, the sleek and well-organized storefront, the Klout score and the Facebook fans. Dig around. Ask questions. And be an involved client or an involved, reliable, and professional service provider.  We all thank you for it.