Data Analysis and Sensing
Ramesh Rao1/18/12Leave a Comment
How to sense and make sense of subtler factors that govern our behaviors, the choices we make as individuals and as part of groups. The point here is that there are some obvious physically measurable; things like body weight, miles driven, CO2 let out, around which we can develop diagnostics and policies. But these measurables are often the consequence of choices that are less tangible, like body image, the urge to stand out or blend in and so on.
I think we can sense these things as well by measuring brain activity or signs of mood changes in written communications. So as we get better at analyzing and archiving vast amounts of data we will find ourselves extending the frontiers of what we can gather. Many disciplines outside of the hard sciences will advance because of their ability to finally measure more things. So I would emphasize data analysis and also new ways of thinking of sensing.
Ramesh Rao is professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego, and director of the San Diego Division of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology.
