I originally wrote about the mysteries of algorithms and small business credit after attending two excellent conferences on the subject here in New York City. Here is a good panel discussion on the topic. Since then Cornell Tech has launched the Digital Life Initiative, offering an abundance of excellent research and deeper explorations. Background. There [...]
Category: The lyricism of data
On the eve of the “truth, what truth?” election
Like many U.S. citizens, I can hardly wait for this campaign to end. But I cannot let it go without pointing out that there is another oft-ignored side to defining others without their participation and on a public scale. Obviously, people running for major office expect a certain amount of this. What makes 2016 unusual [...]
Small business at Harvard.edu!
I have long been a fan of Doc Searls from his seminal (co-authored) publication, The Cluetrain Manifesto, to his work with Linux Journal, and more recently his tireless battles for consumers who are tracked across the internet like so many bits of soulless data. Today Doc features small business and how credit cuts against them [...]
Why we joined PDEC
I first learned of the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium (PDEC) three years ago. I mostly thought the name was quite the mouthful. In time I discovered many kindred spirits in its ranks. After participating in the governance committee over the past year, I have agreed to step up my involvement. Here's why that matters. PDEC [...]
Regs to help small businesses?
It was cold and windy when I boarded Metro-North at Fordham Saturday morning. My destination was a conference at Yale's law school: "Unlocking the Black Box: The Promise and Limits of Algorithmic Accountability in the Professions." Anything about black box systems grabs my attention. This particular conference was organized by Frank Pasquale, a law professor [...]
Santa’s Credit Score!
A Canadian colleague just sent me an email pointing out that the US views Santa Claus as an indebted independent toy distributor with a FICO score while Canada just issued him a passport. We Americans just love to score people it seems. You can follow the links above or here and here to see for [...]
Citizen Scores . . . Sigh
I was going to give the big data credit profiling posts a rest. I was sure more interesting updates would justify a post of a different sort. Then along came the news that China has developed a new score that rates creditworthiness and, ummm, good citizenship. This first piece delves into the concept itself. Here [...]
Credit is broken; And it needs a unicorn?
I easily tire of Silicon Valley fads. One is the (recent) ubiquitous use of the term unicorn to describe super-unique start-ups that become huge wins for investors. Also, my daughters trained me in a different view of unicorns. Still, a recent TechCrunch post that used the term caught my eye. The author is predicting a [...]
descant labs 