1. 2013 9sight Consulting, All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting, All Rights Reserved Dr Barry Devlin Founder & Principal 9sight Consulting Big Data Fact, Fiction or Fabrication CHPC National Meeting 2013 Cape Town 5 December 2013

2. Dr. Barry Devlin 2 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting Founder and Principal 9sight Consulting, www.9sight.comwww.9sight.com Dr. Barry Devlin is a founder of the data warehousing industry and among the foremost authorities worldwide on business intelligence (BI) and beyond. He is a widely respected consultant, lecturer and author of the seminal “Data Warehouse—from Architecture to Implementation”. His new book, “Business unIntelligence—Insight and Innovation Beyond Analytics and Big Data” (http://bit.ly/BunI-Technics) was published in October 2013.http://bit.ly/BunI-Technics Barry has 30 years of experience in the IT industry, previously with IBM, as an architect, consultant, manager and software evangelist. As founder and principal of 9sight Consulting (www.9sight.com), Barry provides strategic consulting and thought-leadership to buyers and vendors of BI solutions. He is currently developing new architectural models for fully consistent business support— from informational to operational and collaborative work. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Barry’s knowledge and expertise are in demand both locally and internationally. Email: barry@9sight.combarry@9sight.com Twitter:@BarryDevlin

3. Agenda  Fact … what big data really means  Fiction … the belief that big analytics is the only answer  Fabrication … the dangers that big data poses 3 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting

4. What big data really means 4 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting “Big data usually includes data sets with sizes beyond the ability of commonly-used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are a constantly moving target, as of 2012 ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set…” Wikipedia, as of September 2012 and still current “Big data usually includes data sets with sizes beyond the ability of commonly-used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are a constantly moving target, as of 2012 ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set…” Wikipedia, as of September 2012 and still current “Big Data are high-volume, high-velocity, and/or high- variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, insight discovery and process optimization.” Gartner, as of June 2012 “Big Data are high-volume, high-velocity, and/or high- variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, insight discovery and process optimization.” Gartner, as of June 2012 Fact A big ball of marketing fluff?

5. Big data in the tri-domain information model  Process-mediated data – “Traditional” operational & informational data – Via data entry and cleansing processes  Machine-generated data – Output of machines and sensors – The Internet of Things  Human-sourced information – Subjectively interpreted record of personal experiences – From Tweets to Videos 5 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting Human-sourced information Machine- generated data Process-mediated data Structure/Context Timeliness/ Consistency HistoricalReconciledStableLiveIn-flight Raw Atomic Derived Compound Textual Multiplex [In the context of these domains, “data” signifies well-structured and/or modeled and “information” is more loosely structured and human-centric.]

6. Big analytics is the only answer 6 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting Fiction

7.  Wal-Mart Data Warehouse – 1991 … 340GB; 2004 … 460TB – 2008 … 2.5PB; 2013 … 10+PB – From the beginning, more than BI – Supply chain management – Predictive analytics  “All models are wrong, but some are useful” – George E. P. Box, statistician, 1979  “All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them” – Peter Norvig, research director, Google, 2008 – The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete, Chris Anderson, Wired, June 2008 www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory A fairy tale of Big Analytics 7 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting

8. Modern business computing demands we consider three parties. 8 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting Information Process People  Rationality of thought and far beyond it  Logic of process, predefined and emergent  Information, knowledge and meaning  Business unIntelligence  http://bit.ly/BunI-Technics : 25% discount with code “BIInsights25” http://bit.ly/BunI-Technics

9. The human and social dimension: Gut-feel, intent and interaction  Meaning is a personal/ social interpretation based (loosely) on information and knowledge – Rationality is only one part – Emotional state plays an important role – Gut-feel can be more effective than rationality in decision making  Intention drives understanding and action  We are social animals – Business is a social enterprise  Innovation is often team-based 9 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting

10. The dangers big data poses 10 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting Fabrication

11. First… Invasion of the data snatchers 11 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting http://doctorbeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lg-smart-tvs-logging-usb-filenames-and.html

12. Then… Invasion of the information snatchers 12 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121205/20395521250/dvr -that-watches-you-back-verizon-applies-ambient-action- detecting-device-patent.shtml

13. Coming soon… invasion of the thought snatchers 13 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting When Algorithms Grow Accustomed to Your Face, New York Times, November 30, 2013. By Anne Eisenberg, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/technology/when-algorithms-grow- accustomed-to-your-face.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/technology/when-algorithms-grow- accustomed-to-your-face.html Koren Shadmi for The New York Times

14. Conclusions  Big data changes the IT landscape for decision making support – Data and information at its rawest  People (not information) are the key – Meaning is a human characteristic  Big data is the largest threat to privacy and democracy ever known – Ethical dilemmas must be solved – Social implications must be considered 14 Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting

15. 2013 9sight Consulting, All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013 9sight Consulting, All Rights Reserved Dr Barry Devlin Founder & Principal 9sight Consulting Thank you Questions? 15