Jeta Gjana

Having a solid understanding of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel is critical to my current role. Before last summer, I did not know how to use the format painter tool; I now save time using the tool almost every time I go into work.

My boss’s old boss, Maureen, used to approve the documents I created before they could be shared. She also approved the budget to keep me working with the company throughout the school year. We went to the same high school and got along well. She was a good person to have on my side. In November, she moved to the HR department.

My internship has made me use both outlook (with meetingplanner) and excel a whole lot. I have done things with excel that I did not even know were possible before I started here. I have also gained a very thorough comprehension of our P2P system here. I sit right next to our P2P support team and it is very nice to have them on my side because they are always right there if I have any questions (which I have a lot of).

My internship has made me utilize both outlook (with meetingplanner) and excel a whole lot. I have done things with excel that I did not even know were possible before I started here. I have also gained a very thorough comprehension of our P2P system here. I sit right next to our P2P support team and it is very nice to have them on my side because they are always right there if I have any questions (which I have a lot of).

I found that some of the most important people for my internship are the other interns. Originally, I focused on networking with my supervisor and other employees. However, talking to the other interns really helps me understand the people I will be working with outside of college. On top of that, these are the people who I see and work with on a daily basis now.

My internship also really made me value Excel even more. Excel seems to be the lynchpin of the modern workplace.

The most important skills I have discovered during my internship are Excel, organization, and the ability to work with a team. I use Excel to create a lot of reports on a daily basis and use tools on Excel I seldom used prior to this internship. My supervisor has been very helpful in teaching me things about Excel that I didn’t know. With so many projects that need to be done, I learned that organization is key to success at my internship. I have a small whiteboard at my desk where I write down everything that needs to get done and it helps me stay organized. A lot of assignments and projects I do usually involve at least one other person, so I learned communication with your team is critical in order to get anything done.

The person that I want to be on my side (and has been on my side) is my co-worker, Molly. Since I started working at Subaru in June, I have worked with her on most projects. Along the way, she pretty much became a mentor for me. She’s helped me start and add to my portfolio, helped introduce me to people within the company that I normally don’t work with on a daily basis, and tries to get me to be involved on more rewarding projects that an Intern normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to work on. She also graduated Fox a few years ago and knows exactly what I’m going through so she has helped me tremendously with advice on school and post-graduation plans.

Yes, as the other students have explained, Excel is very important (at least for my position) in the workplace. I was even thinking today that I wish I could go back and take the Excel course again to refresh my memory. What I learned in that class would be VERY valuable right now! However, just by searching Google and playing around with Excel I have shortened the amount of time it takes for me to complete projects. Also, in terms of important people, I found it was important to get the head of my department’s secretary on my side. She helped squeeze me into his schedule when I had to schedule meetings with him to review projects I was working on. If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve never found time to meet with him.

Effective communication is a vital skill that I have discovered is needed at my internship. I needed to clearly and succinctly communicate my ideas or problems to others whether this was through email, Skype, or in person. It is also important to be willing to learn new skills. During my time at AZ, I had to learn how to use a data migration tool called SnapLogic. I also had to learn how Apigee, an API tool, in order to complete my assignments. My manager Don and the other interns have been vital to my success. Whenever I needed help, I went to these people and they are always willing to help me out.

In addition to Microsoft Excel as others have explained, I would have to say Microsoft Visio has been a helpful tool that I used on a daily basis during my internship. From time to time, I had to generate reports using Excel and create process flow diagrams using Visio. Some important business skills I discovered to be important were effective communication, the ability to work independently and on a team, and networking. During my internship, my supervisor Jane has been the person who has helped me both academically and professionally in more ways than I could explain. She is a great mentor and someone I definitely would want by my side.

Hey Alex, I also used the meetingplanner tool in outlook a lot during my internship. It made scheduling large meetings a lot easier! I ended up using it on a daily basis to set appointments and find available conference rooms.

The 3 most important skill that i have learned throughout my experiences with Comcast is to have the ability to multitask in a fast past environment, a high attention to detail, the ability to network effectively. There will be so many times where i am working on multiple projects at once, and it is crucial that i have the ability to prioritize and complete all of my tasks on time. Because the tax space, within Comcast, is so fast pace, and an intern could be working on 5 or more different projects at once, so it can become very easy to become lost in your work. Having the ability to be detail oriented when working will help to reduce mistakes and errors when completing work. Finally, although I may be very busy working within my department, it is critically important that i create and reserve time to meet with senior leaders, build my brand, and network to understand the business better and open doors for new opportunities.

I have found that, when working in a large corporation, such as Comcast, you are always going to want an HR contact that is in your corner, and will work to find new opportunities and open doors that will lead to a successful future. It is important to keep in contact with these people and meet with them regularly to share your experiences, talk about your internship, or just catchup on whats new. You never know when you will need these people to work behind the scenes in your favor.

For technical side, I started to use ApplicantStack last Friday. It is a software that helping business better streamline their hiring process through technology. It is new for me. I have to learn fast. For business side, I had my first meeting last Friday. One of my coworkers has a good soft skills about summarizing meeting by hand note. She is very effective and productive. She gave everyone a very organized summary of meeting after ten minutes by printing version. I thought it it a good skills both in the future job and the academic class. For now, my supervisor helps me a lot. When I need to help, she is always willing to help me out.

A theme that is constantly harped on to me by my superiors are intangibles I can carry with me in my future endeavors. Knowing how to act professionally, contributing consistent and quality work, and acting as the member of a team are all intangible attributes I have learned and hope to exhibit to my future employers. As for business, I have taken my knowledge from previous MIS classes to impress members of my team by working extensively with Excel, which is a large part of what I do. Many of the skills I use have either been learned in the classroom or required minimal instruction, and I feel that the company does an excellent job of easing its associates into work that they may have little or no experience doing.
Someone that I interact with periodically and I like having on my side is the Talent Acquisition Specialist, because I have been looking for other positions within the company that I can potentially work in post-graduation. Having a working rapport with her and other members of my team is beneficial because of the mutual gain both sides receive. While I will hopefully find a job within the company by the time I graduate in May, the company gets the positive reputation of assisting its associates through the intern program into full-time roles, which will make it a more attractive and competitive company for students to apply. It is also always a good thing for me to network through her and my other coworkers because of places they have worked and people they know at other companies.

By far the most important skills to have when starting the Staff 1 position is Excel and communication skills. Every Staff 1 and Staff 2 that I talked to said a majority of their work is done in excel and that they wish they had learned how to use it more thoroughly in college. Pivot tables, conditional formatting, charts, tables, and sparklines are all great tools for data analysis which is a major part of auditing. I was impressed by how many staff members could use excel without using a mouse or even without using menu/tool bars because they had the shortcuts ingrained in their minds from using the software so often. Communication is of course useful to any business professional no matter what company you work for. It is essential as an intern to come in with good communication skills so that you can give your supervisor periodic updates on what you’re working on, when you expect to be done, are you having any difficulties, do you have any questions, etc. This lets them know you are engaged in the activity and shows them you have a sense of accountability. A good communication tip I learned is that if you have any questions about an assignment/task it is best for you to write them all down and then ask them all at the same time. The reason for this is so it doesn’t seem as though you’re interrupting you’re supervisor with frequent questions, as they have their own work to complete.

The technology that I heavily rely on at my internship is the use of Microsoft access. I use access for a wide array of functions, such as, database management, form creation, and document allocation. Before my job I never explored Access in depths, which is why I spent a lot of time learning and experimenting with its many functions. The employee that is one of the most essential to me and my success with accolade is our senior IT person. He has been the most insightful stakeholder during my internship because he offered technical and functional information. He is very tech savvy and assisted me with technical training, such as, Access and Excel. Also, he was one of the employees that was with the association before Accolade’s acquisition and offered a lot of use full information on its operation.

The most important skills that I have discovered at my internship was definitely communication and the ability to work independently as well as on a team. The people I worked with were much older than me and have been there for years, so I can say that all of them had the communication skills. One skill that I gained from my experience is multitasking. ACE Group was in the middle of an acquisition so it was very busy. I was given multiple tasks at one time and needed to finish them at a certain time. In addition, the ability to work in a changing environment is something I’ve gained. Again, because Chubb was acquiring ACE Group, everything was changing. Everyone was busy doing their tasks and getting things done in order to comply with the acquisition. So, most of the time, I had to work independently. One person that I would want on my side was Sherry. She’s an older woman who has been working at ACE for long time. She knew everything there is to know about the company and knew who to contact. She was close with my supervisor, which is definitely a plus since she’d talk to my very busy supervisor whenever I needed something.

One of the most important skills for me during this internship is effective client communication. As a consultant, there’s a constant need to both internal communication (task management, priorities, etc) and external communication (requirements gathering, reporting, questions, etc). I have needed to hone my communication strategy for both of these groups. For example, a question about an issue on a project usually requires a different answer, depending on if the person asking the question is my boss or the client. Other than that, I have needed to continue working on being able to quickly pick up, analyze, and discuss technology that might be new to me. A recent example from my internship was having to learn about a client’s use of Salesforce, a CRM, and a proprietary project management software. I needed to quickly learn about how all of these currently work and how they can be improved in order to increase the overall marketing workflow.

Hey Theo, I had never used Visio before my internship started but I have learned it is a good tool to use. It makes explaining ideas in meetings much easier and is certainly a lot prettier than my handwriting on a whiteboard.

The most important skills that i have learned throughout my internship experience with AmeriHealth Caritas were: High level attention to important detail, ability to multitask on numerous test cases while working in a high paced environment. Some software skills that I acquired while working there was using: HP Quality Center, ITSM, RapidSQL. Microsoft Access was one thing which I loved using, it became easier because of my SQL experience in the past. The most important person that I met at my internship was the CEO, Paul Tufano. During Christmas Eve, he was going around to everyone and thanking them for their services. Some skills which I did not have was which HPQC and VbScript. These were two skills which I learned at an advanced level. Some people that I wanted to have on my side were the people of QA Apps 1 ans 2. All of the team members were extremely helping and thought me things about the company culture and about QA which I couldn’t have learned anywhere else.

I learned important business and technical skills over a very short period of time in the beginning of my internship. By far, the most integral skill I was able to hone was my ability to ask the right questions. This helped me quickly build relationships with peers and superiors, and showed that I was thoroughly invested in the company I was working for. From a technical standpoint, I learned to double and triple check all work that I had completed. Sending vital information to seasoned veterans of one of the largest companies in the world can be a bit stressful. Making sure that all of my submissions were error proof helped relieve this stress, made me more confident in my work, and improved the overall quality of my work as well. As I worked week by week, I learned that I must make my best effort to take initiative on any and all tasks that fall on my lap. Sometimes, days can be long, and it seems as though there is not much work to be done. However, this is typically far from the truth. There is always work that can be done. Therefore, I realized it was up to me to consistently ask those around me if there was anything at all I could help with. This kept me busy and helped each and every day go by quickly. By showing this initiative, I was able to mold relationships with many important individuals throughout the company. Since the culture of Comcast was so collaborative, there was no one in particular that I wanted to align myself with. I tried to get on everyone’s good side, and got to know all of my co-workers better as a result.

The most important skill that I learned for my internship was how to use SalesForce Marketing Cloud. About half of my assigned projects include this tool. I use it to create HTML and templated emails for marketing campaigns that we send out to our customers. It’s a great tool to use to analyze marketing campaigns in terms of open rate, click rate, etc. Also, it links to our SalesForce CRM system so it’s easy to create subscriber lists for each particular email campaign. I had never used it prior to this internship so it was difficult in the beginning. After some training from my manager, I got a good grasp of all of the features. Besides my manager, the VP on my team was somebody who I wanted on my side and luckily for me, it happened. She’s always tasked me with challenging projects, which has been really enjoyable and educational. She’s always included me in meetings, events, business trips, and more. It’s given me a really good understanding of the business.

While working at my internship I’ve noticed 2 types of workers with different skill sets but both connected to the success of one another. The first type of worker are the salesmen and women, they all are very high energy and focused on making the big bucks. They have to be highly persuasive, and able to read the customer and attempt to navigate every conversation to a sale. The other main type of worker are the sales support divisions which have to gather the sales lead data, clean existing data, and analyze different leads in order to provide leverage to the sales team. An important skill for the sales support operations division is to understand the sales process in order to know what kind of information may make the lead “hotter” when it hits the sales floor. It is also important for them to be efficient and accurate in this so data processing is another good skill to possess with this position.

Data analytic skills are some of the most important skills that I discovered necessary in my internship. Not only did a lot of my projects center around data analysis, but I was often included in emails of a variety of reports. Rather than asking other people what the reports meant each time I always took the time to do a deep dive of the report and decipher as much as a I could. Often there were department specific phrases/codes/formulas that I ultimately asked someone what they mean to better understand the data. By taking the initiative to first understand it myself I not only strengthened my data analysis skills but gained a better understanding of what has currently happening in the company and be able to apply that knowledge in future conversations and projects.

I discovered how crucial it was to have people from Corporate on my side (I worked in a regional office down the street from corporate). There are certain types of more classified information that only a few members of the company are allowed to pull, and only from corporate. Regional offices can request this data from corporate through a group mailbox request, but it can take a few days to get the information. One of my colleagues set up an introduction with people from the Corporate HR team. This enabled me to directly request reports if they were urgent, and in general establish rapport with people from that group. This made it much easier to keep open lines of communication regarding data pulls or data integrity errors to ensure quick and accurate receipt of the data reports I needed.

The most important skill that my experience at SEI has taught me is the ability to use the company’s SharePoint site to find and upload different documents and procedures. Once I learned how to navigate and operate the SharePoint site I was able to start answering my own questions and relying less on my manager for advice and help. Besides my boss, there is another employee who has helped me exponentially. He is a co-worker on my Business Intelligence team that has been working at the company for 15+ years. He has been able to help me with things such as teaching me how to submit a project for approval, granting me permission to certain parts of the SharePoint that I needed access to, getting me on projects that I had interest in, and even just giving me insights on other employees at the company. By having him on my side he has helped me excel at SEI.

One important take away from Maurice Whetstone’s talk was that data is not useful unless you know how to look at it and ask the right questions. He discussed how when he worked at Lenox he realized a huge problem in that none of their customers who were buying silver were buying silver polish. This had been in the data for months, but until he looked at it and asked the right questions about what the data was saying, Lenox was losing money on potential sales of millions of dollars. This ties back to class in that we have to learn to understand the data and the meaning of the columns in order for the data to be valuable. Otherwise, we just have a whole bunch of numbers that do not have any meaning to us.

The most important information I took away from Maurice Whetstone’s talk was that one of the most important roles of a company’s IT department is taking data and applying it to other functions of a business. Applying data to other business functions can significantly improve a business’s success. Raw data can be insignificant, but it’s the clean, analyzed and applied data that contributes to a company’s success. You can use data to help you decide what products to continue selling or in Mr. Whetstone’s case, decide how long to keep a product on air for.

I was fascinated by Mr. Whetstone’s story about how his team was able to assist the broadcasters with the actual selling of items. By analyzing the data in real time, they were able to influence the consumers and increase sales. They were able to satisfy both their wants and needs as well as those of their customers. This applies directly to Customer Relationship Management by acquiring the necessary information to know a consumer and be able to provide an item they are destined to like. They are ultimately able to market directly to the consumers using this data and acquire them as a lifetime asset. This relates back to class because the data was out there, we just need to learn how to use it to our advantage.

Maurice Whetstone gave a very informative presentation on the applications of the material we have been learning in class. The most interesting topic that he mentioned was QVC’s acquirement of Zulily. This was part of an attempt to generate more returning customers, specifically in the younger generation. This directly relates to the personalization of web content that we discussed in class. QVC wants to make their webpage more personalized to each individual to retain their customers. By collecting data on what the customers search on their website, QVC will be able to cater to individuals rather than the general public.

The most important part of Maurice’s presentation for me was his explanation of the different areas of QVC’s data science department. Data management, business intelligence, and data analytics are all separate but when making decisions with data, they have to come together. I never really thought about whether or not data science could be separated into departments and used in varied ways. Maurice explained that in order to be useful, data has to go through many different processes and be looked at in different lighting. I enjoyed his use of the term “data nugget”, as well.

Maurice’s presentation was more so a review of things that I have learned both on the job and through my schooling. I did learn about how QVC was leveraging data to improve its company though. I found it really interesting that they were concerned with data by the minute. When I worked in the oil industry we never looked at any data by the minute but always by the day. In class we have been provided data sets over a much longer period of time than a minute. I think it is neat that QVC analyzes data in minute intervals but also understand it is not good for all companies to try to emulate that. For example smaller companies wouldn’t analyze sales volume by the minute because they don’t have a high volume of sales and there wouldn’t be enough data.

In my opinion, the most important takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday was the verification of trustworthy data. Knowing whether data is credible or not is extremely important to the success of an organization. If data is not credible and verified, it can potentially lead to further issues down the road. Additional research should always be performed to confirm that data is both accurate and trustworthy. Verified data will maximize both efficiency and success for all organizations.

Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday was very interesting and one thing he said definitely stood out to me. He talked about the importance of trusting data but also verifying it. If everyone trusted data without verifying it first, there could be major errors in it which could set a company behind. One specific example that Whetstone mentioned, as to how data is used to make decisions, is when he said that QVC is now seeing questions that potential customers could have about a product via social media and telling the person on TV to address that question live.

In my opinion, I think the most important piece of information that I took away from Maurice’s presentation was his life’s philosophy of “trust but verify”. He explained to us the importance of verifying information in reference to data, because without verifying, many data sets can be biased or flat out incorrect. However, I think this philosophy can and should be applied in all other aspects of our lives, because we often believe everything we see to be true as long as the information “makes sense”, or comes from what we believe to be a reliable source. Maurice explained that human error exists in nearly every piece of data, so we should verify everything we read, hear, see, or do before believing it to be accurate.

One takeaway that I got from Maurice Whetstone’s presentation was how often data is analyzed in a business setting. His example of how QVC analyzes tweets about their live shows to help them determine what information the presenter should relay to the audience was very interesting. Clearly, QVS is constantly using data to give themselves an advantage. This relates to class in that we have learned about the importance of pinpointing useful data that can be utilized to make an impact.

Maurice Whetstone’s lecture was really useful and interesting, it indicated the importance of exploring the data by giving some specific examples. His example of the silver and the silver polish shows that the data cannot make any change by itself, the importance and the use of it only appears when a person realize what information it shows. Another example of the eyeliner shows us that plenty of datasets from different aspects are needed for one product. His lecture made me realize that data plays an important role in many different fields; however, we need to find it and analyze it to make it helpful.

There were a lot of useful stuffs that I could take away from the presentation of Maurice Whetstone on Thursday. One of them was when he explained about how QVC worked with data, how the company efficiently used the data and the different areas that contained the company. Various areas of data science with different positions; however, they all used data as the necessary tool in order to make decisions. From the presentation, I have had the much closer look on how data is used and managed in the real life. I could find some information that he talked related to what I have learned in class including metadata or open data.

I learned a lot from Mr. Whetstone’s presentation on Thursday. The most interesting aspect for me was the timeframe that he looks at data. From what I have heard so far in school, most people look at data by the month or by the year, while QVC is looking at it by the minute. I learned that when you are in the broadcast field, you need to look at the data and make split second decisions on what you will be showing on air to maximize your profits and revenue.

The presentation given by Maurice Whetstone was very interesting and easily grasped my attention. I really liked how Maurice gave countless real-world examples about data in the workplace. One of the things that really stuck with me after I left the classroom was how important data is to QVC, especially in terms of security. For companies that use traditional brick-and-mortar stores, data isn’t as important to them as it is to QVC, a company with countless amounts of data and information. With information in their database that includes so much personal information such as address, e-mails, and credit card numbers, he really emphasized how important data security is to a company like QVC. I was glad he touched on the topic of data security and how important it is QVC.

I believe that Maurice provided the class with some very powerful information concerning the use of data on a corporate level. First and foremost, data seems to be under-used in the business world, as there are many correlations that are often overlooked for companies that could easily improve their business processes just by analyzing data. I found it especially interesting that his QVC data was analyzed by the minute, which is something that not many companies do. His example with that information from QVC was key in showing us as a class how much the data truly matters, as Maurice showed that one can see its impact in real time!

The thing that took me away in Maurice’s talk is the fact that QVC looks at its data every minute, finds out how they work in that one minute, and change immediately, if there is something wrong. Usually, in most traditional companies, data will not be available until the end of a day, week, or month. If something is causing losses during the period, there may be little anyone can do to to minimize the damage and to come up with alternative plan to improvise the situation. His talk connects with the materials in the class in the actionable characteristic of data: People can based on data to predict the future, decide based on it and achieve the best outcomes.

The most important takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday was that data are valuable assets to a company. With data, we can draw reliable conclusions and make more accurate decisions. Data are collected through the help of technology but that does not mean everything is automated. We need humans to turn data (as raw and unorganized facts) into meaningful information for decision making. The point of the role of humans was emphasized in both Maurice’s talk and our class discussion.

For me, the most essential takeaway from Mr. Whetstone’s talk is how one approaches data is sometimes more important than the data one can collect. One great example is QVC’s effort to standardize data sets and metadata so that it is easily understood by all of its analysts across the world. Another memorable example is Mr. Whetsone’ story about how he distinguished himself by identifying something others have not found out. He did not gather more data. He found a different way to read it, asked a new question, and revealed that a product line had the potential to be profitable. In the modern world where we are inundated with data, in order to make use of them all, we must learn how to look at them critically.

One key point that I took away from Mr. Whetstone’s talk was how each business is unique in how they manage and collect their data. Mr. Whetstone told us about how QVC is unique in that they collect data and analyze it by the hour or the minute versus the day because that is what’s best for the company. They use this method of analyzing the data to see where products are selling the most and when to take them down. This was very interesting because QVC is such a successful company and the methods they use to analyze big data are so important and unique to them.

The most important takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday that I received was when he discussed the blindness behind QVC in regards to their lack of sterling silver polish sales. This past Thursday, the 28th of January, Maurice went into detail about their astronomical sales and profits through their silver jewelry alone, and pointed out that consumers were buying QVC’s jewelry, while using another company’s polish. It is quite clear that this fostered a wasted opportunity to make an even larger profit, which made Maurice dig through the sales data in QVC’s jewelry to further reassure himself. Knowing that QVC would greatly profit from sales in polish, Maurice addressed his coworkers, which eventually led to QVC selling polish in the near future. This specific situation that Maurice told our class taught me that not only is data constantly changing, but that data continuously needs to be overlooked, and that data can always be improved. Data can never be assumed.

The biggest takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk is the concept of “trust but verify”. He wants us to understand that all data may seem credible at first glance but not to just assume it to be right but instead verify it just to make sure that what you are looking at is accurate. There have been many instances where people didn’t want to take the extra mile to verify the data and that led to many failures down the road. It is better to take the time to double check everything than face the consequences for not. Verifying data to make it more trustworthy and credible will make a company more efficient and successful.

I found Maurice Whetstone’s presentation to be very interesting and I received very valuable information from him. One key point I believe was very insightful was that all data is a valuable asset to a company. QVC has to manage, organize, and analyze their data in a specific way to take control of the high volume of data that is coming in every hour. With the data they collect they can make key decisions, for example whether or not to keep a product on the air for another five minutes or take it off. I believe these valuable conclusions can make or break a business. They company needs to know how they are performing at all times and ultimately if they are making money.

A significant takeaway I learnt from Maurice Whetstone’s presentation on Thursday was how much studying and questioning data can affect a certain company. The talk from Maurice Whetstone strengthen the believe that these days, where we live in a world revolved around a lot of information and data, data is very precious and can be used to make important business decisions. His example of studying live data while a QVC show was running shows how if we observe data critically, we can make decisions that would benefit the company. This reflects how important data is and how we can generate a simple data set into something valuable just by questioning the data and exploring it deeper, which is what we learned in class.

One important fact that I took away from Maurice Whetstone’s presentation was his own philosophy “Trust but Verify”. This is a very key concept since not all data can be trusted and the facts behind it must be confirmed. In order to fully trust a source of data it is often good to test that data to see if it comes up in any other instances in order to filter out “bad” data which would help validate the information which a source produces.

Hi Nicholas.
I believe this actually happened when he was at Lenox not QVC. You are correct in the overall message though.

Mr. Maurice Whetstone’s was truly the epitome of someone who loves his occupation. Not only is he very knowledgeable in his field, he was able to paint a vivid picture of just exactly what must be done browsing through the countless amounts of data everyday. His favorite saying “trust but verify” resonates loudly with everything in life, but it also helps to better understand that not all data sources are credible or reliable. His stories of different experiences with well-known companies were phenomenal and his energy/passion is obviously a key factor. You can definitely tell he enjoys his job (and the retail discounts as well, just like anyone else).

Maurice Whetstone’s presentation let me saw the strength of data. People are influenced a lot by data, so the most important thing is to make sure you are not fooled by the data or give other the wrong messages. You should have your own opinions about the data you get, and think it critically. But never doubt everything, because the data is changing and changing with the time going by. Hold the opportunity accurately.

Maurice Whetstone’s presentation let me saw the strength of data. People are influenced a lot by data, so the most important thing is to make sure you are not fooled by the data or give other the wrong messages. You should have your own opinions about the data you get, and think it critically. But never doubt everything, because the data is changing and changing with the time going by. Hold the opportunity accurately.

One of the most important thing witch I learn from the presentation given by Maurice Whetstone is that the importance of data to make business success. There is no doubt that data is increasing significant in business activities today. Though data itself is not useful, companies can make right desicions and satisfy consumers by analysing them. Once you can using data appropriately, they can make huge value for you.

I think the most important takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday was how data mediums and measurements are always changing and growing. Data is heavy stored and pieced together like a puzzle almost to where it is pertinent. For instance, he spoke about huge data storage facilities to which data is looked over maybe days or weeks later after it’s initial collection. From there, the data may become useful in some form for some future project. Maurice covered it in his presentation and you made a point to say that it wasn’t planned, but metadata. Everything is really data of something was my biggest take away in relation to lecture.

I think Maurice Whetstone’s presentation clearly demonstrated how important and essential data is for any business in terms of data mining, collecting, analyzing and preserving. His example of the silver and silver polish sales made clear how proper data recognizing and interpreting could make huge improvement to a company’s profit. His experience with the complicated and difficult process to access QVC data from German also stuck out for me. From Maurice’s talk, it’s clear that data if properly treated could be a huge asset to the business.

The biggest takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s presentation was that the importance of data. Because of the importance, the way they collected data was different from most other companies, for examples, Macy’s collected its data every day, however, QVC collected its data every minute. He also told us that how interesting and useful he found the data is; he found the fact that nobody has ever noticed by looking at the data…. All in all, from his speak, I learned how useful and important the data is.

The most important takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk on Thursday is knowing the power of data. It is very useful and many things can be inferred from it. In a cmpany, the data can tell things like the preferences of products from customers, the efficiency of employees and the performance of a company to influence the fianl decision. It is also essential to know how to efficiently use the raw data. Definig the liability of data and not being biased by the data through sample researches are examples of what we learned in the lectures of using the data effectively.

The most important thing which I learn from the presentation of Maurice Whetstone is that the value of data. In this society, every walk of life needs to collection many of data to prove their opinions or ideas. All data are really important to a research. Such as a company uses data to prediction market and gives direction of the development tendency. But actually not every data is valuable of the research. Maurice Whetstone states that every walk of life needs to filter different kinds of data which are not valuable, then though the valuable data to analysis, conclusion and decision.

It took a while for me to figure out how to navigate the building, especially when I needed to find someone new. It’s also a great point you brought up about the bathroom, because our workplace has a passcode on the bathroom. That’s something you have to ask around for.

Those are minor things albeit important. I think the really challenging and critical information that you need to acquire is about people. As an intern, you come in with a certain mindset that may not reflect the workplace you are joining. It takes a few days or weeks to pick up on the subtleties about culture that are hard to quantify, such as work intensity and willingness to take lunch breaks. When working on projects, the work may be understandable but the information flow or how the work product is used by various teams takes time to understand. For that reason, internships can be challenging, as you need to learn all of these things to operate well, but you leave soon after you learn them.

Simple things that took a couple of weeks to really pick up at my place of work included learning how to book a room if I needed to schedule a meeting, learning that most people will not answer their phones so I have to IM them, and figuring out which parking lot was closest to where I sat in the building. Something that really took me by surprise was how extremely nice and cheerful everyone in my office is all of the time. It felt odd at first walking down the hallway of a $10 billion dollar corporation and casually saying “Good morning” to the CEO as I passed him on the way to my desk. Everyone is always in a good mood and not totally miserable. Very different than any of my other internships.

On my own, I had to discover the differing personalities of my coworkers. Some people are very interested in my life and sharing personal stories, while conversations with others are kept strictly to business. Some of my coworkers prefer mornings, while others work best in the afternoon. Understanding the dynamic of the team was definitely the most important thing I had to find out on my own when I began my internship.

Everyone I work with was very helpful in directing me to the bathrooms, coffee, printer, food, meeting rooms, etc.

Like David mentioned, it took me a while to learn how to navigate myself around the company. During the first week, I came into the office early so that I could experiment with the different parking lots and routes I can take to get to my office. Thankfully, my manager helped me a lot when he told me where the closest parking lot from our office was and the easiest way to get to my office. Additionally, the company culture took me a while to get used to. During the first week, everyone I met at AstraZeneca was so nice and willing to help me out that at first I thought the friendliness would only last about a week or two. However, I have found that the people I work with are all genuinely supportive and willing to help if I am stuck on something. Overall, the employees really helped me settle into my internship and I could not have been more thankful for this.

Yes, like Trevor, I have been at my company for quite a while now, since the beginning of summer. However, I still remember what it was like my first week at TMNAS this past summer. I had worked at a small accounting firm my freshman and sophomore summers and it was intimidating to come into a large company. As David mentioned, I did have to ask for the bathroom code which was strange and as Alex explained it was confusing to book a room. However, I think what was most confusing, the first week at my company, was navigating around the building. There are several meeting rooms on my floor and meeting rooms in the other two buildings where TMNAS’ other offices sit. For the first couple weeks I would be assigned to go to meetings and had no idea on where to go, so I had to ask. This was embarrassing but I asked one of the very friendly receptionists and she was happy to answer my questions!

I had to discover how relaxed the company culture is on my own. I work in Subaru’s Eastern Region office which is somewhat separate from Subaru’s national headquarters across the street. My office is very different culture-wise than many other corporations and even the national headquarters across the street. I remember my initial interview, I dressed business professional and I felt very over-dressed because everyone I interviewed with was wearing jeans and sneakers, even the person who became my supervisor. Everyone in my office is extremely relaxed and we often joke around with each other and it’s not all “business” all the time. It’s a company culture that I love and fits my personality perfectly. My co-workers don’t “look down on me” because I’m an intern, they all treat me like any other full-time employee. It was definitely shocking to learn how relaxed the company culture was but it was easy to adjust to.

Genesis Healthcare’s Central South East division that I worked in was housed in an old railroad building that at one point was also a shoe factory. It makes for some interesting architecture but very very confusing to navigate. Lots of snaking hallways and walking through the finance department to meet with a department head felt similar to being lost in a corn maze. I ended up having to always leave extra to travel within the building to meetings because it was so tricky to get from point A to point B. Something positive I discovered about Genesis was how friendly and open people were. By the end of my internship I was getting asked by our CHRO to attend weekly meetings discussing an upcoming merger. Despite feeling less important as intern I was shown nothing but respect and an eagerness to impart their wisdom or help me out in any way I needed. My boss used to say “Genesis is a large company that still acts like a small one”. There was a close sense between workers and departments and despite the size of the organization, top level executives and directors were meeting with me and assisting me in projects when needed. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Genesis and already miss my time there!

I am currently working at my third internship since I entered Temple, so I have been acclimated and exposed to different types of corporate environments. While it did not take very long for me to get used to life in a new building, it was a learning process learning and adapting to my coworkers’ style of work. I have worked on various projects with five other interns, the marketing department (consisting of about 20 people), and external vendors on projects. Working with people in various roles, companies, and age ranges has taught me a great deal about myself and what working style works best for me.
Another thing that took some getting used to was all of the words and phrases that arised in meetings between members of the organization and external vendors (ie. our digital agency). Since I would “shadow” my boss most days as part of my learning, I would take diligent notes and ask him questions about what was discussed, what acronyms stood for, and other advice-driven questions about what I can do to prepare myself for future meetings. I created an ongoing Excel spreadsheet full of acronyms for future interns and full-time associates to use as a reference, with the hope that they will not feel as lost as I did at the beginning of my employment.

One thing that took me awhile to learn was figuring out where all of the conference rooms were. Many of my days were filled with meetings that were located all over the building. It was very hard to remember where every room was located. I would carry around my 3 page map of the building so that I wouldn’t be late due to not knowing where to go. As soon as I got an idea of where every conference room was, the company expanded to the building next door and now I’m in the process of learning where every conference room is all over again.
Another important thing I had to learn was what all of the acronyms stood for. Everyone in the marketing department used acronyms for projects, events, other companies and organizations, etc. There were even acronyms that meant two different things. It seemed as though I’d never catch on, but after asking a lot of questions I now know what most of them mean.

At first glance, working in the tallest building in the entire city of Philadelphia can be a bit overwhelming. Knowing which set of elevators you can use to take to your floor; figuring out when and where you must present your id card; determining when it’s appropriate to go on lunch breaks, and where to get food; all of these are unknown on your first day with Comcast. What you will know immediately, however, is that everyone you are working with is right by your side to help. Your team will be friendly and welcoming. They will answer any questions you may have. And, as a result of the incredible corporate culture, as well as the artistically simplistic design of the building, and it will only take roughly a week to get the lay of the land while working in the Comcast Center. Certain aspects of the 9:00-5:00 grind need to be figured out on your own, such as the best food places around, or what means of transportation to and from work is most effective. Working for Comcast, employees are given a great deal of autonomy to run their own lives, with the trust placed in them that they will meet and exceed their employer’s expectations of them.

John, definitely explore the food court in the Comcast Center! It really has some great cuisines. I can definitely empathize with getting lost in these huge buildings which have different elevators for each floor.

Like many of my classmates, one of the first things I had to learn was the general layout of the building. I did not have a difficult time with this like others because of the size and location of my department. Our building is designed that all of the employees are grouped together by the association they manage, this layout made it a lot easier finding my way around. One of the biggest thing I had to quickly learn was the names of those in my department. I remember this being an important thing when getting adjusted because my first day I met over 30 people and on my second day I did not remember 30 names. I remember constantly asking others at my work the name of employees I rarely see.

When I began working at my job last summer the company had just moved into Indy Hall – a coworking space in Old City with about 200 members. Many are individual entrepreneurs or small teams, like my company. From the beginning, it has been a great experience working here. One interesting example is how and where to work. There are two types of desks – black desks for full time members and tan desks for part-time members. As a part-time member, I had a tan desk and would regularly move around to different desks. This allowed me to both interact with my team differently and meet other people. The whole working environment has been vastly different compared to other more traditional offices that I have worked in. Other than the workplace, getting used to the type of work I was doing was challenging. While I had experience in digital marketing from my past academic and work experiences, I had to learn a lot about SEO specifically. My boss regularly recommended blogs, case studies and other readings with tons of new information that I needed to start using right away.

Like most, one thing that I had to learn on my own was navigating the building. ACE Group’s building was structured a bit different than usual. There were 2 sets of elevators where both took you to the same floors and at the same time only one set led to different floors that the other elevators couldn’t. It took me a while to get used to which elevators took me to certain floors. In addition, booking rooms was another thing that I had to learn on my own. It was funny how one of my coworkers asked me to help her book certain rooms that she never learned how to book, even though she has been working there for a few years. I also learned how to communicate with different coworkers. Since ACE Group was transitioning into Chubb, my supervisors were extremely busy so I had to learn when and how to communicate with them without bothering them. Learning everyone’s names and there roles was another thing. It took me a while since I’m so bad with names but having everyone’s name on their cubicles and offices helped me alot. Everything else I learned with the help of my coworker, Sherry. She was extremely nice and so helpful. Everytime I had an issue with a task or something not related to work, she would always be there to help.

In a new corporate setting/environment, learning about the company’s culture is one of, if not the most important thing I had to do. Like many of my classmates, I had to quickly get acquainted with the layout of the buildings and the organizational structure of the different departments. In my role as a Business Analyst, I had to schedule numerous meetings with different stakeholders within the company. Finding a mutual location for all participants didn’t always work. I eventually found out on my own that instead of always trying to have an in person meeting, having conference calls are sometimes the best thing to do. This goes back to understanding the dynamic of the team, as Rachel stated earlier. I also realized that ‘Fridays’ were generally a relaxed business day at the company. A day in which you would come in, have a couple of meetings in the morning, check/respond to any emails, begin to plan your schedule for the following week, and be out by around 3:30 pm. I can still remember the very first Friday during my internship where I actually stayed until 5:00 pm. I was the last person to walk out of the building, everyone was gone by at least 4:30.

When It comes to the organization that I worked for the most important thing was the environment of the workplace. Being able to effective communicate with the employees and liking them on a personal level makes the work more fun. During my time in Los Angeles some thins that I had to learn on my own was the best places to eat. Being located in a city rich of culture and amazing food I went to the best spots in the city. Some other things I had to learn on my own was how to work on the WordPress Platform and effectively troubleshoot problems that came up when they came up. This required hours of research on the internet along with a limited amount of help from my adviser. My typical work day in the office was long. Sometimes I would not leave the office til 10PM. Working on a more creative aspect with technology made my work time consuming and hard because of all the input that was given during the meeting I had to update my employers on what was going on with the project.

Like many of my classmates, there were many things I had to learn about. Number one being the layout of the buildings. The main office building was actually 2 miles away from the building the information systems team was located. Knowing the general layout of the buildings was a tad bit confusing the first two weeks. The cafeteria line was also confusing, it seemed it would change every day according to what was being made. One major issue that I had was signing off the computer every moment I had to leave my desk. This was major rule since we were working with real client data which could be used in a harmful way by people walking by. Everybody in the QA was very open about helping me out when I had questions about the systems or the processes. The company culture is what caught my eye. It was very relaxing and not stressful. This could’ve been because I was an intern but it could actually be the actual culture. We often joked with each other about projects and how QA Apps 2 was better than QA App 1. I was treated like an employee of the company when I did work. Although it was relaxing, it was also demanding when it came to testing. We were on a crucial schedule.

During my first day at ReminderMedia we had a tour of the facility which helped make it easier to learn where everything was. That didn’t however stop me from getting lost a few times on the way to my meetings with other interns. Another thing that I had to find out on my own was that they also gave employees the chance to drink free hot chocolate or coffee which I love because I am not a coffee drinker myself. One of the things i was unaware of before my arrival here was just how young this company is in terms of the average age of it employees. I think that was a surprise to me but also helped myself who i consider an introvert when it comes to meeting new people come out of my shell quickly and feel like a part of the culture from the start of my experience.

I saw that many my classmates have to navigate the building. I did not do that in my first day. I started work last Friday. The TriMED HealthCare is not very big. But the funny is that I still have to ask where is the bathroom. I felt that it is polite. I don’t really know about what is the different between general company culture in the U.S. and in my home country. So, there were many things I had to learn about. First, it takes a time to learn about company’s culture. One of classmate mentions that work intensity and willingness to take lunch breaks. I felt that my coworkers are hard work. We usually have a short break at noon including lunch time. And in that time I didn’t know whether it is good idea to ask them about when we can eat lunch. There are three coworkers in our room. We use public area. In addition, I had to discover the differing personalities of my coworkers. They are usually quiet. We didn’t talk a lot in that day. We just did own things. Maybe that day is Friday. People is tired. But my supervisor is very friendly and she was happy to answer my questions.

During my first week at EY I found that it takes some time getting comfortable navigating through the building. At first it feels like you’re walking through a maze trying to find certain things such as the supply room, the bathrooms, the conference rooms, and other staff members. One particular thing that is kind of unique about EY is the culture when it comes to office seating arrangements. At EY there is no assigned offices, but rather you rent/reserve office space for specific periods at a time. This is done for two main reasons: one, because EY is a client-serving firm so most of the time staff members are at client sites, and secondly because they want everyone to feel as though they are equal no matter their position or title. For the first couple of days me and another intern were able to reserve a Partner-sized corner office because no other staff member was occupying it. I found this cool and it also reinforced my positive outlook on the relaxed company culture I have heard so much about at EY. Another thing I had to quickly learn is that every client has different rules/culture, so when I would travel to different client sites with my team I would have to adjust my dress code and behavior to fit in with the client’s standards.

This is my second semester at my internship, but when I first got there, I had to figure out everything on my own. The area that we were working in was separated from the rest of the departments, so it took me longer to figure out where everything else was. Luckily, they did tour me around the first day, so I got a bearing for where everything was, but I often got lost when I had meetings in far away conference rooms. I even got lost in the beginning of this semester, since I switched departments and am working on a completely different side of the building. As for the company culture, most of the staff happens to be young and the company culture seemed pretty casual at first. Talking with more of the staff, getting to know my supervisor, and observing how everyone was working, however, made me realize that it wasn’t as casual as it seemed.The staff, especially the sales employees and the CEO, are very serious about their jobs and want to keep a structured culture with weekly standup meetings and a rigorous schedule. I then applied this structure to the way I worked.

Since I have a good relationship with my HR recruiter, he was able to give me a great welcoming tour of the SEI facility. He was able to show me how to get to the cafeteria, where to get coffee/snacks, and a brief overview of the entire campus. But even after the tour, the biggest challenge for me was learning all the names and locations of all 7 buildings at SEI. Going into my first day I knew how to get to where my desk was located and how to get to the cafeteria from there, but the more I became involved in different projects I started having meetings all over the campus within buildings that I’ve never been in before. To help overcome this, when I have a meeting in a building I am not familiar with I leave around 20-30 minutes early to compensate for the 10-15 minutes I will spend wandering around looking for the correct conference room.

http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2016/1/20/health-care-organizations-report-data-breaches-affecting-thousands

The article I found briefly discusses a few data breaches within healthcare organizations. Two of the breaches stemmed from employees stealing data, either by emailing it to themselves or taking a tablet with spreadsheets of patient information. I found this interesting as the government has mandated all doctors offices and healthcare companies to move from paper charts to paperless, with everything being online only, and there are already a number of breaches happening and most doctors havent even gone paperless yet.

GOP’s Favorability Rating Takes a Negative Turn

GOP’s Favorability Rating Takes a Negative Turn

The article here concerns the recent drop in favorability of the republican party over the course of 2015, and goes into other details concerning the political happenings of current days. Essentially, this may be due to the lack of a (excuse my personal bias) completely respectable and viable republican candidate. No one seems to be pleased with anything that the GOP is bringing to the table these days, aside from a smaller minority, and personally I would think it is due to the current standing of the race for the presidency. Overall, this article was very interesting because it uses data to show which topics are held more in favor to be handled by each party, which I thought was quite intriguing.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/datablog/2016/jan/21/the-schools-that-topped-the-2015-gcse-league-table-by-region

This article is from The Guardian Newspaper, shows the rating comparison between different schools in various regions in England. This rating data is made according to the proportion how many students from each school get more A in English or Math throughout GCSE exams. I found this article and the data really interested because it basically show off the studying abilities of schools between regions in England. Therefore, it somehow makes me curious to see differences they have in the country.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theopriestley/2016/01/15/eu-bosses-can-snoop-on-your-private-messages-at-work/
The article I read dealt with an employees privacy at work. It was about an employee in Romania who sent a private email using his company’s computer and his employer viewed the message. The European Union ruled that the company was allowed to look up and view the data in the email because it was sent on their computer. This is interesting to me, because I work for Cigna and I know they can view our messages and emails but they do encourage us to log onto social media during our lunch breaks and I’m curious if they are allowed to see what you post at work while on Facebook or Twitter. I’m pretty sure they would be able to do that.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/01/22/apple-expands-maps-capabilities-with-new-flyover-nearby-and-traffic-location-data
The article I chose is about Apple expanding its Map capabilities to show an aerial or “flyover” view of locales in the world. This does not directly relate to my major (risk management) but I am thinking of changing it to MIS, which would have a strong correlation to this article. I find it to be extremely interesting because Apple used data to find traffic location in places such as Hong Kong and Mexico to help people in the world see where traffic is backed up or at a stop. I also found it interesting because Apple is competing with Google’s Street View to create a more detailed focus of metropolitan cities so that people could navigate better.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-the-internet-predict-the-oscars/ This article is interesting to me because instead of basing Oscar predictions on expert opinions, the people featured are taking everyday data and turning it into possibly more accurate guesses than any expert could have. It’s cool to read the different methods they have thought of, and compare the limitations of those methods/models. I’m excited to find out if the model utilizing the number of headlines on an actor/film is better able to predict than the model compiling positive and negative tweets.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-spurs-bench-could-probably-make-the-playoffs-on-its-own/
This article, from FiveThirtyEight, tries to demonstrate how good the San Antonio Spurs’ backup players are by showing, through data, that they would be able to make the playoffs if they were their own team. The analysis is driven by the Box Plus/Minus rating which measures a basketball player’s performance and its affect on the team’s performance. Interestingly enough, if the Spurs’ back up players were to have their own team and play regular minutes as starters, they would be able to perform as the 6th best team in the NBA. This article is relevant to myself as an MIS major because it shows how one can analyze data to make predictions and come to conclusions.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2016/01/22/thinking-big-about-big-data-in-insurance/#27136be13377

Big data is transforming the insurance industry in big ways. Data controls insurance because it is used in creating models for pricing for consumers. According to Tom Warden, big data will allow insurance companies to discover new insurance products and to better predict future events. This includes usage-based insurance pricing which prices insurance based off live data from the customer.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cavs-fire-coach-david-blatt/
This article I found on FiveThirtyEight briefly discusses the firing of Cleveland Cavalier’s head coach David Blatt. Even though Blatt led the team to the NBA Finals last season and has a 30-11 record currently this year, his firing portrays how coaching in the NBA is not an easy task. I found the data table very interesting to look at as it showed all the coaches who were fired/resigned during midseason with an Elo rating of 1550 or higher. The average Elo rating in the league is 1500 so having an Elo rating above that indicates a really good team. The Cavaliers had an Elo rating of 1669 which is really good which leads us to question if Lebron James had anything to do with Blatt’s firing. This article interested me since I am a big basketball fan.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-stock-market-is-not-the-economy/
The article starts with the 500 points decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Average last week. However, that declining number, according to the author, does not reflect the global economic development as a whole. China reported last week that its DPG had grown 6.9% in 2015, the slowest growth of the country in 25 years. On the other side of the world, the figure that top richest 1% of the world possess roughly 50% of the global wealth stills makes people contemplate a lot. The article summarizes a week in economics with decline, growth and economic inequality that we still have to fight against.

http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-user-data-2016-1

This article provides the reader with the knowledge about amount of data that is produced by Spotify listeners. With the data that is being produced, they can activity predict the type of music that you would like at certain times of the day. Spotify is throwing around the idea of adding more media to their primarily music platform, like implementing podcasts for an example. Spotify, by harnessing and processing their data, will create a better listening platform for their users and find new ways to create more invested and active users.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kawhi-leonard-is-the-most-well-rounded-elite-shooter-since-larry-bird/
This article from FiveThirtyEight discusses the young basketball star, Kawhi Leonard. At 24, he is currently in his fourth year as an NBA player, and already has a Defensive Player of the Year award and a Finals MVP award. The article discusses how Leonard has emerged as a serious threat from three-point range, which has significantly improved his all-around game. Leonard was efficient in other areas of the game before the start of this season, such as defense, rebounding, assists, and usage, but the development of his three-point shot has given him the efficiency of Larry Bird, an NBA legend and Hall of Famer. The article concludes by reminding the reader of Leonard’s young age, implying that he will only improve more as he ages.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/billion-dollar-powerball-lottery/
I find this article interesting because it talks about the chance of winning the lottery. I myself do not believe in the chance of winning the lottery (maybe because I major in Actuarial Science). However, I am fascinated by how people still spend money on lottery despite all the probability and all the articles about the chances of winning. This article is worth the read as it analyzes many aspects of the lottery and the probability of winning in the new model.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/12/shops-could-soon-be-targeting-ads-according-to-your-feet
The article I chose talks about how shops could soon be targeting ads according to your feet. I found this article interesting because I have heard of facial recognition profiling, but using feet to profile people is not something you hear or see on a daily basis. Data scientist have developed tech that can analyze the style and size of people’s footwear as they walk past. The system can make judgments on demographic, footfall, and predict the gender of the person.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-we-headed-for-another-recession/
This article is interesting to me because I have another class discussed about the recession recently. It’s interesting that the business cycle is normally about 5 years, but now the economy has expansion for 7 years and we do not know when will the next recession comes or what will affect it. This article claims that it is about time that a recession is coming due to the average of economic expansion, the changes of global market and the current situation of economic.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fivethirtyeights-guide-to-predicting-the-oscars/
This article is establishing the Oscar model of predicting candidates for different awards like the best actor, the best picture, the best director and the best supporting actress. This model is built based on their prediction of the insight of the Oscar Award and also from other press awards and insider awards. From the perspective of marketing, the popularity of the market of different film genres either in an award or in the public can be concluded as well. I found it interesting because watching movies is one of my biggest hobbies and it’s surprise to know the data can have such power in movie industry and maybe in other industries as well.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/spurs-warriors-is-the-best-defense-offense-clash-in-nba-history/

The article I did is about two of the greatest NBA teams that basketball has ever witnessed. What makes the teams so great is that not only have these teams dominated nightly, they’ve both been equally superb offensively and defensively as well. According to data stating the NBA’s highest team ratings ever, this Spurs vs Warriors game is ranked number one, making it something you only see later during the championship. I am very interested in sports marketing, so this article is right up my alley. Truly, this is a one-of-a-kind matchup with data that just puts the icing on the cake.

http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/the-rise-stumble-and-future-of-lululemon

This article discusses how Lululemon grew as a brand over the last decade. It discusses the companies culture and highlights their growth in sales and revenues. It also talks about how the company over came many obstacles and what the future looks like for the brand. I’m very interested in this article because I love Lululemon’s clothes and their corporate culture, one day I would love to work for them.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/were-there-6-percent-more-murders-last-year-or-16-percent/
This article focuses on the national increase in murder rates for 2015. According to the article, the murder rate was up by 6.2% within the first half of 2015, which proved to be quite shocking (annual record nationwide for the highest increase in murders is at 9% in 1990). Also, this article mentions how cities are statistically proven to be more of “murder hot spots,” Philadelphia being one of them. I found this article interesting due to my interest in the city of Philadelphia, criminal justice, and of course, the hit television show Criminal Minds.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-panthers-first-half-blowouts-are-unprecedented/

What is interesting about the article is that the data observed in this study further broadens by an NFL game being based on the Vegas spread, or better known as a team giving a 50-50 chance to win whether it is they are the +/- points. What stood out to me is the Carolina Panthers ending the first quarter of their two playoffs game with an average probability of 91 after the first quarter ended. The team did not stop there and increased it by 8 percent around the time halftime came around which is reasonable with how well the defense of the team plays along with Cam Newton on his way to MVP stardom.

http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/blog/how-improve-bank-fraud-detection-data-analytics
This article discusses how data could be used to formulate a strong bank fraud detection strategy. According to the article, by developing advanced data analytics software that recognizes suspicious patterns (such as unusually high purchases of popular items, multiple accounts being opened in a short period with similar data, etc.), banks can quickly detect and act on potential fraudsters, thus minimizing losses for both the financial institution and its customers. Banking data analytics therefore provides an effective tool to fight against bank fraud.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/you-cant-trust-what-you-read-about-nutrition/

The reason this article caught my eye in the first place is that I am currently worried about how a popular Facebook page in my country is posting random nutrition facts gathered from dubious sources all over the Internet. This page has more than a million likes, making misinformation even more devastating.

This article explores the fundamental flaws of common methods of nutrition research and suggests that a breakthrough in data collection is needed for us to find more accurate and meaningful results. The article is interesting to me as it poses two important questions: When will we have this breakthrough ? In the meantime, what should we do about our food ?

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/billion-dollar-powerball-lottery/
The lottery bonus is a hot topic recently. The huge number of bonus made more people expected to get the money. And the tickets had been sold even more than three times of the population of the United States. These data of lottery exposed people’s desire of unearned money, and can control a lot of people through relevant methods.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/most-americans-arent-middle-class-anymore/
This article explains the decline in the middle class and middle income households in America. Politicians make this out to a be a bad thing but there are many factors that effect this decline and they are not all bad. First off, the population is living longer and the average person is older which cause the median income to drop because retirees have little income. Also, there has been rise in upper income households and not a very big increase in low income households. Immigrants are known to have a lower income than a US citizens and there has been increase in immigrants in the US lately. All these factors cause the middle class to shrink and it is not as bad as it seems.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/27/investor-worries-brexit-sterling-volatility-eu-referendum
The reason why this article attract me is that it explain the worries of investors about the influnce of Brexit on money market. There is no doubt that Britain exit from the EU is the heated issue in international society. Many investors afraid that Brexit will create a negative effect on money market. As a result, they decide to sell their pound. This article use data to illustrate this trend in money market and make some predictions. As a risk management and insurance major student, I gain a lot from this article about how to avoid the risk in money market

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/27/investor-worries-brexit-sterling-volatility-eu-referendum
The reason why this article attract me is that it explain the worries of investors about the influnce of Brexit on money market. There is no doubt that Britain exit from the EU is the heated issue in international society. Many investors afraid that Brexit will create a negative effect on money market. As a result, they decide to sell their pound. This article use data to illustrate this trend in money market and make some predictions. As a risk management and insurance major student, I gain a lot from this article about how to avoid the risk in money market.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35425735

This article is about the on going immigrant crisis in Europe. There is really no good answer to the issues that they face, I personally feel like the developed world should help take care of the under developed, but frankly, once you see the numbers of people they are dealing with, its frankly not possible. This is all important because this is the largest mass migration of people of our times, at least with in the last century, and is only getting worse not better. The numbers make it clear that only more immigrants will be showing up over the next few years and most all European countries are at or past capacity to deal with them.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/december-jobs-report/

This article discusses how the job market in the United States ended in 2015 on an unexpected high note. The new year is now in question due to it’s rocky start. The new year has also begun with a giant plunge in the China stock market. This interested me because my major is Finance and am looking into the investing aspect. Although this is an article about the current job market, a lot of data has been collected to prove this. Data from different companies employment, to people who are unemployed but looking, and people who are unemployed and not looking for a job have all been collected. All of these data sets were accounted for before the making of this article.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-uber-making-nyc-rush-hour-traffic-worse/
I find this article from FiveThirtyEight and it is talking about a very popular ride-to-hire company which is Uber. The main topic for this article is Uber making NYC rush-hour traffic worse. I am interested in about this article because I really like using Uber than taxi when I go outside for the long distance. In my experience, taking Uber as a traffic tool is better others, not only we can call the drivers anytime and anywhere, but also it is comfortable. From the article, there is a lot of data to find out the answer. Analyzing the data from the research, the fact is more and more people like to using Uber, but the Uber company already try to reduce the cars number off the road and they will still keep doing so. The number of Uber pickup is increase, but we can not trough this data to prove the every car is belong to the Uber company. But we can not deny that more and more people like to using Uber.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-stock-market-is-not-the-economy/
This article is a basic reminder to the rational investor that a heavy downward trend in the market is not necessarily the indication of Judgement Day. In fact, the numbers posted by the stock market in the new year are highly precedented, occurring in in 21 of the past 66 years. What people need to understand is that pulling out of the market does not any way impact the overall economy positively, but rather, creates economic instability and causes unrest in the public eye, both nationally and internationally. The belief that every market downturn is the proverbial “doomsday” is an absurd rationale that only causes an unnecessary uproar and sense of distrust in the nation from foreign markets. The key point of this article is to remind American investors that a trigger-happy selling mindset can not possibly benefit us. We must remain calm, stick to our guns, and hold out in these small rough patches if we’re ever to gain anything individually, nationally, and globally. It is our duty to keep the American markets strong, and not cast doubt on historically sound investments over some relatively common hysteria.

Big Data Analytics: Do Machines Have Biases?

This is an article that reminded me of a topic we discussed during on of our classes. If we did not discuss it during class I would think it is ridiculous to say that computers or machines have biases like humans do. Although, during class we said how if you search an item it can appear on outer websites or your Facebook because the search engine knows that you were interested in that particular item. In this article it addresses the fact that computers and machines can be bias too. It doesn’t take just more data to eliminated other data that can be swayed or tainted. These biases come from the data the machine is using. An example that was used in class and this article deals with Hurricane Sandy. Since machines would collect the social media data, like tweets, it seemed as if Manhattan was hit the worst but it didn’t include data from the poorer areas were misrepresented because they could not tweet about it. When using analytics, data scientists need to account for things like selection bias.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-betting-data-alone-cant-identify-match-fixers-in-tennis/#fn-3

This article is interesting because it shows that almost everything in this world is corrupted, which in this case it’s because of match fixing in tennis. I like this article because it shows that corruption is a problem that is hard to overcome even though today there’s tons of data that can be collected and used to overcome the problem. This article proves that even with a lot of data being collected these days, human behavior will always change dynamically. No two collections of data can ever be equally the same as one another. In data collection, I guess small variation do make a big difference and we can’t only rely on data to understand human behavior.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/27/federal-reserve-interest-rates-unchanged-global-markets-recession

– As an economics major, I always find the market place activity interesting. I think we could be on the edge of a very slippery slope. This of course correlates to the federal reserve and the worth of a dollar. Hopefully it’ll be picking up from here, but I won’t be the only one finding the data of the stocks interesting if it doesn’t!!! I think more people will start to pay attention.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-sanders-comeback-would-be-unprecedented/
This fivethirtyeight article summarizes the current uphill battle that Bernie sanders is currently facing in order to still capture the democratic nomination for president. Taking into consideration the remaining primaries, and the number of delegates he would need to win in order to overcome the comfortable lead that Hilary Clinton has established, he would need to not only win all of the remaining primaries left until the democratic national convention, but also for Hilary Clinton to begin loosing in states she has been known to succeed Also taking into consideration the national polling average, along with the polling average in all of the remaining states with primaries, the chances for a Sanders victory has now become more unlikely everyday.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2016/may/03/your-tax-dollars-how-is-the-government-spending-your-money

This website gives an interactive graphic of how the government is spending our tax dollars. This article is interesting because we all pay taxes and it gives an insight as to what what our money is being used for. It also shines a light as to what expenditure takes up the most money. This website lets the user see how much of their money is taking out by adjusting your projected income.