In this episode of the Perpetual Notion Machine, PNM reporter Will Cushman previews the Wisconsin Science Festival, which runs Thursday, Nov. 2 to Sunday, Nov. 5 at various venues around the state. Some events include the Robot Zoo, Plasma Physics, the Birds of Wisconsin, the Science of Brewing, and Science Policy, to name but a few. Then there’s the Big Ideas for Busy People panel on the topic of Big Data. Will wanted to find out what is Big Data. So he talks with two of the panelists, Tony Gitter in biostatistics and medical informatics at UW-Madison, and Pilar Ossorio in law and bioethics at UW-Madison. Yes, Big Data is about the extraordinary amount of data, but also the amount of computer processing and the kinds of algorithms it takes in order to crunch all this data into meaningful results. But also, with all this data comes the question about what data do they have on you, and whether this infringes on your privacy.
The event pertaining to Big Data will be held at the Discovery Building on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
