Big Data + Libraries

KPMG and Imperial College set up £20m global big data analytics research centre

Consulting firm KPMG and Imperial College London have formed a £20 million partnership to "help transform the UK into a global leader" in big data analytics.

They have launched the "KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics" at the college, with KPMG putting in the money. The project will focus on five key areas - analysis of business capital, growth opportunities, people, operations and resilience.

A debate was held at The Royal Society on 10th July, 2013 titled Maximising the use of public data – should research and publicly acquired data be made more accessible? At this debate David Willetts MP and Minister of State for Universities and Science gave his strong support for Open Data and stated that "the public have a right to access publicly funded research".

This blog post gives details of the debate with links to the resources available from the organisers The Foundation for Science and Technology. It also asks the question: is this an unfunded mandate?

Helping you to understand the legal implications of the new text and data mining copyright exception

Report calls for desired graduate skill set in the field to be ‘clearly set out’

Work on a transparent ethical policy at The Open University highlighted concerns about technology and privacy  

UK universities are monitoring students’ information to help them to improve their academic performance but are giving insufficient thought to the effectiveness of the technology they use and the rights of those they track.

This is according to Sharon Slade, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Business, Management and Law at The Open University, which is believed to have become the first institution in the UK to produce a publicly available written policy on the ethical use of student data for learning analytics – the practice of collecting and analysing student data with the intention of optimising their educational experience.