Database Reference
In-Depth Information
To try to get my communications under control, I started looking at those
data sets by integrating them, visualizing them, and analyzing them. Some
of the analysis methods included text mining and network analytics. Then,
through that process, a friend and I created a productivity tool which helped
me to understand the important people in my current workflow and the
important contexts from past conversations I'd had with them, as opposed to
conversations in which I was just CC'ed. This made it so that when I talked
with someone, there would already be something that helped me to under-
stand what we had talked about before in relation to what we were talking
about now, the people the person knew, and the projects they were involved
in. This tool enabled me to have more productive and efficient conversations
with people.
Conversations that happen in machines are different from the ones that hap-
pen in the physical world. In the physical world, it lasts a long time and we are
able to use a lot of cues other than just text or audio. In computers, interac-
tions are usually very short and many times there are many more people
involved. I don't think our brains or behaviors have been adapted to this type
of interaction, so I think we need to build a bridge so that there is less context
switching, less noise, and more signal.
Gutierrez:
What are the main types of problems being tackled in the envi-
ronment data industry?
Karpištšenko:
The world's oceans directly or indirectly affect about $10 tril-
lion of yearly global economic activity, so oceans have a significant impact on
our lives. About 40 percent of the world's population lives within 150 kilome-
ters of a coast. Most people don't pay much direct notice to oceans, and how
climate change affects us to great extent. If we look at the air we breathe, half
of it comes from living organisms in the oceans. What's going on there affects
you and me indirectly each day. So in a way, the problems being tackled are
ones that affect all of us.
The largest businesses that look at this data are in the shipping, oil, and gas
industries. Of course, nowadays, newer industries like renewables, coastal
planning, insurance, and risk management are becoming more important and
relevant. The types of short-term and long-term problems these businesses
tackle are investment decisions, operation decisions, and decisions that affect
individuals like you or me.
For shipping, the problems being tackled with this data are ship configuration,
routing of ships, and location of fleets. For instance, let's say you own ships
going from one place to another. You need to know which route to take so
you can benefit from ocean currents. Or you need to know which areas to
avoid since there is an extreme event or a storm. All of these decisions are
based on ocean and atmospheric data.
