On their never-ending quest for knowledge, Dave Vellante and Jeff Frick arrived at the MIT campus for the MIT CDOIQ Symposium, where they broadcasted live for theCube interview sessions, talking with several key people in the industry.

The theme of the Symposium was “Big Data Demands Good Data” and, to elaborate on that, they caught up with Richard Wang, Former Army Deputy CDO & Director of the MIT Information Quality Program.

Wang organized the first edition of the International Conference on Information Quality in 1996 and, since then, has published a number of books which helped establish the term “Information Quality”.

Soon after the first conference, Wang realized that he had a lot of practitioners and academics who wanted to take part in this event. However, because the papers submitted were double-blind and reviewed by a committee, sometimes even the most respectable names in the field got their papers rejected. After receiving a couple of e-mails highlighting this highly unusual aspect, Richard Wang started thinking about separating the conference into two distinct events; one targeting the academic audience and the other one aimed at practitioners.

With this idea in mind, seven years ago the Industrial Symposium was started. About two years ago Wang realized that information quality was essential for Big and small data alike, but organizations were not giving this issue a high priority. Wang’s current, primary area of interest is bringing the information quality within the enterprise structure, applying it to issues such as architecture, governance, and data sharing.

“So who attends these events?” asked Vellante. Obviously there are a lot of CTOs. They are attracting a senior level of audience, he noted. Wang nominated the trainers for other consultants.

“Every person who you see here has a consulting practice, represents a company that trains other people in information quality, or they cover high government offices. It is a very prestigious group that I invite.”

“What do you hope that the attendees will take home after the conference?” asked Kelly. Wang is confident that “the attendees should be able to apply what they learned on Monday after they return home.”

As for the demographics, the event brings together information quality practitioners, vendors, and educators, basically people from all different levels and all types of organizations. Information quality is a vital issue for both the private and public sector because accurate information provides a clean competitive edge. Therefore, the MIT Information Quality Program helps professionals improve their organization’s information, using it as a core strategic tool.

For the past seven years the industry has had three distinct industry segments: government, health, and financial service. Already planning the next event, Wang mentioned the possibility of organizing it based on themes.

Make sure to check out Wang’s full interview below: