By: J.D. Ross
(315) 443-3094
School of Information Studies (iSchool) Professor and Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Stanton was featured yesterday on Academic Minute – a daily radio program that airs on Northeast Public Radio – where he discussed the sonification of data.
“Big data is an important topic at present, because many organizations have realized the value that they can extract from data they have collected about their operations,” said Stanton. “One of the tools for dealing with large, complex data sets is visualization – the process of summarizing data in the form of graphs, charts, and maps.” Read or listen to Stanton's complete Academic Minute segment .
Stanton's academic speciality is organizational psychology. Recently, he published an open source textbook entitled, Introduction to Data Science, which is available on the iTunes bookstore as a free download. The textbook has served as the core reading in the iSchool's Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) of the same name.
The iSchool offers a graduate certificate of advanced study in data science. By doing so, the iSchool is helping lead the dialogue in defining data science within the academic community and within the information technology industry. Students in this certificate program have the opportunity to shape the first wave of data science standards.
According to a 2011 McKinsey Global Institute study, there will be a shortage of talent necessary for organizations to take advantage of big data opportunities. Programs like the iSchool's data science certificate provide students with a competitive advantage over professionals who have specialties in single-discipline approaches such as computer science or business administration.