Archive for November 2016

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[ecrea] SICSA Conference on Big Data Science Innovations: Prospects in Smart Cities, Media and Governance

Fri Nov 11 23:12:26 GMT 2016



The Divisions of Computing Science & Maths and Communications, Media & Culture at the University of Stirling warmly invite you to attend to the conference:

*SICSA Conference on Big Data Science Innovations: Prospects in Smart Cities, Media and Governance*

Venue: University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA. The Conference will be held in the Cottrell Building, Division of Computing Science and Maths, School of Natural Sciences, at the University of Stirling. Travel directions and maps can be found at: http://www.stir.ac.uk/about/getting-here/

Date: Friday, 18 November 2016

Time: 09:00 – 18:00 GMT

Registration is FREE and includes lunch, refreshments, and a soft copy of the Conference Abstract Proceedings

http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~mgo/SICSA2016/#knowmore

Big Data Science has undoubtedly gained relevance in various sectors of society, and efforts to harness its potential have become a priority for the industry, government, and academia alike. The recent, Scottish Government driven Smart Cities Alliance initiative is a prime example of an imminent shift towards future data-driven societies, whereby big data empowers: a) city governments, including through e-governance and open data platforms; b) journalists, for example, through the adoption of web metrics to develop news agenda, Big data/content management systems and embryonic forms of artificial intelligence for newsrooms; and c) citizens, including through their active engagement in compiling, disseminating and interpreting Big Data, subsequently leading to the development of smart applications with the potential to enhance civic society.

Last year’s announcement by the Scottish Infrastructure and Cities Secretary, Keith Brown, that a 15 million euro (£11.1 million) fund would be allocated to help make Scotland's cities "smarter" through the use of new cutting-edge technological infrastructure, has made it clear that the development and management of big data analytic systems is to be a priority within the strategic planning of seven Scottish cities forming the Scottish Cities Alliance. Within this ecosystem, it is of paramount importance that academia becomes a complementary actor assisting in the design, evolution, explanation and evaluation of the technological infrastructures mediating public life.

This first of its kind, one-day SICSA funded Conference seeks to create networking space where data scientists, technologists and scholars involved with journalism, governance, and civic life can deliberate on best ways to boost the development and exploitation of big data analytics, particularly in Scotland. The goal is to impart an understanding of the strengths and limitations of some of the key data science technologies as they impact the future development of smart cities, open governance and data journalism. In particular, we will explore implications of current approaches to data analysis within city government, local news, academic public research and civic engagement, and ask whether they are compatible with a healthy, democratic and self-sustainable agenda of innovation.

We invite multi-disciplinary academics, PhD research students, technologists, policy makers, media practitioners, community developers and think tanks interested in Big Data Science. The conference is intended to stimulate discussions on the following key themes:

·The current state-of-the-art within the emerging Scottish (and global) socio-technical ecosystem in smart cities, open governance, data journalism and civic innovation.

·The potential risks and benefits to this ecosystem emerging from current trends in data science and artificial intelligence

*//*

*/Conference schedule/*

9.00AM:                Tea/Coffee Reception

10.00AM: Welcome by Conference co-Chairs: Prof Amir Hussain & Dr Eddy Borges Rey

10.05AM:             Keynote speech: Data Science and Journalism

Dr. Bahareh Heravi (University College Dublin)

This talk will introduce the concept of Data Journalism, presents a number of examples in the area, and discuss they ways in which the new (big) data revolution has affected the newsrooms and journalism practices. Dr. Heravi will further discuss how various data and information science tools and techniques are and could be used in the areas of journalism, news reporting and storytelling. She will also discuss how the roles in newsrooms are changing, and how newsrooms around the worlds are now employing data scientists in the heart of their newsrooms.

Dr Heravi is the co-founder of Irish Times Data and former Lead Data Scientist and Data Journalist at the Irish Times. She also founded Hacks/Hackers Dublin, which aims to bring 'hacks' & 'hackers' together.

11.00AM: Keynote Talk: Big Data Analytics: A tutorial-based Advanced Introduction

Dr Adeel Ahsa (and Prof Amir Hussain) (Cognitive Big Data Informatics Research Lab, Division of Computing Science, University of Stirling

Dr Ahsan is a senior postdoctoral research fellow, and Prof Hussain Lead PI, on an EPSRC funded project (2015-18) on multi-modal Big Data (audio-visual) analytics for next-generation hearing aids)

12 - 1.30OM:       Lunch

1.30PM: Invited Talk: SayAsYouGo Scotland: Data Analytics and Visualization for Public Opinion Mining Zara Gold (SayAsYouGo Ltd.)

1.45PM:                Invited Talk: Open Data and e-Governance

Rory Gianni (Clackmannanshire Council, Open Data Scotland)

In this session Rory will share experiences of building civic technology, and in particular lessons learnt during the 2014 Code for Europe residency programme with Clackmannanshire Council.

Rory is a web-developer and an Open Data Institute (ODI) registered open data trainer. He co-founded Tirami Ltd, a company specialising in civic technology for local government and open digital services infrastructure.

2.30PM:                Research Posters Session (including Tea/Coffee)

4.30PM:                Concluding Session/Wrap Up

*/Call for Abstracts, Research Posters Session/*//

In addition to invited Talks, there will also be a Research Posters Session open to both PhD students and academics (covering all multidisciplinary Conference topics, ranging from Big Data Science technologies to applications in future smart cities, media, data journalism, and e-governance). /Authors of selected best (poster) presentations will be invited to submit extended papers for publication in a special issue of Springer’s Cognitive Computation journal (//http://www.springer.com/12559)///

//

Abstract submissions deadline (maximum 1 A4 page): 14 Nov 2016

Decisions Due: 16 Nov 2016

Conference dates: Fri, 18 November 2016

Any enquiries about the conference can be directed to the organising committee:

·Prof Amir Hussain<mailto:(Paul.bradshaw /at/ bcu.ac.uk)>(ahu /at/ cs.stir.ac.uk) <mailto:(ahu /at/ cs.stir.ac.uk)>; http://cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu

·Dr Eddy Borges-Rey (eddy.borges-rey /at/ stir.ac.uk) <mailto:(eddy.borges-rey /at/ stir.ac.uk)>

·Mr Mandar Gogate (mgo /at/ cs.stir.ac.uk) <mailto:(mgo /at/ cs.stir.ac.uk)>


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