Every day more than 2.5 quintillion (that’s 1 with 18 zeros after it!) bytes of data are created, and its growing every day. What are the possibilities that could be unleashed by analysing and applying that data to solve some of the globe’s most pressing challenges?
Could analysing anonymised health data help to cure disease? Could we use traffic data to ensure a smoother run for commuters and freight? Or could we even track Twitter feeds to pinpoint the next breakout of the flu?
And what role for academia in this data science revolution?
The WUN Big Data cross-cutting theme combines WUN’s extensive resources in this cutting-edge field to inform and enable our four Global Challenges in climate change, public health, understanding cultures and global higher education.
The cross-cutting theme was launched at a workshop in Rochester, NY, USA in August 2014. The theme was strengthened when WUN hosted the 2015 Understanding Global Digital Cultures Conference in Hong Kong in April 2015.
A number of interdisciplinary research programs have been initiated under the aegis of WUN’s Big Data theme, including:
- WUN Web Observatory
- DAPPER: Data Analysis with Privacy Protection for Epidemiological Research
- Data Diplomacy: Political and Social Dimensions of Data Collection & Sharing
- Feasibility Study of Recommender Systems in Academia
- The WUN Data Science Network [WUN-DSN]
WUN’s next Big Data Conference is being planned at the University of Rochester in May 2017.