Webcast: Should Data Science Become a Profession? Wed April 10 @2pm MT, 1pm PT

Link to Hangout: http://bit.ly/ZhNf0T

Webcast Google Hangout: Should Data Science Become a Profession and Self-regulate? Wednesday April 10, 2013 at 2pm MT, 1pm PT, 4pm ET - Duration: 30 minutes

Link will be posted here (https://www.meetup.com/Data-Science-Business-Analytics/events/112908412/) and here (https://www.meetup.com/Data-Science-Business-Analytics/messages/boards/) and on @kdnuggets (http://twitter.com/kdnuggets) 30 minutes prior to start. Follow#DataScienceProfession (https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23DataScienceProfession) on Twitter.

Join Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro (KDnuggets (http://www.kdnuggets.com/)), Eric Siegel (Predictive Analytics World (http://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/)) and Michael Walker (Rose Business Technologies (http://www.rosebt.com/data-science--analytics-professional-services.html)) for a spirited discussion on data science as an independent profession with a code of conduct and self-regulation. Held on Google Hangout for interactive questions.

ABSTRACT

Regulation of data science soon cometh. Read here (http://nyti.ms/14KypXr) and here (http://gigaom.com/2013/03/25/why-the-collision-of-big-data-and-privacy-will-require-a-new-realpolitik/).

Most professions are regulated. In other professions the act of joining the profession is accompanied by a rite of passage, such as taking a pledge, symbolizing the entry of the initiate into a position of responsibility.

ACM, the leading organization of computing professionals, is considering The Pledge of the Computing Professional (http://www.computing-professional.org/), which touches upon many themes relevant to Data Science. INFORMS has started Analytics Certification programs (https://www.informs.org/Build-Your-Career/Analytics-Certification), which is voluntary.

Will there be a similar pledge for data scientists? Will there be a stronger regulation or certification of data scientists?

Michael Walker argues that either data science becomes a profession and regulates itself or congress will impose draconian regulations that defeat the purpose of data science: to make life, business and government better. He has drafted a proposed "Data Science Code of Professional Conduct". See: http://bit.ly/YbsjXR . Also read Big Data Is Opening Doors, but Maybe Too Many (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/technology/big-data-and-a-renewed-debate-over-privacy.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&) and Why the collision of big data and privacy will require a new realpolitik (http://gigaom.com/2013/03/25/why-the-collision-of-big-data-and-privacy-will-require-a-new-realpolitik/).

On the other hand, a recent KDnuggets Poll (March 2013) had a majority of data scientists against a pledge (http://www.kdnuggets.com/2013/03/poll-results-data-scientists-against-pledge.html).

BIOS

Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro (link to http://www.kdnuggets.com/gps.html (http://www.kdnuggets.com/))@kdnuggets, is the Editor of KDnuggets, a leading site on Analytics, Big Data, Data Mining, and Data Science. He is also a well-known consultant in Analytics and Data Mining. Gregory is a co-founder of KDD (Knowledge Discovery and Data mining conferences) and SIGKDD association for Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. He served as SIGKDD Chair 2005-2009. He previously led data mining and consulting groups at GTE Labs and 2 start-ups.

Eric Siegel, PhD, founder of Predictive Analytics World (http://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/) and Text Analytics World, author of Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die (http://www.thepredictionbook.com/), and Executive Editor of the Predictive Analytics Times, makes the how and why of predictive analytics understandable and captivating. Eric is a former Columbia University professor who used to sing educational songs to his students, and a renowned speaker, educator and leader in the field.

Michael Walker is a managing partner at Rose Business Technologies (http://www.rosebt.com/), a professional technology services and systems integration firm. He leads the Data Science Professional Practice at Rose. Mr. Walker is the author of a proposed "Data Science Code of Professional Conduct (http://www.rosebt.com/1/post/2013/03/open-for-comment-proposed-data-science-code-of-professional-conduct.html)". He speaks and writes frequently about data science and is writing a book on Data Science Strategy for Business. Learn more about the Rose Data Science Professional Practice at http://bit.ly/10TgVHG (http://www.rosebt.com/data-science--analytics-professional-services.html).