TechAmerica Foundation Big Data Commission
From the post:
Big Data Commission Launch
Data in the world is doubling every 18 months. Across government everyone is talking about the concept of Big Data, and how this new technology will transform the way Washington does business. But looking past the excitement, questions abound. What is Big Data, really? How is it defined? What capabilities are required to succeed? How do you use Big Data to make intelligent decisions? How will agencies effectively govern and secure huge volumes of information, while protecting privacy and civil liberties? And perhaps most importantly, what value will it really deliver to the US Government and the citizenry we serve?
To help answer these questions, and provide guidance to our Government’s senior policy and decision makers, TechAmerica is pleased to announce the formation of the Big Data Commission.
The Commission:
The Commission will be chaired by senior executives from IBM and SAP with vice chairs from Amazon and Wyle and will assemble 25-30 industry leaders, academia, along with a government advisory board with the objective of providing guidance on how Government Agencies should be leveraging Big Data to address their most critical business imperatives, and how Big Data can drive U.S. innovation and competitiveness.
Unlike Todd Park (soon to be former CTO of the United States) in A Competent CTO Can Say No, TechAmerica doesn’t promise “significant results” in six months.
Until the business imperatives of government agencies are understood, it isn’t possible for anyone, however well-intentioned or skilled, to give them useful advice.
Can’t say how well the commission will do at that task, to say nothing of determining what advice to give, but at least it isn’t starting with an arbitrary, election driven deadline.