Monday 14 April 2014

Week 4 at POST: Interviews, more interviews and Jazz!

Week 4
Mon
After a weekend of cycling, family birthday celebrations and a victorious boat race, I started the week by going to the UCL Big DataSymposium. There were a range of speakers from academia and industry talking about big data in research, business and security. After seeing my week ahead packed with interviews, I decided against epic networking like at the previous conference and was more of an observer! The speakers were very good and it’s always good to hear more different applications of big data and opinions on the future of the analytics. The most useful session for me was the afternoon session on application in businesses, but there was also a lot of discussions around business-university collaborations and consumer privacy.
The more I research into big data, the more I realise just how much personal information is out there: I switch between wanting to cut up my Clubcard and disappear to giving everyone everything and reaping the benefits from their analytics!

Tues
In the morning, I caught up with the e-mails I had missed yesterday, which involved scheduling some more interviews. I also wrote up notes from yesterday’s symposium and prepared questions for the interviews I had planned in the afternoon.
I had my first solo face-to-face interviews in the afternoon: one in Ealing and the other in Fulham. Both interviewees were really informative and gave interesting perspectives on how big companies are using big data. It’s also good to start to see common themes emerging from what people are saying. This gives me encouragement that I will be able to put it all together at some point!

Wed
I spent today either interviewing or writing up interviews. One of them was across London, which gave me a great opportunity for a walk in the sunshine! Despite the tourists, it’s walks like that when you see all the famous London landmarks in all their glory that make me really enjoy working in the city.

After work, we went as a group of fellows to a jazz night at the crypt under Trafalgar square. This was great fun and ended with us dancing very enthusiastically at the back of the room! Although, with London travel times it makes getting back so much later than what I’m used to…



Thurs
After a big block of interviews, I had a lot of writing up to do and, with two more interviews scheduled for the afternoon I had questions to write as well! This led to a busy morning at my desk and a full on afternoon of interviewing. Both conversations were productive though, and backed up points made by other people I had spoken to. They also gave me some more people to speak to, who might also be of help.
On my way home I went to a women’s cycling event at Evans in Wimbledon: they had speakers who presented and then answered questions on cycling as well as snacks and discounts. I also bumped into a girl I’d met at Kingston Wheelers, although it took us a while to work out that we knew each other: we both look very different in our work clothes than in our cycling kit!

Fri
I can’t believe it’s the end of week 4 already! One third of the way through and, to be honest, I’m not dying to go back to Birmingham… After a morning of typing, I finally managed to get on top of my interview write ups.
There is a system used for keeping track of who POST has spoken to, so that we know who to contact for certain topics and to try and avoid asking the same people the same questions. In the afternoon I went along to a training session on how to use this software, so that I can input all my interviewees once I’m finished. Speaking of interviewees, I had one more to finish off the week: giving me a total of 7 in 4 days!
It’s great being able to speak to people from such a wide range of sectors. From companies specialising in retail like eBay and TESCO to sports analytics and financial services, it seems as though everyone is, or could be, using big data.

This week has been exhausting, but I’m trying to build up the energy to go to the “ukscitweetup” after my spin class. I’d be much more enthusiastic if I trusted the bus service from Hammersmith, but I keep ending up lost in Barnes on my way home… 

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