Welcome to our new eNewsletter, Spotlight on IT. Each month we will spotlight a different trend or topic in the information technology world. If you would like to receive this publication in your inbox, subscribe here.
In support of the Big Data 3.0 event which took place here at Carleton on March 29, and the first anniversary of the Institute for Data Science, this month’s theme is a ‘big’ one.
Capturing Big Data
- More data has been created in the past two years than in the entire previous history of the human race.
- Google processes over about 40,000 search queries every second. This is over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.
- 73,038,645,298 tweets have been sent this year, as of this second. ITS sent 146 of those, as of this second.
- This February ITS backed up 482 TB of data. Last February it was 270 TB of data. That’s a 78% increase in just one year.
Analyzing Big Data
- Ottawa Insights use data to inform Ottawa citizens of key local issues and trends – from basic needs and standard of living to economy and employment to health and wellness.
- Over the next 5 years in North American there will be 4.4 million new Data Science jobs.
- The Computing Support Unit in the School of Computer Science recently implemented a solution to support big data learning and research.
- Each month ITS managers meet for ‘Ops Review’ where they review and discuss campus IT data and trends on everything from wireless, to campus card door swipes to website traffic.
Collaborating Around Big Data
- Data Day 3.0 took place on March 29th in the River Building. This is an annual conference that celebrates the latest developments in data science and analytics research within the Carleton community and in Canada.
- On April 19 a group of over 40 Carleton researchers gathered in Dunton Tower for a day-long Research Data Retreat hosted by the Institute for Data Science.
- 53 faculty members are participating in the new collaborative data program in the Institute for Data Science and there are more than 130 researchers at Carleton are working on projects involving big data
- CCS’s Research Computing Services brings together faculty members in need of similar advanced computing resources.
Supporting Researchers on Campus
This month I sat down with Sylvain Pitre, Manager of Research Computing here in ITS to talk about what him and his team, Andrew and Blake, offer to researchers and the exciting new Research Computing Cluster they are working on.
“We help faculty and students who are working on projects with advanced research computing needs. These projects generally involve big data, large computational power or modelling that cannot be handled by standard computing infrastructure.
We work with these faculty members to understand their research computing needs and provide the support or computing resources they require.”
5 Things We Thought You Should Know
- Congratulations: We have three people celebrating service anniversaries in May. Congratulations to Pierre Morissette (15 years), Kelly Callan (10 years), and Blake Henderson (1 year).
- Campus Card Opens Doors and So Much More: In March, the Campus Card was used to open doors 864,654 times. It was used nearly 300,000 times as a debit card to pay for meals, laundry, printing, vending, and books. Read about how ITS supports Campus Card.
- Direct-Inward-Dial phone numbers: This month personal DID numbers (example 613-520-4567) were converted to Carleton’s phone number (613-520-2600 ext. 4567). This change was done in order to be consistent in representing Carleton to the outside community.
- Latest CCMS Upgrade: Web Services recently upgraded the latest template to version 1.7. The upgrade includes a new responsive newsletter theme.
- This Month’s IT Security Tip: Banks use comprehensive safeguards to protect the integrity and security of your information and financial transactions. If you choose to bank online you need to do the same. Here are some tips to help you bank safely.
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