With many of us still left shaking our heads at last week’s #censusfail, this week we redirected our focus to the social and productivity benefits of data.

Want to get involved in data for social good projects?

Data Republic’s Whitney Komor put out a call this week for interested parties to get involved in an upcoming data analysis project we’re coordinating with online mental health service, ReachOut.

Speaking of data for social good, we learned about Nancy Lublin, founder of Crisis Text Line, who uses data science to deliver effective SMS triage for people suffering from anxiety and depression in the US. Nancy’s team has developed a machine learning algorithm which analyses trends and phrases to understand when an individual is having a crisis and directs emergency care. 

Data availability and use in Australia

Data Republic has now lodged a submission to the ‘Data Availability and Use – Productivity Commission’. We focused on the significant productivity benefits to be gained by facilitating data exchange between organisations. You can check out our submission, as well as those from a diverse range of Australian enterprises, not-for-profits and individuals at the Productivity Commission website.

Speaking of other submissions, itnews has covered a broad theme against mandated data sharing in the submissions of some of Australia’s largest enterprises.

Finally, LinkedIn has launched a lawsuit against individuals using data scraping bots to allegedly scrape profile information on users. The suit has caused controversy around the labelling of a scrape as a CFAA violation as some believe LinkedIn are setting a precedent for anti-competitive practices.

PS – We’re just two weeks away from the 2016 Hadoop Summit ****in Melbourne. Our CTO, Ryan Peterson is in town for the event.

**Check out the agenda and get 20% off using this discount code: *****SPONSOR20t ***

Until next time.