On 26 February, CIRES welcomed Dr Barb Wixom and Dr Alan Thorogood from the MIT CISR (MIT Center for Information Systems Research). Barb is the Principal Research Scientist at MIT CISR & member of the CIRES International Expert Panel. She is a world authority in data with three decades of impactful academic work, & her insights uniquely bridge academia & industry. Her new book Data is Everybody’s Business aims to inspire workers across organisations to engage in data monetization.
CIRES CI Dr Ida Asadi Someh from the UQ Business School is a long-time collaborator with Barb. “Barb is simply an inspiration for me & the whole data field. She has been providing thought leadership into organisational aspects of data & has significantly shaped research & practice in this topic. Her new book really translates in-depth scientific work into concepts, approaches, frameworks that every professional will need to know & use as AI becomes an integrated part of every job. She is democratizing the knowledge we all need to upskill for the future.”
Yesterday’s workshop “Data Monetization Fundamentals: Decoding Three Decades of Academic Research about Data Value for Practice Success” included an interactive seminar covering the core concepts of data monetization, & a deep-dive forum on how companies can establish acceptable data use practices as a foundational step toward ensuring responsible AI.
The workshop audience included representatives across Australian industry, government, & academia, including the Centre’s PhD researchers, Postdocs, & Engineers who were keen to learn from Barb.
CIRES PhD researcher Daisy Xu. has utilised some of Barb’s case studies to inform her own research. “Barb has a very admirable skill in communicating research outputs to a wide audience, making academic work highly accessible and practical. I found the Data Monetization Capability Framework to be particularly inspiring. It can be immediately useful for practitioners; for instance, they can use it to self-assess their readiness for monetizing their data assets after participating in a benchmarking survey. What’s truly remarkable is that her team collaborates with many Australian organizations that are at the forefront of the data space.”
CIRES PhD researcher Jorge Retamales said “I’m really appreciative of Barb’s visit. She conveyed important ideas with such clarity. I especially liked the improving-wrapping-selling framework. It provides an easy vocabulary where anyone can understand how tangible value can be obtained from data. I also liked her practical advice on data capabilities. It’s a great tool for organisations to enable productive conversations to plan their data monetization goals while considering their current context.”
Our thanks again to Barb for such a dynamic & insightful session & to everyone who joined us for this event.
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