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A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (ET)

Greenville, SC
A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning

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Event Details

 

6:00 – 6:30 Food and Networking Sponsored by Varigence.

6:30 – 6:40 Announcements

6:40 – 8:15 Jim Eynon: A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning

8:15 – 8:30 Closing remarks and give-a-ways.  

 

A Gentle Introduction to Machine Learning

Consolidated databases such as data warehouses offer great opportunities to employ analytics for optimization, prediction, forecasting, data mining/knowledge discovery, and decision making. A barrier to realizing that potential is that we don’t always understand or trust the techniques that reveal these insights.

The payoffs from data analysis can be tremendous, but to realize them we have to know how to match the analytical techniques with our business questions/purposes, and with the data. The session will illustrate this simple idea with three examples of techniques borrowed from artificial intelligence: Genetic Algorithms for optimization, Artificial Neural Networks for prediction, and the ID3 algorithm for classification. Specific attention will be paid to:
  • How they work
  • What you can do with them
  • When to use them with or instead of statistical techniques
  • How to evaluate the results
These techniques are valuable because they are heuristic rather than statistical, are easily understood without advanced mathematics, are often simpler to use, and will deliver better answers than standard methods in a variety of situations.
 
About Jim Eynon
 
Jim's first job from college was with a data service company where he hung a very large but uncounted number of round-reel tapes. He subsequently mastered other obsolete technologies such as writing COBOL and Mark IV. Eventually this all drove him to graduate school for a PhD in the Management of Information.  He has served on the faculty at Wake Forest and Northern Illinois Universities, teaching Systems Analysis and Design, Database Systems, Management Science and Information Systems Strategy. His research is published in information systems journals and conference proceedings. He consulting work includes problems in Manufacturing, banking and financial services, health care, government agencies, transportation, education, and  retail.  
 
Sponsor

Varigence provides tools, frameworks, and services that advance the state of the art in business intelligence by building abstraction and productivity capabilities to extend the Microsoft Business Intelligence technologies.