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Not only is the demand for Data Professionals increasing, it is also diversifying across industries.
INSIGHT
Data driven
Supporting the data revolution A
S a Librarian and Information Professional there is no doubt that your exposure to the world
of data science and analytics has been steadily on the rise over the last few years. After all, data is defined as units of information. In 1760, the industrial revolution happened due to new developments in Western mining and new sources of power. About 250 years later marked the beginning of a new revolution – the data revolution – whereby data has surpassed oil as the fuel for business value creation, with incredible developments in technology sparking this new chapter of history. According to Thinknum (https://bit. ly/3aUljya), “Data Science” job openings at 5,000 companies, including Apple, Amazon and Walmart, increased from around 800 in 2017 to just under 350,000 in March 2019.
Rising demand
Not only is the demand for Data Professionals increasing, it is also diversifying across industries. Now, almost everyone is in need of them. But with these great leaps in capabilities by using data and technology, comes scepticism and resistance. Varonis’ 2019 Global Data Risk Report (
https://bit.ly/334PRJg) found that, on average, companies are analysing 70TB of data, with 3,441 exposed, sensitive files per terabyte. It is becoming more prevalent for majorities to believe that data collection now poses more risks than benefits and that it is almost impossible to go through daily life without being “tracked” (https://pewrsr. ch/2PFNmKy).
There seems to be a lot of different opinions portrayed as facts in the
April-May 2021
media that can shape how we feel around the usage of our data. But without data we would not be able to confirm things like which parts of the world are contributing more heavily to climate change and the areas that are more heavily affected. We wouldn’t be able to put effective policies in place to reduce environmental catastrophes, or have apps warning us of flood risks, or tracking for access to clean water. There are many things that data does for us that is so important. Take the healthcare industry, for example. Data scientists research and complex analysis of data is being used to detect new opportunities in relation to treatments and diagnosis – and this was happening even before we were hit with the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Cybersecurity
In response to the pandemic, IBM developed a chatbot, from natural language processing and AI technology, to answer common Covid-19 related questions that reduced the number of calls healthcare services were receiving in relation to the illness. Additionally, at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (
https://bit.ly/2ShuzGk), an AI algorithm used for identifying cancer from chest X-rays was altered to identify pneumonia, related to Covid-19. This means that patients most likely to have an illness related to Covid-19 are prioritised for further testing and those suspected to have the virus can be isolated.
Another industry making great use of these skill sets is the world of cybersecurity. In 2018, spending in the cybersecurity industry reached around $40.8bn (Business Matters
https://bit.ly/3xKd0PB). Such spending is heavily invested in using data science developments for the detection of
Rachael Gallacher is Consultant – Data Science and Analytics at Eden Smith Group (
https://edensmith.group/).
anomalies related to online criminal activities. I would expect this to be even more prevalent as we start to recover from the pandemic. And more companies are committing to work remotely and have shifted to systems that are almost entirely online. It is my belief that libraries and librarians can play an integral part in supporting this data revolution and can benefit from adding data science to their remit. By offering workshops, courses and utilising their knowledge base of organising, storing, protecting, and sharing information (aka data), libraries can support data scientists and others interested in improving their data analytics skills. Also, using data science to improve libraries and how they work, from the creation of new library services to gathering user behaviour insights to forecast demands and improve efficiency There are many ways in which our data is used that goes beyond personalised marketing and companies simply trying to sell us something. These advances in data usage and data science are making jobs easier, processes more efficient, services more user-friendly and often saving us the one thing which is priceless – time. IP
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