When I was growing up, my mother encouraged me to become a librarian. I think she plotted that career path for me as I spent vast amounts of time at our public library pawing my way through aisles of books in search of a suitable stack to take home.

When use of the Internet exploded after 1990, I joined the swell of surfers seeking even more information. Today, it’s become second nature for me to jump on the Internet and search for Web-based knowledge.

There are certain online resources I look for when I need to know more about topics like geospatial analytics or business intelligence (BI) and how that information impacts our everyday lives. Researching these topics helps me better understand why my bank knows exactly when to ping me about a lower-rate mortgage just when I was considering refinancing, or how my use of an iPhone affects AT&T, my carrier.

One of my “go to” sources is Smart Data Collective (SDC). Just today, I was reading a post on SDC that explained why iPhone users behave differently than regular cell phone customers, why that’s a challenge for AT&T and how the company is using the consumer data to alleviate the situation. Stephen Baker, a New York City-based journalist with more than 20 years experience writing for BusinessWeek magazine, wrote the post  He has several pieces published on SDC, which now features the top three posts broken down by industry, BI and data mining. His is just one example of the independent, thought-leadership available through this social media forum.

Technology has certainly enabled me to broaden my search for interesting topics to read through the Web’s “virtual library.” But I have to admit, periodically I drive over to my old library, take in the hushed atmosphere and begin searching for that perfect book to wrap my hands around.

Ginny Wennen
Associate Editor
Teradata Magazine