UF colleges and the Nielsen Company host panel discussion on use of big data

The University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, Warrington College of Business Administration, College of Engineering, and The Nielsen Company will host a panel discussion titled “The Promise of Big Data” on Friday, Oct. 5 from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Reitz Union Auditorium.

The panel is free and open to the public.

Climate sensors, social media posts, digital pictures and videos, electronic purchases, cell phone signals and more create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day. Everyone is involved in the process of producing Big Data, but what is it? How is it different than simply large volumes or disparate sources and formats of data? How do companies handle it and what is the value and relevance of Big Data? These are some of the questions that moderator Mitchell Habib, UF alumnus and COO of The Nielsen Company, will be exploring with the panelists.

Participants in the panel discussion include Rob Bird, president, CTO and founder of Red Lambda, a technology company specializing in big data; Karen Fichuk, global managing director of the Kraft account for Nielsen; and Dr. Andréa Matsunaga, UF College of Engineering research scientist.

“Big Data is already having a tremendous impact on all of our business and personal lives, and we’re just at the front of the wave,” said Erik Sander, director of UF’s Engineering Innovation Institute. “In today’s world of ubiquitous information, understanding how to unlock the knowledge captured in the flood of data from so many sources will be a key to our continued advancement as a society.”

“This is a unique opportunity for the University of Florida,” said Dr. Amy Jo Coffey, assistant professor of telecommunication. “It brings thinkers together to address today’s communications challenges.”

For more information, visit http://my.jou.ufl.edu/students/2012/09/26/nielsen‐on‐campus/ or email Ellen Nodine at enodine@jou.ufl.edu or Lisa Shingleton at Lisa.Shingleton@nielsen.com.