Which is the primary key which unlocks the value of the Big Data? In a world awash with data, I argue in this presentation that narratives play a crucial role in making sense of the information. I look at the role of narratives in the data-scarce paradigm and look at some familiar consulting narratives. I then examine the implications of such narratives and look at how these narratives would change in the emerging data-ubiquity paradigm

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The return of the narratives
Venkataraman Ramachandran
Consultant – Information,
Media & Entertainment
Cognizant Business Consulting
25th January 2014
@venkinesis
www.venkinesis.in
www.venkinesis.in
www.bigdatainnovation.org

2. Which is the primary key that unlocks the business
value of the data?
A: Big Data
B: Algorithms
C: Data Visualization
D: Narratives

3. Which is the primary key that unlocks the business
value of the data?
A: Big Data
D: Narratives

4. Which is the primary key that unlocks the business
value of the data?
A: Big Data
D: Narratives

5. “Consulting, a profession grounded in building
narratives [and naïve rationalization] “
-
Image courtesy: Wikipedia

6. content is subservient to context

7. Narratives
1. Narratives
• Spoken or written account of story
• Homo narrans
Takeaway
Datagrounded
narratives
Sideeffects
The story
of best
practices

8. Balvinder is married, outspoken and deeply
engaged with social issues.
Which of the following is more likely?
Balvinder is a bank manager
OR
Balvinder is a bank manager who is an active
volunteer at an NGO
Image courtesy: Freedigitalphotos.net

9. Hero meets the
assassin
Hero is suffering
from <Insert the
latest syndrome>
Rockstar hero
wakes up to his bad
dream where his
uncle is killed
Hero kills the
assassin
Assassin was the
hero’s dad’s best
friend
Image Courtesy: IMDB, Wikipedia

10. Narratives
2.The story of “Best Practices”
Takeaway
Datagrounded
narratives
Follow “the best
practices” based on
our tested and proven
methodology
What’s your BIG
DATA Strategy??
There is too
much data out
there.
Sideeffects
The story
of best
practices
Deliver Roadmap
and ensure
strategic alignment
between business
and IT
Voila! Welcome
to Big Data 2.0

11. Narratives
3.Side-effects
Takeaway
Datagrounded
narratives
Sideeffects
The story
of best
practices
• Trapped by cultural voeyurism
• Organizations are the same!
• Strategy ends up in tinkering and IT infrastructure tends to “drift”*
• Denial of complexity
*Source: Claudia Cibora 1997 Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems

12. Intermission
Image Courtesy: Google Images

13. Content is subservient to context

14. Narratives
4. The return of the narratives
Takeaway
Datagrounded
narratives
Sideeffects
The story
of best
practices

15. Turning Numbers into Narrative for an audience of one
Data
Facts
Angles
Narrative
Structure
Source: Narrative Science Website

16. Data products ecosystem
Vertical search
products
Eg. Cars.com
Reporting &
Visualizations
Eg. Tableau,
Cognos, Palantir,
Good Data
Value-added
data
Eg. Experian,
Navteq
Data Collection, Storage & Transmission
Eg. NYSE, Teradata, Hadoop, Market Trends
Source: Narrative Science – Larry Adams Presentation at Big Data Week

17. Old narrative
New narrative
What-if
realities
Reality
Reality
Meaning
Media
Narrative
Data
Algorithm
Meaning-n
Narrative-n
Meaning-1
Media
Narrative -1
Data
Algorithm

18. 4. Takeaway
The new story of best practices
• All answers are statistically significant
• Causality doesn’t equal correlation
• Appropriate practices are debunked until proven

19. 4.When does Big Data make(s) sense?
• Can your business model survive data-scarcity?
• Do you see data-ubiquity as a problem or a predicament?
• What’s your meta-narrative??

20. In a world full of answers, do you have the right
question??
Image courtesy: Freedigitalphotos.net

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Topic:
Thank You
Venkataraman Ramachandran
venky@venkinesis.in
Organized by
UNICOM Trainings & Seminars Pvt. Ltd.
contact@unicomlearning.com
www.bigdatainnovation.org