We talk about the technology behind Big Data a great deal, but it’s important to remember the large scale implications of what Big Data becomes once it’s been contextualized for the human experience.  Big Data technology can do some amazing calculations, but that’s a meaningless unless those calculations can help people help themselves.  And who better to reap the benefits of compounded knowledge than the non-profit sector?

In the third installment of the Big Data Deep Dive, a joint production of theCube and EMC TV, the panel discusses the applications of analytics in charity work.  Together with EMC TV anchor Richard Schlesinger, SiliconAngle founding CEO John Furrier and Wikibon’s CEO and co-founder Dave Vellante look into some of the initiatives that are disrupting community development in the U.S.

The first subject they tackle the Obama administration’s Open Government Initiative, a national project aimed at making information from government agencies available to private people and organizations.

Furrier says that Big Data is becoming more accessible thanks to a combination of different trends, including more transparency in the public sector and the increased growing availability of tools that allow the average business user to exploit his or her information.  Schlesinger notes the “social conscious” of the data science community as yet major factor.

Data = social conscious

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Vellante points out that a part of this social conscious, the open-source movement, is one of the biggest drivers of innovation in the industry. Furrier concurs, and adds that alpha geeks do what they do because they recognize the impact of long term value of education and healthcare.  He names Virginia Carlson as a prime example of a big data scientist who gives back to the community.

Carlson works for the Metropolitan Chicago Information Center, a non-profit that analyzes publicly available data and offers it to private organizations. She discussed her work in theCube back at Strata 2012.

“MCIC sits as a sort of funnel between historical big data and the common good, public good organizations on the ground that need that data. For example, anything from a local American Indian healthcare center that needs to understand where to open a new clinic, to a large philanthropic organization that wants to know whether or not its local community efforts are making a difference. So we try to do what we call the Data Intermediary piece – we curate the data, analyze it, visualize it and give them the findings.”

See the full segment below, and catch all 6 episodes of this great Big Data series here, on our YouTube channel.

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