The business model of many tech companies is based on collecting and using data about their customers. Google and Facebook generate revenues by selling targeted ads tailored to users' personal information. Amazon shows you the product they forecast you will buy. Tesla collects data on drivers' behavior and is said to plan using these data to enter into the insurance business. Google has just acquired smartwatch producer Fitbit, which collects data about users' health. The list goes on and on. So why most of us still widely share our personal data, even when we claim to be worried by the lack of online privacy?
Many call for a systematic publication of scientific negative results in order to make the production of scientific knowledge more efficient. Raphaël Lévy, Assistant Professor in the Economics and Decision Sciences Department, explains why such dissemination of knowledge may actually be beneficial, but also points to potential undesired consequences.
Legal Data Mining Conference gathered professionals and academics from the technology, Artificial Intelligence and Law fields to discuss the future of Law. The two-day workshop focused on both the fundamental and practical issues of legal data mining. The event was organized by David Restrepo Amariles (Assistant Professor of Law at HEC Paris) and Ken Satoh (Professor at the National Institute of Informatics of Japan) in March 2019 at the Barreau de Paris.
While scientific findings need to be assessed by peers and journal referees, the confidentiality of original data often makes the process arduous. An accredited organization launched by Christophe Pérignon (HEC Paris) and colleagues with access to the original research data can now ensure reproducibility of results. This not only promises huge gains in time and effort for researchers but will also shore up trust in scientific results.
Based on his recent research and work for the EU Commission, "Unlocking Privately-Held Data to Create Public Value", Alberto Alemanno, Professor of European Union Law and Regulation at HEC Paris, discusses the concept of "Data for Good", whereby private data such as those collected by social media, telecoms and banks, can be shared with public authorities so as to save lives, such as in natural disasters, and improve them through better designed and more effective policies.
In the following interview, two researchers at HEC Paris, Professor of Marketing Peter Ebbes and CNRS Research Professor Emmanuel Kemel, explain how they use the web apps R and Shiny*, to visualize results of data analysis, to help students in understanding the formulas used for those analysis, and to help disseminate the research among academics and practitioners.
