Weekend Reads: Data Science Needs Storytellers + The Quality vs. Quantity Debate

Summer has officially ended and we are kicking off this fall season with a list of some must read features for you to enjoy this weekend. In the customer experience space, we talked content quality vs quantity and the magic 8 ball of customer-focused analytics. Over in information management, we learned about the sexiest part of data and in social business we looked at the SharePoint 2013 Intranet. So sit back, relax and enjoy our weekend reads.

Top Customer Experience Article

Every marketer may be different but the question that weighs on their mind is always the same -- what is better, content quality or quantity? You were probably hoping that Rebecca Toth answered this question for you in her recent article: Content Quality vs. Quantity: Is There a Clear Winner? but it isn't that easy because both quality and quantity have their pros and cons.

There is one question weighing on almost every marketer’s mind, or at least should be: what is better, quality of content or the quantity produced? The debate is ongoing and seems to be picking up momentum, but is there a clear and definitive answer to this question? ... No. The answer is that simple."

The Contenders

This week in our contenders category, we have:

• Social Competitive Intelligence Answers the 'So What?' Question by Billy Cripe
• Read Between the Lines: Discovering the Hidden Customer by Sunil Menon
• Where's My Magic 8 Ball? Customer-Focused Analytics by Julie Hunt
• The Google Versus Bing Experience by Gerry McGovern
• Smartphone, Tablet, Desktop: Approach Each as Its Own Marketing Channel by Steffan Berelowitz
• 4 Reasons Why Marketers Should Share Data with Sales by Glenn Gow
• Marketers Are Slowly But Surely Embracing Big Data Analytics by Jim Bell
• Call to Action: Fill in the DAM Words, Terms and Definitions by Henrik de Gyor

Top Information Management Article

Sexy and Data are not normally two words you hear together but Stephen Fishman is out to prove that data is not only sexy but explain what the sexiest part of being a data scientist is in his latest article: The Sexiest Part of Being a Data Scientist is Not in the Code, It's In the Storytelling.

I think the folks at Harvard need to go back to school. I understand why they believe that data scientist will be 'the sexiest job of the 21st century,' but what I don't understand is the lack of applying basic business school fundamentals to the claim and then taking the next step. I realize that I'm a little late to criticize an article that's nearly a year old and I hope that people will cut me a little slack given that it was just brought up again in these pages a few weeks ago (which was the first time I saw it)."

The Contenders

• Metadata Solves Your SharePoint Content Management Problems by Mimi Dionne
• As Oracle OpenWorld Turns: Ellison Snubs Attendees, Changes Tune on In-Memory Database #oow13 by Virginia Backaitis
• Big Data Bits Featuring Recommind, Cloudera, Apache Storm, Apache Samza, SumAll by Virginia Backaitis

Top Social Business Article

It's no surprise to any of us that SharePoint has conquered the enterprise intranet. But as with any conquest, not every intranet user is completely happy. So what are the positives and negatives to a SharePoint 2013 Intranet and can the pros outweigh the cons? Find out in Toby Ward's latest article: The SharePoint 2013 Intranet: Pros and Cons.

SharePoint 2007 was a dog; SharePoint 2010 was a dressed-up dog; but the latest, SharePoint 2013 represents a considerable improvement compared with its canine predecessors."