Paradoxically, given the breadth of what “data science” means, the specific training and expertise is often very narrow. Students and young professional need to be well informed of the options and their personal strengths in programming, analytics, or subject matter expertise to apply the output of data science to their academic training.
Enterprise Architecture portrays technology, data, and people as functional blocks of information. As we know, “architecture” in this context derives from Zachman’s classic article. In the larger context, by definition, modern architecture represents form in terms of function. The same for “pattern.” If I may use a crude abbreviation, a “pattern language” is to “makeRead… Read more »
Cisco, Qualcomm, Intel, SAP, and IBM have “Smart City” programs that promise to solve urban problems, involve citizens, conserve energy, and launch cities into a new “digital” future. Their marketing and technology expertise would have us believe that no city could run faster, better, and cheaper without more technology. Cisco has committed to create aRead… Read more »
“Get smart” means paying attention to co-workers, friends, family, spouse, or a partner. Nothing brings more stress to interpersonal relationships than carrying frustrations home after work. Get smart means getting smart. Being aware of all this takes work. Being smart about the law, political motivations, and social context is part of our job. It is… Read more »
Ghost Whisperer, iRobot, and many crime shows depend on detective work based on access to other people’s memories.Young people need expertise that gets them out of their chairs and to step away from their computers. Administrative ghost whisperers, younger staff or not, should seek out older staff. That experience should not be disregarded as a… Read more »
The future is hard to predict when the present is torn between the living, the living dead, and the never have lived at all. We don’t know the demographics of robots, sensors of the Internet of Things (IoT), learning machines, and drones. Of course, the count of zombies is unknown because they could very wellRead… Read more »
This nontechnical riddle took me a while to figure out. This saying floats around in the halls and offices of every building. For me, it resounds on all occasions when I have met with management. Agencies’ management is whipsawed between necessary compromise to face budget cuts and changing priorities at the same time. Compromise, inRead… Read more »
I hate word “bureaucracy” because it degrades public sector workers at all levels. For many reasons, countless pejorative metaphors, theories, and political actions about public sector workers have decorated the iron cage. Public sector staff can weave webs supporting real collaboration, see contacts outside the hierarchy and rules; they seek out connections with people who… Read more »
We have all run into the office cliché similar to the saying “if all you use is a hammer everything looks like a nail.” Another way of saying this is that if all you see are nails, anything looks like a hammer. In both cases, the focus of misunderstanding is based on overlooking the particularsRead… Read more »
For decades, OMB and Departments have been trying to trace federal grants and loans to specific places: cities, neighborhoods, farms, enterprise zones, individual houses or stores. The complexity of community development, economic development, rural development, job creation, or just accounting have plagued how funds can be traced. The purpose of tracing the money is toRead… Read more »