Laurel Miller

When I started working for Bquipped – a very small Philadelphia based startup-company, there were a lot of things that I had to learn about the startup nature of business. The first thing I learned quickly was how dynamic work for a startup company can be. Coming from the extremely organized Temple MIS classroom setting, I guess I didn’t realize how quickly things can change. In my first month or so, my work was allocated to a variety of different tasks on multiple projects that the business had going on. It often felt unorganized, but I think that’s because my boss was still trying to figure out the next strategic steps for the business. Once that became more solidified and she had a clear set of objectives, the work seemed to flow in more of a linear path.

Something that I had trouble finding on my own was believe it or not the office! Our setup is in a WeWork building in Northern Liberties – it is a shared work-space community/incubator type office building. It definitely took me a little bit to find out where I needed to be, not sure if that is typical for startup businesses. Also, a lot of my work is done remotely using skype and other collaboration tools, I like that aspect of small business flexibility.

Starting my first day on Wawa’s Business Intelligence team, I noticed how well everyone seemed to know each other. Many times in big corporate companies simple friendliness gets overlooked by the massive amount of people. One major thing I found out was that your experience at work is directly affected by those around you. If the people around you are happy and optimistic, it usually has the same effect on you. Now I try be the best co-worker I can be to make a potentially dry environment more enjoyable.

On my first day I realized that the people in this company are very friendly, and everyone is open to teaching you whatever you want to learn. The company culture in IT is very open, and people are always shadowing others to learn different skills and information. This is something that I picked up in the first two weeks, and I’ve been seeing that not only employees do it but even managers and directors. This has pushed me to reach out to people on different teams that work on something I have an interest in, and I have set up meetings with multiple teams to learn about how their role/team impacts QVC. This is critical to my growth at QVC, and it is something that I picked up by observing the people around me and what they do during their daily routine at QVC.

Something that I picked up on my first day at The Franklin Institute is that everyone is friendly. When I first got there, someone from HR sent me on a two hour scavenger hunt around the museum just so I know where all the things (bathrooms, cafe, break rooms, exhibitions, etc) are. I thought this was important because if I have to leave my office to go some place else and I run into a kid that strayed away from their class trip, I am obligated to know where everything is so I can take that kid to safety.
When the fun stopped and the work started, I noticed that everyone is kind and helpful. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do at first but my supervisor and other interns were eager to help me. If I made any mistakes, they were quick to help me fix it and then show me the correct way to do it. I hope as time goes by, I will learn more about the company’s culture and be able to help others in a way they’ve helped me so far.

When I first started in the Career Center I felt like I was in a bit over my head but I quickly was able to figure things out to make me feel more confident and comfortable in the office environment. The first thing that I learned is that literally every person who works in this office is willing to help and that put all of my nerves at ease. In addition I was not very confident in my skills in excel, I used to know the program inside and out but over the years my classes stopped utilizing the more complex features which caused me to forget about a few.
I must admit that on top of all of the technical situations I was able to overcome, the issue that stumped me the most was finding the bathroom. I work in Mitten Hall which is primarily used for large events that the university holds. I could easily track down the boys bathroom because I pass it every morning on my way into the office but finding the girls was a whole different story. Turns out its on the other side of the building and you need a key to access it, who would have thought.

When I began to work for VIP there was a lot of information to digest very quickly for me to jump into my work. After realizing that everyone in the office was more than friendly it was easier to get settled in. The most important thing I had to find out on my own and remember to always do was carry a notepad of sorts with me at all times. This might be overlooked alot but in almost every situation away from my desk and I did not have my notepad I would realize too late and have to try to mentally remember things which, while some may be good at, I am not. Of course there were other things like finding certain peoples offices, reading the office map and learning their database, LegalServer.

Hi all, I started at QVC this past Monday (January 31st). The first day was new employee orientation and while it was a lot of information to take in, a lot of it was very useful. My second day was only this past Wednesday and I already feel like I’ve been there for a while. Everyone is beyond welcoming and super helpful. My supervisor isn’t going to be in the office until this upcoming Monday, but her teammate made sure the beginning of my onboarding was really smooth. He showed me around the part of the building my desk is in and introduced me to the rest of the team. I can tell that I’m going to enjoy working in such a friendly environment. Also they do a lot of meetings for interns with different departments so that you get exposed to different work areas that might interest you. This is really thoughtful and I like how on only my second day I got to hear about what two other departments outside of Interactive do to support QVC. I can’t think of anything as of now that I’ve had to find out on my own, they really made sure that I had all the information I needed to have a smooth onboarding start.

When I began working at the School District of Philadelphia, I didn’t know much about their process of handling RFP, RFQ, and RFI’s. There was a lot of information and processes that I didn’t know much about. To get started, the people that I was working with helped a lot in my professional growth in learning the ropes around the company. They showed me what information I was going to be handling and where I would be pulling all the data from for client research. There were still some other things that I still needed to get the hang of like what each person does and who to go to for certain things.

On the first day of my internship at Subaru of America, Inc., I noticed that the corporate environment was not a typical fortune 500 one. Everyone knew each other by first and last name, and the CEO and COO ate lunch with me on my very first day, getting to know about me, my hobbies, and my schooling. Working in a Japanese cultured environment, I picked up on different manners very quickly. This includes working longer hours some nights to coincide with our parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries to make sure reporting is transparent with sales data. I have also noticed that Subaru turns to me for many quick and effective fixes with technology; some examples include making new reports in excel, changing the ink in the printer, and helping out the full-time analysts learning their reports to enhance transparency in our Sales department.

At Deloitte, I had to figure out I even do! Consultants perform a variety of functions, and there is only so far the training takes you. I was assigned to a project and team, but there was a lot of catching up on the project progress via document review. On the first day on the client site, I had to figure out how to get through security and find someone to let me in… then help me find my team! I had some helpful tips from my manager, but the process of finding an escort into the building who would take an unknown intern to his team was still a challenge.

I quickly found that everyone had their predefined roles, and I had to brainstorm ways to prove my value and find work. I had to learn quickly how to be helpful without infringing on someone else’s work and the value that person is generating to the firm. In parallel with this, I learned how important networking truly is when I had to meet a plethora of interns, colleagues, and firm leadership. Networking at business school events and smaller firms prepared me, but it was a whole different ballgame to remember names and facts while engaging in meaningful conversation in ever-shifting groups. It was easy to get lost in the crowd, yet networking underpins success in consulting (and much of business), so it was critical to form relationships in both quantity and quality.

When I first started at Bolt On, one of the major things I had to overcome was the amount of distractions and noise associated with the open “warehouse” like space. I understand the concept of no walls and closed doors, in order to have a fully integrated workflow, and also avoiding the creation of silos and so forth, but it took some time to get used to it. The over feel at the company is to have fun and be creative. It is always a challenge starting a new position in a completely new industry, but I thought it was easy enough to adjust, and I continue to learn everyday. The company still has a startup feel since it is still fairly new, so I never really know what might be thrown my way. It can often be challenging learning what everyone’s roles and responsibilities are, as well as the business processes in the beginning, so I had to initiate these conversations on a daily basis to learn.

On a funny/embarrassing note, I had to ask a coworker to show me how to make coffee during my first week. I was finishing one of the pots and didn’t want to be “that guy” that left it empty, but it dawned on me that I never actually made a pot of coffee before. Only Keurig cups or bought at the store.

I had no idea where they kept spoons to stir coffee, then I looked through the drawers and found it. The other day, there wasn’t any coffee and I didn’t know where they kept it so I went to Starbucks instead. I heard that cold brew was pretty good on NPR one time, that day I found out for myself.

I was surprised to learn that most people in my new office don’t get lunch delivered.

I was really happy to find out that I won’t have to respond to any help desk tickets.

At KPMG we were given a tour of all the basic places in the office such as the bathroom and kitchen. I was responsible for using the online hotel system to reserve a desk in the office for the day or the week. Only a few people on each floor have assigned desks so every week we had to reserve one if we were going to be in the office.

One of my first responsibilities, when I joined iBusniess, was to establish a digital marketing campaign. I had worked on HTML templates, hosted videos, and written website content before but never all together in one cohesive targeted marketing campaign. The process of designing the templates, picking the images, coordinating with the copywriter and marketing director was much more than I anticipated. I had to teach myself how to use drip marketing tools and coordinate our sales team’s call campaign to fall in sync with our outreach efforts. In previous organizations where I worked, I took the marketing emails and client lists for granted. I had never worked in a smaller organization where everything is created from the ground up. Though I took that for granted at my previous place of employment and it’s more work to create a campaign from scratch at iBusiness, it enables us to react to customer need rapidly and with much more flexibility.

At Guy Carpenter, there are 4 conference rooms across the floor. And even though a lot of things were explained to me during my first few days, I had to find the conference rooms where the Co-Op trainings were held. It was a fun experience and it gave me an opportunity to talk to people from different departments who sit across the office. During the past week, there were different panels with luncheons provided. The panels were in one room and the provided lunch was in the other, so I had another adventure exploring the office. But at the end, there was a nice reward!

During my Job training with the Army, I remember when I first got to my unit in Georgia we were given a map of where everything was on our base. They gave me an in processing agenda and handed me a list of assigned tasks I needed to complete the first week. They also gave me a checklist of all the things they expected me to learn by the end of my job training. The list was long and overwhelming. I remember thinking that most of the things seemed to be written in a foreign language. Myself along with the new trainees had to figure out where everything was. I personally have a very bad sense of direction so that week I got lost looking training site, the dining facilities, etc…. One thing that I appreciated was being buddied up with someone of senior level that was able to give me advice on what to expect during my time there.

One of the things I realized while working for a federal organization is how long people tend to stay in government. My team of approximately 9 people have all worked at the Reserve for over 10 years. My manager is soon to celebrate his 44th year at the Bank of Philadelphia! The general vibe of the department is lax (at least at the moment). Everyone is very friendly and are encouraging towards one another and playful banter is heard often. This contrasts against the quite professional, no nonsense attitude Fox has instilled in me.

I found out that there are many workshops offered at the bank and they also have a Traveler’s Club for which The Reserve offers opportunities for employees to travel to other places with other members of the club. I thought it was a great organization within the bank to create experiences for their members.

I love this about my job, too. I’ll usually check in with my manager maybe once a day, or just peek over the cube to ask the guy next to me about a database table. For GenEd I work at home, so I can really get into a groove.

I had the chance to go give a presentation on an open source project at a friend’s office and they had a completely open floor plan, I had no idea how they could get work done. Coincidentally the company wound up laying off I think 50% of their workforce less than a year later.

The role of data is becoming increasingly significant and needed as tensions increase between the U.S. and China regarding the semi-conductor industry. Semi-conductors are basically small chips that allow memory and data to be stored on your smartphone, computers, etc. As semi-conductors become more advanced and demand for electronic appliances increases, demand for semi-conductors is quickly growing. This article discusses talks about China subsidizing its semi-conductor market, which causes concern for the U.S. I thought this article was interesting because it focuses on the tangible products that allow data to be used every day. It will be interesting to see how this market develops and how it will affect foreign relations between the U.S. China, & other countries that heavily import/export semi-conductors. The main prediction is of an increase in tariffs, which can impact other markets as well.

URL Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-seeks-to-calm-u-s-over-its-semiconductor-ambitions-1485419862

In our upcoming years, many college students will be looking for jobs after graduating. Based upon data currently, the outlook for employment next year is not helping our cause. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise by 0.1%, meaning 3.4 million people worldwide will not have jobs in 2017. If this trend keeps increasing, college students will have a harder time looking for jobs after graduating. I will be personally affected by this as I could not have a job.

http://www.theactuary.com/news/2017/01/unemployment-to-rise-by-34-million-globally-in-2017/

The title of the article is “Data Can Help Brands Own Consumer Relationships” and it is written by Jennifer Pelino. One point she makes is that even with the abundance of data and technology, many marketers still use a generalized or broad, segmented approach. She states that companies could take advantage of deep-dive analytics to track both online and offline behavioral patterns to better understand consumer loyalty tiers and how consumers’ online activities translate into sales. Using this kind of data, companies can make CRM systems increasingly efficient and the relationships between the brands and consumers that much more intimate. While, that’s not the only thing the article mentions, that is the primary point that Pelino makes about data. This strongly correlates to the industry that I want to work in: Media/Advertising/Communications.
URL: https://adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/data-can-help-brands-consumer-relationships/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/27/british-airways-cabin-crew-walkout-strike-pay-dispute

In this article, it talks about how members of the British Airways cabin crew will go on strike because they are not paid enough. British Airways states that pay starts at £12,192 and will all earn at least £21,000/year, however the crew members are stating that they only earn an average pay of £16,000 (roughly $20,078). This is not only interesting (sadly), but it is also very important because it happens all the time. As an HR major, solving/addressing labor wage disputes (resolving issues between management and employees) will be part of my future job. In the article, it also states an negotiation from a different company and this can be useful data to refer back to when there are wage disputes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/01/20/when-it-comes-to-music-marketing-data-is-power/#4fb5c75a6264

This article is titled “When it Comes to Music Marketing, Data is Power”. I’m a music major so I found this article very useful. It basically talks about how you can use data to ensure profits on the music you release. It also talks about how companies are starting to hire data journalist and data analyst to use data to help them better understand their audience and use that knowledge to “inform when, where, and how to post music and achieve hit-making results.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/28/apple-app-store-pokemon-go-no-sign-of-stopping-sales-booming
“Pokémon Go and no sign of stopping: Apple’s App Store sales boom,” As a company that is known well throughout the world, it is constantly improving itself. Apple is now focusing on the sales of the App store since profits can be made from it but the only challenge would be discovering the popular app that would bring in a big amount of profit to the company. Business in the app industry is based on the popularity and the demand of the consumers.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240388- The article which I have read was based off of Entrepreneur.com, and the topic was “5 Steps to building a million dollar business”. As a Marketing major, this business related article had caught my attention, and I had found it to be a very interesting one. It discussed aspects such as “finding a growing market” and “consuming data” as you must be up to date on the statistics of things currently in order to create a very successful business. Key Performance Indicators and running statistical tests are two very important factors of data within a business. Data plays a very crucial role in this process, and I had found it to be fascinating.

URL: https://www.cnet.com/news/data-privacy-cybersecurity-hack-devices-toys-fitness-trackers-cars-stole-information/ -In the article, it is discussed that our privacy is slowly disappearing and that everything is becoming digital. Our watches, cars, and televisions are just some of the items collecting all sorts of personal data from us. The debate whether this data is use against us or not comes down to an argument. Some could say that the data collected from these devices help personalize the device to fit yourself, and that the data sent back to the company is so that company could discover more about the user. On the other side of the coin, not everyone wants a company knowing everything about them. This sure comes down to ethics when talking about collecting data and privacy.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/datablog/2017/jan/27/the-dirtiest-things-in-your-home-in-data
This article contains data on what the dirtiest items in homes are, and the average amount of bacteria that were in each item. The highest bacteria count per item was found on kitchen sponges, not surprisingly. This article is of interest to me because I live in a very dirty house and I am always looking for ways to be cleaner. By knowing some of the dirtier items in my home, ones containing large amounts of bacteria, I know which items to clean more often.

In this article, snapchat talks about the hugely increased demand for advertising on snapchat. Snapchat has grown dramtically within the past few years. Over 40% of 18-35 year olds are now using the app daily. I see from my own eyes, snapchat has made a huge impact on the world and advertising though it has to be one of the greatest ways to advertise. I find this very interesting and also a great idea to advertise on snapchat. I feel like not to many businesses are on snapchat or actively using the app to communicate with their customers. Snapchat has also been getting many more geotags and have been investing a lot of time and money into seeing the results. I think personally for a business this would be a great thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/03/snapchat-geofilter-custom-filter-prom-wedding

This posting about the Management Information Systems major on the Temple University Bulletin. It explains that the MIS program at Temple is ranked 15th in the nation by U.S News and World Report and also top 10 in the U.S. by TechRepublic. The page also uses data of job placements reported by MIS graduates and proudly tells the webpage viewers about the 100% job placement rate. The Career and Placement section is very interesting for current and prospective MIS majors. Data allows for the report of the national average salary of $57,212 for BBA MIS majors, along with those of 76% of IS graduates who are satisfied with their jobs.
http://bulletin.temple.edu/undergraduate/fox-business-management/management-information-systems/

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058205,00.html?iid=sr-link2

This article was of interest to me due to me being in the advertising field. The article explains how data from consumers plays a role in catering personal advertisements to people. A particular interesting aspect about the article was that it shows data is not always perfect. The writer shows that data that was collected about his online activity didn’t accurately reflect aspects of his life.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/airbnb-trump-muslim-refugee-ban_us_588e26fce4b01763779503d8

Airbnb, a data driven company, is essentially a database consisting of attributes about users’ homes for rent and it filters that data for customers who wish to rent. The company uses this data to efficiently transact rental agreements between two parties. This article talks about how airbnb is using their app to help refugees find free housing. Not only is this current and relevant, but it interests me because I have used this app for travel and recreation when it is now a beacon of hope!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130083414.htm
This article from Science Daily discusses how researchers at Penn are using big data to predict which of their cancer patients are likely to require a trip to the hospital. By compiling data from things like recent lab tests, radiology visits, and patient-reported symptoms, data miners and doctors are coming up with a formula that can predict if lung cancer patients will need a hospital visit in the near future. I find this fascinating because it was previously impossible to predict with much accuracy when a patient would require a hospital visit. These preventative measures will save lives, which is a proposition that anyone can get behind.

What It Takes To Truly Delete Data

This article is interesting because it brings its readers’ attention to what it takes for data to really be deleted. According to Mimi Onuoha, in order for data to be completely deleted it has to be wiped by a specific algorithm multiple times. However, even though data can be deleted from the internet, data can be backed up or copied which puts a limitation on the deletion process. This relates to me because my major is Journalism and a big part of it is research on a subject or event. So, making it difficult to delete what’s on the internet could be seen as a positive when looking for the data and information needed to complete an accurate article, although I do realize the negative aspects, such as the lack of privacy.

Obama Leaves Behind A Job Market That Is Finally (Mostly) Healthy

Obama has officially left the White House and we are now all faced with our newest President, Donald Trump. While the last eight years have shown job growth and in an increase in hourly earnings, this past January under Obama has been different. It’s a common fact that Republican supports have been throwing around that Obama has been creating less jobs and the dollar per hour as decreased. Unfortunetly, many don’t see the other side of things, if there are 3 million added jobs in 2013, and 2.5 added in 2014, yes of course the number has gone down, but so has the amount of American’s looking for work.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/01/26/1-americans-experiences-with-data-security/
The article “Americans and Cybersecurity” reports that most Americans have experienced some kind of data breach. I am an actuarial science major, so this risk could be related to something in my line of work. Additionally, I have information online behind passwords that could be breached. Even though there are many people who have had their data compromised, an even larger number of Americans are unconcerned with the data leakage online. This is worrying, as people are not as aware and afraid of data breaches as they should be. Over time, it will be interesting to see if any large data breach will make people begin to fear online data breaches more, or if things will continue the way they are currently.

http://mashable.com/2014/07/09/big-data-real-estate/#1pdi2rENFgqd

I choose this article because it has data tied in with a field that I can hopefully get into after I finish college. This article showed me how the data is collected and used to help people in the field. The article breaks the data in 5 sections Democratizing data for the real-estate consumer, Better understanding communities, Investors and banks: Foreclosure and short-sale changes, Roles of real estate agents, and Boosting pitches. These 5 categories help you understand and excel in the field with the data that’s given. Hopefully one day i can be the one analyzing the data to my own benefit.

The article states how McDonald’s has begun or is going to see a loss in their profits. It is said that McDonald’s could see a sales decline of 1.9%. In order to increase the profits McDonald’s is planning on adding a new sandwich to their list which is the Grand Mac, it is even bigger then the regular Big Mac. The reason that McDonald’s adding new products to their list is because they have began to lose money. McDonald’s is also keeping the regular Big Mac, and also adding the Mac Jr, which is smaller than the Big Mac for cheaper price. McDonald’s needed this change in order to make more profit. I have chosen this topic because it is something to do with business and I am a business major.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/22/mcdonalds-grand-mac-burger-profits-down

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2017/01/31/realizing-the-potential-of-big-data-and-analytics/#55ff3e151c66

The article, “Realizing The Potential of Big Data and Analytics,” discussed how many companies around the globe have big data, but may not be using it in ways that can potentially benefit themselves in their decision making processes. One focal point in this article involves how 2017 may be the year when this big data is put to use more commonly among many companies. I found this article interesting because we discuss in class how there is a plethora of data out there and how, if used correctly and effectively, can positively impact a business. Having studied at the Fox School for some time now, I have heard this term “big data” be thrown around a lot and it seems everyone knows about it, especially businesses. So, it is interesting to read an article that states this year is the year it will become “mainstream” because I already thought it was.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/01/26/americans-and-cybersecurity/

The article is titled “Americans and Cybersecurity” and talks about how Americans feel about their information being on the Internet. The article talked about the hacking of information such as the release of emails, the release of testing records of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the statement that the Russian government was involved in the hack of the DNC. After speaking about hacking, the article talks about how a majority of Americans(64%) have experienced a major data breach. The article was interesting to read because it was similar to what we were talking about in class the other day about cybersecurity and the Ashley Madison hack.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2015/03/25/big-data-the-winning-formula-in-sports/#755ae98926dc

This is article called ” Big Data : The Winning Formula In Sports ” was very appealing to me because I am a huge sports fan. This article talked about how professional sports teams across the world are now implementing big data into their development. These teams track their players in game movements to learn every detail about their strengths and weaknesses. They track every possible thing they can think of and try to come up with efficient and smart ways to improve the health and performance of their teams. Big Data has made its way into the sports market and it seems it is there to stay.

The article, “A big Chinese province admits faking its economic data,” talks about the Chinese government recently admitting to faking its fiscal data for the past few years. They had been overstating their numbers. In class, we spoke about unreliable data and this is one of the issues with data when people––in this case, the Chinese government––provide misleading data to the world. This is said to be one of the biggest scandals in Chinese history.

URL: http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21715688-typical-say-cynics-cleaning-up-last-say-optimists-big-chinese-province

URL: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-immigration-order-could-affect-thousands-of-college-students/
Everybody is aware this past week President Trump signed an executive order temporarily preventing citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. This fact affected tremendously college students who were studying or planning to study in the U.S. Specialists concluded that restricting students from these countries could have a negative impact on the U.S. economy (and since my major is Economics this topic is really relevant for me). Using 2008-12 data, they found that two-thirds of foreign students study science and technology or business and marketing and also that there are not enough U.S.-born graduates prepared to work in these fields, which are sectors considered “vital to the nation’s economic growth”.

URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/vmware/2017/01/26/prepare-for-next-generation-retail-the-future-of-retail-mobility/#772a14221e90

This article is called, “Prepare For Next-Generation Retail: The Future of Retail Mobility”, discusses the trends in the retail business like hyper-connectivity, wearables, and augmented reality. This article appeals to me and why I find it interesting is that I own my own online retail business where I sell sports apparel and goes with my field of interest, which is Supply Chain Management. The article acknowledges that mobile devices and appliances will become multi-dimensional in the layers of customers experiences and main distribution center of products. It touches upon the rise of mixing the physical and digital world to interact with customers. Data it gathers in this article is from Ovum where it states that wearable devices (ex: smart watch) will reach 650 million in 2020. In the end, the situation retailers will face along with consumers is that retailers must find and implement digital solutions to keep up with technology trends.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/blockchain-sees-data-security-potential-in-singapore/

This article describes how the technology “blockchain” has changed the way data is transferred and received.This new technology has changed the processes for many companies including the Tech giant IBM. This technology allows for safe transfer of data and correct verification. This can help pharma companies secure patient information. I thought this was very interesting because it allows a faster transfer of medical data so the right professionals can acquire that information.

Significant Digits For Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017

The article that I chose is titled, “Significant Digits for Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017.” The article take numbers and percentages and related them to an event that happened on the day February first. One of the events was that property owners and residents of Flint Michigan are suing the EPA 700 million dollars in damages to the cities crisis. Along with another event that stated that in an American Airlines plane coming back from Columbia, 31 pounds of cocaine was found inside. I think this article is interesting because if they made one everyday, not only would it be a way to keep up with current events. But, it would be cool to see the numbers and percentages associated with certain current events.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/sports/nfl-injuries-report.html?_r=0
This article that I have chosen discusses the facts and numbers about concussions and other injuries endured during the NFL’s past couple of seasons. It shares with us the numbers of injuries that have occurred. while also presenting quotes from doctors and other analysts that are involved with the NFL injury sector. They all seem to say that they have had a positive outcome from rule changes, however the numbers show that there is barely a difference in injuries from year to year. I find this article interesting because I am a big fan of the NFL, and they have increasingly changed the rules of the game to keep players from getting injured; however the numbers show that it has not been that effective.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jan/05/top-10-budget-beach-stays-hotels-south-africa-western-cape
This article contains the best places to stay in South Africa. Similar to the burrito article, these hotels were collected through investigation and data. They had to collect the least expensive and highest quality hotels to come up with these answers. It is of interest to me because as an avid traveler, I am always looking for the best places to go. Sites like these facilitate my travel plans.

http://travel.usnews.com/features/5-places-to-visit-where-the-us-dollar-is-strong/
This article is from U.S. News and World Report and it talks about where the best exchange rates are for the U.S. dollar. The article gives examples like Mexico, London and Ireland, where the exchange rate is strong and beneficial to you. It provides what one U.S. dollar would equal in several countries. The writer explains how if you plan wisely, your money will go further while traveling through these certain destinations.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/01/deleteuber-company-automates-account-removal-due-to-demand

This article discusses the #DeleteUber hashtag that was trending for a majority the weekend, when Uber lifted their surge pricing during protests about Trump’s recent ban. Data was collected to see what topics were trending and whose apps (Uber/Lyft) were downloaded and/or deleted. This relates to my major because I am in advertising and this is a PR and marketing nightmare for Uber.

This article talks about the government of Australia creating a sovereign fund and investing in a data security startup. Since I am a finance major this article is of a lot of interest to me. A $45 million venture capitalist type of investment in a startup is unprecedented of any foreign government in the world. Bitglass, the data security firm, aims to protect data stored on servers outside corporate networks. These networks are a point of a potential loophole in the security system as workforces increasingly access externally stored computer files using mobile devices, and therefore are vulnerable to cyber attacks. Bitglass serves as a firewall for cloud sourced and managed data. I believe that this was an interesting read for me as Data encryption and protection has now become a necessity in today’s world for big corporates firms such that business models are being developed to serve the purpose of protecting data.

URL: http://fortune.com/2017/01/06/australia-fund-raise-bitglass/

Data has become a major part in today’s every-changing world. The Indian government has finally understood the importance of big data; it will start implementing machine learning and data mining techniques in order to solve problems. Arun Jaitley, the country’s finance minister, announced in his Budget 2017 speech that the government has decided to use data mining methods to get hold of tax evaders. According to him, only 76 lakh Indians earn an income of over Rs 5 lakh, and of these, 56 lakh are salaried. Jaitley states that only 20 lakh traders, businessman, and other people, who are part of the informal economy, pay taxes. The country’s tax to GDP ratio is low, and the proportion of direct tax to indirect tax is not ideal from a social justice perspective. He concludes by saying that the country is essentially a tax non-compliance society. The issues of a gap between tax collection and income, and irregular consumption patterns in the economy can be solved with the help of data mining practices. It will help expand the tax net, and increase revenues, which was one of the primary goals of the demonetization step. I found this article interesting as India is on its way to become a major economic powerhouse, and the government is taking serious action to transform the country. This budget is a message to the Indian citizens and to the world that the government is dedicated to its objective to develop the governance of the country.

URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/you-and-taxes/tax-evasion-indias-new-normal-only-76-lakh-indians-showed-income-of-over-rs-5-lakh-says-arun-jaitley/articleshow/56914051.cms

CARBON COUNTDOWN CLOCK
I found this article is pretty interesting because it has an automatical clock on the screen showing the carbon CO2. The Earth provides us a finite amount of carbon (2900 GtCO2-e) that we can use. According to Global Carbon Project, we only have 19 years and 336 days left until our carbon budget will be exceeded if our emissions stay the same. After that, global warming will be higher than 2C. This article raises an alarming concern about the environment and climate change. Linking this article to Philly’s weather (and other places), I make a hypothesis of why Philly is less snowy and warmer than before. Also, I think this countdown clock is a great reminder for industrial factories to keep their eyes on how much pollution they are producing to the world.
Oh and at the moment I post this comment, there are 362,918 total emissions in tons (CO2-e) since I started writing this comment!
URL: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/datablog/2017/jan/19/carbon-countdown-clock-how-much-of-the-worlds-carbon-budget-have-we-spent

This article talks about how Facebook has exceeded expectations in regards to earnings per share and revenue. Facebook has increased the numbers of advertisement on user’s news feed and exceeded expected revenue by over 300 million dollars. 84% of advertisement revenue came from mobile users alone. The articles also display graphs of how much Facebook has grown with the increase in users, mobile users, active users, and revenue.

URL: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-q4-earnings-results-2017-2

http://newamericamedia.org/2017/02/remembering-the-devastating-lowell-flood-of-2006.php
This article talks about a terrible flood that struck parts of New England back in 2006 and how climate change may impact the same communities in the years to come. The floods in 2006 caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage and that new weather patterns from climate change appears to be causing more property damage over time. As an Actuarial Science major, this is relevant to me because all the property damage leads to insurance claims and climate change may cause insurance premiums to increase as well as other unexpected effects.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-38771329

This article focused on misinterpreting data and how this can cause back-sets when it comes to government work. The Welsh government was set to have an inquiry on Nov. 1st about a relief road being built in order to relieve traffic. Unfortunately, due to inaccurate data the inquiry will be moved to Feb. 28th, in order to better revise traffic forecasts. Inspector William Wadrup explained, “”So they (the Welsh Government) were less confident of the traffic case and the precision of it. So effectively they froze the process.” It’s interesting to see how inaccurate data can disrupt the entire flow of a process that already will need a lot of time to complete.

Over the last decade or so, the that fact that the Top 1% have seen their wealth increase dramatically, is a fact that has been infamously known not only throughout the United States but also throughout the world. This article combines the data of the college students’ admissions rate with that of their parents’ income, in order to essentially conclude that there is a strong relationship between the students’ parental income and his/her final choice of college. Furthermore, one interesting fact that cleverly summarizes the article in a sentence is : “Students from this zenith of the income scale (0.1%) are 315 times likelier to attend Princeton than those from the bottom 20%”

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21715735-new-data-show-joining-1-remains-unsettlingly-hereditary-skipping-class

The article, “What It Takes to Truly Be ‘One of Us,’” talks about how people define their national identity while they are moving across the world these days. The author, BRUCE STOKES, compares various countries, different age groups, and also different parties to see the different opinions on national identity. From the data he uses, more percentage of people older than 50 think birthplace is important than younger age groups.Also, most Democrats and Republicans say that the ability to speak English is much more important to be a true American than birthplace. It is interesting because my cousin was born in the U.S. but I was not. Even we both speak English, we act totally differently.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/02/01/what-it-takes-to-truly-be-one-of-us/

La Trobe University students published their review on apps that are basically created to help children with speech disorders. So many apps can be used from day-to-day that help the clients practice outside of the clinic. They can increase involvement with family members, and helps give meaningful data for us, as speech pathologists, to monitor the patient’s progress when using the app. The areas you can choose from are are functionality, aesthetics, information quality, subjective quality, and perceived impacts.The publishers said that aside from economic and functionality benefits, patients may be more likely to use it because it is pleasing to the eye and it’s convenience. These sorts of apps help patients work on the skills they are learning at their therapy sessions.
URL: http://www.imedicalapps.com/2017/01/protocol-quality-apps-speech-disorders/#

https://qz.com/877721/the-ai-master-bested-the-worlds-top-go-players-and-then-revealed-itself-as-googles-alphago-in-disguise/
As the article’s title “Google’s AlphaGo AI secretively won more than 50 straight games against the world’s top Go players”, the result shocked a lot of people. Last year, AlphaGo beat the Korean best go player Lee Sedol. Many people started to guess how AlphaGo works? Google’s scientists said it depend on big data analyze, the AlphaGo can practice and remember by itself. Last year, human can win one game in a totally series 5 games, but now human lost straight 60 games. In the past, human thought AI would never win a best go player, even AI win in chess. But now AlphaGo depend on big data analyze and calculate ability, it beat a lot of world’s best go player. Now many people even worry about AI human will attack just like the film “I robot.”

URL: http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18599645/barnwell-super-bowl-li-preview-new-england-patriots-atlanta-falcons
This article is about Super Bowl preview and a prediction written by Bill Barnwell from ESPN. In this article, he explains why he is believing and predicting this way by giving all the statistics and data. Likewise, data could be used in every area and every aspect by how we analyze and interpret them. As a sport management major, it is significant that data could be applied to sport in many ways.

The article I found is centered around analytics in sports, particularly the NBA and how two of its best big men have some large flaws in their play. The first article talks about Demarcus Cousins and how his slow style of play does not match with the up-tempo style his new team the Pelicans play with and how at the rate which their both go will likely leave the team under performing if not playing styles are not changed. The other part of the article talks about the emergence of Joel Embiid is being slowed by his turn problem, where his turn over ratio is at the top of the league which is not good news for him or his team the 76ers. This relates to what I want to do as a sport and recreation management major because one of my possible jobs I want to pursue isa job that works with analytics and metrics in sport.

https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/medical-school-admissions-doctor/articles/2017-01-03/3-medical-school-admissions-trends-to-watch-in-2017
This article explains some trends of Medical Trends of 2017. It goes into depth of the amount of people who applied to Medical school v.s. the amount that actually got in, and talks about the rise of MCAT scores over the past few years. One thing that I found interesting was that many medical schools are digging through applicants social media as well. Many medical programs have also been examining personal strengths as well as test scores and transcripts. I found interest in this topic because I would like to go to medical school after college and I will have to take into account these factors and data.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/datablog/2016/dec/13/europeans-massively-overestimate-muslim-population-poll-shows
This article talks about the percentage of Muslim refuges in Europe. This article is relevant and of interest to me because i myself is Muslim and as a human care about refugees around the world. The data in the article shows the percentage of Muslim population in different European countries and and the projected percentage in 2020.

https://rsf.org/en/ranking

This is an interesting map that displays the rights of press for each country. It comes from the Reporters Without Borders website and shows which countries allow the most freedom for press and which ones were most restricted. I think this is really interesting to look at since it displays which countries are truly democratic throughout the world. It is also interesting to note that United States ranked 43rd out of 180 countries which is a little bit disappointing to see.