The Quest for Total Information Awareness
I’m sure you’ve experienced the feeling of having made a decision — and then discovering information that might result in a different outcome and saying to yourself — “If I knew then what I know now …..” Buyer’s remorse, post cognitive dissonance, hindsight, wiser after the event — all expressions of regret in some form or another.
With so much data created every second, we can never have every bit of information available at our fingertips so we make decisions based on what we think we know and have at the time.
In theory, the more information we have (provided it is accurate) the better the decision and outcome, since information is tied to risk, revenue, growth — and their associated antonyms. But, total information awareness is more an aspiration than a reality as we can never know everything and its context. I think of information awareness as four states of knowing:
- Know what you know — Information you know and have.
- Don’t know what you know — Information you don’t know you have
- Know what you don’t know — Information you know you need but don’t have.
- Don’t know what you don’t know — Information you don’t even know exists.
The Where and How
You might ask “Where and how do I start discovering what information is out there? And how do I expand that information into the different forms of knowledge so that I can encompass more and more data moving forward?” The first step is all about exploration and discovery of your data: “Know what you know”.
Watson Explorer (WEX) enables customers to start simple with basic search and discovery of information and then work up to advanced data and text mining, natural language processing, cognitive insight and visibility across multiple data sources as summarized in figure 1 below. It can help explore, analyze and interpret information across an organization and beyond, bringing all the information together in one place without physically moving it or changing it. Think of it as integration and analysis “at the glass” then applying advanced analytics to reveal deep insights, discover patterns and trends that you didn’t know existed. The “Forrester Wave™:Big Data Text Analytics Platforms, 2Q 2016” report provides an analyst’s view on some of Watson Explorer’s capabilities:
Essentially, WEX helps deliver a 360 degree view of information you need in relation to a particular set of needs and brings it together in an interactive application through a set of real-time artifacts and services. But it’s also able to make tailored recommendations based on a set of variables chosen and configured by the user or recommended by the “system”. WEX then ranks the recommendations by importance — from geographic parameters, past outcomes, time-sensitive issues, trends, risk assessments of individuals, demographics, etc.
Cognitive capabilities are core to every aspect of the Explorer product and hence the link to machine learning and decision optimization [links to previous blogs]. This means that the product can leverage statistical algorithms to provide smarter results and enable users to explore more information and discover further insights. The cognitive search functionality works with other components such as Knowledge Studio, Natural Language — which enables non-technical users to find answers with ease. Simplicity is a key design principle so that users have access to advance capabilities without having to be domain experts. Business unit executives shouldn’t have to be data scientists to ask or gain insights from their data.
In addition, Watson APIs offer a cognitive interface to many other Watson services such as Personality Insights, Visual Recognition, Watson Discover Service, Watson Natural Language Understanding — so really the world is your oyster in terms of the amount and types of data that can be reached and analyzed. WEX and its ecosystem of services therefore can help organizations discover information that they don’t even know exists: “Don’t know what you don’t know”.
Exploring in a Private Cloud Environment
A hybrid cloud strategy can help organizations achieve flexibility and longevity. Many organizations are still primarily concerned with exploiting the untapped potential of the data behind their firewalls, but may want to be able to reach out to public clouds when ready, reusing their private cloud investments. To facilitate this need, WEX’s core capabilities are architected as shown in Figure 2.
You’ll notice that the architecture is designed to draw data and capabilities from across the topology, from public to private. It’s up to you to set the boundary or what information and services you are interested in.
With such power and versatility at your fingertips comes great responsibility. It’s fitting then that the product ensures that users have access only to information that has been granted or permitted using the product’s sophisticated security and governance model.
Start Exploring Today
If you want to experience the power of Watson Explorer, I invite you to spend 5 minutes on this calculator to gain a better understanding of the time, resources and money your company could save by using this cognitive search and data analytics platform. And for those who are more visually stimulated here’s a very informative 3-minute video.
Follow me on Twitter: @madhu_kochar
