Adam Alalouf

I found it very interesting how the speaker made the connection between data and history, with the creation of the Openpaths and Cascade applications. I always overlooked the concept of “putting data into human context,” and this made me look at programming from a whole new perspective. It is neat that our data can be uploaded or used to create stories and build relationships simply because they are attached to real-world experiences. I never really thought about it in this way of creating empathy, history, and connections, just based on given data.

This Ted Talk humanized data. I am beginning to understand how data can be used to influence peoples’ lives, and provide meaningful analytics. I liked the man’s venn diagram, which showed how his systems are a combination of science, design, and art. The exploratory Cascade system, shows how peoples’ interactions contribute to the distribution of media. This is especially useful for his work at The New York Times, since he can monitor how articles are shared. Before, I thought data was just numbers, but after watching this video, I realize how meaningful data can be. He used data to help design the 9/11 Memorial, which was very touching.

I have never looked at data in this way! It seemed so real and interactive, which was cool. The 3D designs and diagrams not only showed what the data stated, but how everything connects. It also wasn’t all just MIS, but graphics and science all together. The part of the video that I loved most was the 9/11 memorial. I honestly thought the names were in alphabetical order, not how they were connected relationship wise. It’s amazing! The TED talk was extremely interesting, and gave me a new sense as to what data can be. Touching, personal, and humanized.

Never thought that data can be managed in this way before, I was surprised that data can be modelled in a way that combines with graphic and shapes. I thought it was just numbers or a list of documents. This video gives me a new sight about MIS.