The creator of I Quant NY, a data science and policy blog that focuses on insights drawn from New York City's public data, Ben Wellington, advocates the analysis of open data to affect policy. The Open Data movement is growing, and governments are releasing vast amounts of data to the public. As citizens push for more transparency, it is fair to ask what we can actually do to derive actionable insights from this data. How can this data help us improve the cities we live and work in, whether we are policymakers, businesses, or residents? Wellington explores how he's used his blog and some simple data science techniques to make changes in New York City. He discusses best practices for data science in the policy space, explores how storytelling is an important aspect of data science, and highlights the various datadriven interactions he's had with city agencies. He contends that data science need not use complicated math: It's often more about curiosity and the questions we ask than the complexity of the equations we use.

From On-Premises to Cloud It is undeniable that data continues to power business growth, competitive advantage and customer experience. In the midst of a monumental transformation fueled by social, mobile, and cloud, business and IT leaders alike are rethinking their roles and how they manage and deploy technology to accelerate business growth. Leveraging Oracle Database 12c, customers can rethink data management and gracefully evolve architectures from on-premises to the Cloud. Learn about the latest data management trends and how transforming to the Cloud can help organizations innovate faster, improve time to market, and stay ahead of the pack.

How does Big Data change how we view the world? Data mining expert Kalev Leetaru looks at how large datasets and computing platforms allow us to reimagine our world. He’s looked at news as emotion, the geography of social media, cultural computing, and cities as geographic networks. Big Data, the algorithms that control data discovery, and the data-driven economy change how we interact with information.

In addition to running databases in Amazon EC2, AWS customers can choose among a variety of managed database services. These services save effort, save time, and unlock new capabilities and economies. In this session, we make it easy to understand how they differ, what they have in common, and how to choose one or more. We explain the fundamentals of Amazon DynamoDB, a fully managed NoSQL database service; Amazon RDS, a relational database service in the cloud; Amazon ElastiCache, a fast, in-memory caching service in the cloud; and Amazon Redshift, a fully managed, petabyte-scale data-warehouse solution that can be surprisingly economical.

During the conference, we've heard about the challenges Big Data, smaller data, and open data pose for businesses, government, and organizations. Technologies such as Hadoop, machine learning, query languages, Apache Spark, data lakes, the IoT, virtualization, and the cloud hold promise but also carry the possibility of disruption. Creating a strategy that acknowledges changes in the world around us, not just the technology, requires an understanding of business disruption, capability by design, and a platform of speed. O'Brien talks about the new mindset regarding data necessary to take advantage of the technologies, techniques, and business processes required to capitalize on these innovations and reach its full potential. His keynote puts this all in perspective to encourage action. Everyone attending the closing keynote receives a copy of the “Data Lakes Adoption and Maturity Survey Findings Report” and is entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPad Pro. One winner will be announced at the conclusion of the event and must be present to win.