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Big Data Is Not Enough
Big data is the big buzz word in the world of analytics today. According to google trends, shown in the figure, searches for "big data" have been growing exponentially since 2010 though perhaps is beginning to level off. Or take a look on amazon.com...
Do Predictive Modelers Need to Know Math?
Predictive analytics is just a bunch of math, isn’t it? After all, algorithms in the form of matrix algebra, summations, integrals, multiplies and adds are the core of what predictive modeling algorithms do. Even rule-based approaches need math to...
Takeaways From Your Next Predictive Analytics Conference
Why should one go to a predictive analytics conference? What should one take home from a conference like Predictive Analytics World (PAW)? There are many reasons conferences are valuable, including interacting with thought leaders and practitioners...
Using Geographic Data
Most organizations collect and maintain some type of geographic data, yet many ignore this data during analysis. Any business has some record of customer addresses, for instance, but this data is usually formatted in an awkward, non-numeric form....
Data Mining and Analysis Aren't Always the Answer
Data mining is an important tool whose benefits have been demonstrated in diverse fields, among business, government and non-profit organizations. Its application areas continue to grow, especially given the ever-shrinking cost of gathering and...
Three Ways to Get Your Predictive Models Deployed
We all know that given reasonable data, a good predictive modeler can build a model that works well and helps make makes better decisions than what is currently used in your organization (at least in our own minds). Newer data, sophisticated...
Three Ways to Get Your Predictive Models Deployed
We all know that given reasonable data, a good predictive modeler can build a model that works well and helps make makes better decisions than what is currently used in your organization (at least in our own minds). Newer...
Will Dwinnell: 6 Reasons You Hired the Wrong Data Miner
By Will DwinnellAs is in any discipline, talent within data mining community varies greatly. Generally, business people and others who hire and manage technical specialists like data miners are not themselves technical experts. This...
Why Predictive Modelers Should be Suspicious of Statistical Tests
Well, the danger is really not the statistical test per se, it the interpretation of the statistical test. Yesterday I tweeted (@deanabb) this fun factoid: "Redskins predict Romney wins POTUS #overfit. if Redskins lose home game before election =...
Data Preparation: Know Your Records!
Data preparation in data mining and predictive analytics (dare I also say Data Science?) rightfully focuses on how the fields in one's data should be represented so that modeling algorithms either will work properly or at least won't be misled by...
What Do We Call What We Do?
I've called myself a data miner for about 15 years, and the field I was a part of as Data Mining (DM). Before then, I referred to what I did as "Pattern Recognition", "Machine Learning", "Statistical Modeling", or "Statistical Learning". In recent...
Budgeting Time on a Modeling Project
Within the time allotted for any empirical modeling project, the analyst must decide how to allocate time for various aspects of the process. As is the case with any finite resource, more time spent on this means less time spent on that....
