Acting as a member of the advisory committee, the South Big Data Regional Innovation Hub in conjunction with the Southern Data Science Conference welcomed data enthusiasts to Atlanta.
On April 13-14, the second Southern Data Science Conference was held at the beautiful Marriott hotel in downtown Atlanta. To no surprise, the sold-out conference included 350+ data science enthusiasts, and top speakers from top companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber,… etc. and top research institutions like Georgia-Tech, UGA, UNC,...etc. From responsible AI to 'fake news' to emoticons to team management, the Southern Data Science Conference did not disappoint! The event provided numerous takeaways, including:
- AI should not be thought of as an artificial entity that is here to replace but to 'augment' and 'amplify' a human's ability to innovate
- Transparency does not automatically equate to understanding. Understanding requires explaining data in terms stakeholders can comprehend
- True successful collaboration begins at the very beginning; utilize goal sharing to facilitate collaboration
The event also centered around cutting-edge technologies and best practices in data science addressing topics like:
- AI and Ethics
- Machine Learning
- AI in Social Media
- Cybersecurity
- AI and Human Collaboration
- Practices to Identify Actionable Values of Data Science
- Data Silos
- Team and Project Collaboration
- Sentiment of Emojis
In addition to the two full days of speakers, the event featured a full day of pre-conference workshops, research tracks, and an ATLytiCS Hackathon for Good, sponsored by 3Sage, targeting homelessness. Attendees also enjoyed networking opportunities where old industry friends reconnected, and new partnerships were made. According to attendees and speakers, this is a must-attend event! During the event, the SDSC announced the next conference will be held in Orlando, FL on Oct 18, 2018. Continually follow the Southern Data Science Conference on twitter @Southerndsc or visit their website for up to date conference information.
Did you attend the conference? What were a few memorable takeaways from the event?
Want to view more conference content? Visit the twitter hashtag - #sdsc18, for a catalog of pictures and the most quotable moments. "We are missing collaboration. Put knowledge in our people’s hands to move forward with data for true innovation." - Joshua Sutton, President, and CEO of Pandera Systems.