16: Understanding Big Data
Big Data is being generated around us all the time in the contemporary world. Does it truly create more objective research or simply disguise the presence of human input to algorithmic construction is hence still based on subjective assumptions? Does the enormous amount of data created and recorded today make it possible to identify connections in a more causal and objective way or does it lead to an unmanageable amount of non-comparable values? In addition to scientific “efficiency”, security and economic aspects also play a role in this arena. What data is collected? When? How? Where? Who has access to this information? Who can analyze data and how do they do so? This interactive seminar deals with the risks and possibilities in a world full of big data.
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Dipl.-Ing. M.Sc. Katja SCHECHTNER
Advisor to the Secretary General ITF, OECD, Paris; Research Fellow, MIT Senseable City Lab, Cambridge
| Katja Schechtner is an urban scientist who holds a dual appointment between OECD and MIT to develop new technologies and shape innovative policies to keep cities on the move. Previously she worked at the Asian Development Bank implementing transport technology projects across Asia; formulated smart public space strategies for the Inter-American Development Bank in Costa Rica and Argentina; advised the EU Commission on Smart City programs and headed the applied research lab for Dynamic Transportation Systems at the Austrian Institute of Technology. Katja has published widely, both in scientific journals and the popular press in the US, Asia and Europe, including two books "Accountability Technologies - Tools for Asking Hard Questions" and "Inscribing a Square - Urban Data as Public Space", (Birkhaeuser, 2012 and 2014 with Dietmar Offenhuber). She is an advisor to start-ups in the urban, mobility and crypto industries. Her work has been exhibited globally at venues such as the Venice Biennale (2012 and 2016), MAK and ars electronica. She also holds a Visiting Professorship at Technical University Vienna and curates urban tech exhibitions across the globe. Most recently her project to design and implement contemporary e-trikes in Nepal and Laos was awarded in the Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2018 series and she will exhibit her work on Manila’s urban slum lighting at the Seoul Biennale in fall 2019. |
M.Sc. Ph.D. Michael SZELL
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
| since 2004 | Developer & Administrator of the Massive Multiplayer Online Game Pardus |
| since 2006 | Founder & Manager of Bayer & Szell OG |
| 2007 | M.Sc, Technical Mathematics Focus on Computer Science, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna |
| 2009-2012 | Research Assistant, Medical University of Vienna, Section for Science of Complex Systems, Vienna |
| 2012 | Ph.D. in Physics, University of Vienna |
| 2012-2014 | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MIT, Senseable City Laboratory, Cambridge, MA |
| since 2014 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Northeastern University, Center for Complex Network Research, Boston, MA |
