Smart Cities, Big Data and Behavioural and Social Sciences: Human Cities

Posted on 17/02/2016 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Manuel Armayones, associate professor and Deputy Director, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, UOC.

In 1995, the American Psychology Association (APA), through its Task Force for the analysis of the concept Intelligence, considered it as the ability to “understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought”.

The question we must ask when relating this concept to that of smart cities and big data & analytics is if asking the right questions of data, so that they assist us in making decisions, can help us to better adapt to the environment, learn from experience and engage in various forms of reasoning.

Tagged with: analytics, APA, big data, decision-making, human, intelligence, PSAEC, psychology, smart cities, STEM

Big Data for development

Posted on 04/02/2016 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Natalie Shoup, program manager, Data-Pop Alliance.

As a global coalition on Big Data and development, Data-Pop Alliance works together with different actors to promote a people-centered revolution on these technologies. We took advantage of the visit of its program manager, Natalie Shoup, to Barcelona to talk about the challenges and risks of Big Data and Analytics, especially regarding education and development. According to Shoup, we need to engage people both in data literacy and in the ethical and legal discussions around those technologies. Check out her reflections in the short video below.

Tagged with: analytics, big data, capabilities, data literacy, development, education, empowerment, engagement, ethics, privacy, technology

Data donation for the advancement of health research

Posted on 20/01/2016 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By María Binaghi, head of science programs & content manager, DataDonors.

What if all the health information we generate online was available for scientists to get relevant knowledge from it? That is the starting point of DataDonors, a campaign by The Wikilife Foundation (non-profit), which is asking volunteers to donate their online data so that researchers can produce faster knowledge on health issues. In this short video, its responsible for science programs, María Binaghi, shares with us some reflections regarding the main question of this blog. This contribution was possible thanks to the kind collaboration of the OuiShare Fest Barcelona event.

Tagged with: awareness, big data, decision-making, health, information, knowledge, privacy, research community

What sort of educational tools for the future?

Posted on 16/12/2015 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Francesc Balagué, educator and founder of Akoranga and Crowdfunding Sherpas.

ICTs have changed many aspects of our lives, and the way we learn has not been an exception. Perhaps big data is a newcomer in that area, but not the only one. MOOCs have been trendy lately, but as education expert, Francesc Balagué wonders whether they might have been displacing other well established tools that were doing a good job at enhancing learning processes. Get his complete reflections in the short video below. This contribution was possible in collaboration with the OuiShare Fest Barcelona event.

Tagged with: blogs, education, learning, MOOCs, Moodle, STEM, teaching, technology, wikis

More data to better serve our students

Posted on 25/11/2015 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Darcy Hardy, Associate Vice-President for Enterprise Consulting, BlackBoard.

A specialist in education technology and e-learning, Darcy Hardy believes that the more data we have the better we can serve our students, but she also alerts that the information derived from that data has to be defined properly and acted upon by the correspondent administration. Check her thoughts on the blog’s main question in the short video below, where she also reflects on how analytics can be useful and about concerns linked to privacy issues. Her contribution was possible thanks to the kind collaboration of the EDEN Conference held in Barcelona.

Tagged with: administration, big data, data aggregation, education, faculty, privacy, schools, students

Analytics by and for students

Posted on 11/11/2015 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Maarten de Laat, professor, Open University of the Netherlands.

Professor of professional development in social networks, De Laat interests in big data and analytics rely on the idea that they can make more visible and transparent what people are talking about in educational environments, making easier for other students to engage in a group with shared interests. He is also a strong defender of releasing the information obtained through analytics to students, instead of keeping it within a teaching/administrative level, so that they can use it to facilitate their own learning processes. Get De Laat’s complete reflections in the short video below. We would like to thank the EDEN Conference organisation for this contribution.

Tagged with: big data, conversations, engagement, knowledge, learning, learning analytics, smart, social media, students

Big Data and Knowledge in the Social Sciences

Posted on 28/10/2015 by Open Thoughts — No Comments ↓

By Rosa Borge, Associate Professor and Researcher, UOC-IN3.

The Big Data analytics would shape a smarter society if this new paradigm contributes to knowledge in the Social Sciences. On one hand, the analysis of Big Data is helping to guide decisions in socially relevant areas such as the public health system, the aid in zones affected by natural disasters or the improvement of the educational offer. And one of its related fields, social networks analysis, is contributing also to better understand the causes and consequences of the connections among people, actors, organizations or systems.