Once upon a time there lived a woman in a peculiar town. A place where analytics is used to tackle tough problems. Read on to learn more about Jen and her town. Read the latest entry at: http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/tag/2631

1. The Diary of
Jen Q. PublicVol. 1

2. Once upon a time…
There lived a woman in
a peculiar town. A place
where analytics is used
to tackle tough
problems.

3. This is the story of….
Jen Q. Public

4. Dear analytics diary,
Something really interesting is
happening these past few nights. It
has been eerily silent with not even a
siren in the distance. Even the rats are
still. It’s as if everyone knows that the
ever-present Lieutenant Analytics is
on high alert ensuring the scene never
becomes a crime scene. It made me
wonder “How are the police doing?
Are crime rates down? Is analytics
really helping the force?"
I overheard my neighbor saying, “I’m
not one to gossip, but I heard a
Lieutenant on the news say that their
Chief had reduced violent crime rate
by 39 percent!" Amazed, I tiptoed
away to do my own digging.
Sure enough, the city…
April 23, 2015, 10:55 p.m.
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5. Dear diary:
Last night I had a really strange
dream.The Social Services office
asked me to pinky swear that a claim
I was filing was accurate.“Well, yeah.”
Did they think I looked like someone
who would file a false claim? It took a
whole lot of deep breaths to just smile
and nod and raise my crooked pinky.
Do government agencies really rely
on the pinky swear to validate
accuracy of claims and minimize
abuse? Of course not, that was just a
really weird dream. But program
integrity is a real problem, and
government social programs lose a
great deal of money to errors, waste
and abuse.These agencies typically
are…
May 1, 6:38 a.m.
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6. Dear diary,
I received three graduation invitations
this week. While I’m excited to watch
these young adults receive their
degrees, I can’t help but wonder if
Johnny, the young man who works at
the convenience store on the corner,
would ever go back to college. He had
such a promising future, yet he
dropped out just after the first year.
In the New York Times just a couple
weeks ago, David Leonhardt shared
that “dropout rates typically hover
around 50 percent.”That’s really high.
Carly Stockwell, content director at
College Factual, also shared that only
59 percent of students graduate from
college.The burning question then, is
what…
May 7, 2015, 8:07 p.m.
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7. Dear diary,
It's been raining cats, dogs, elephants
and zebras—the entire zoo, actually.
One of the staffers even came in
"ready" for a flood. But I will take the
rain.Though the tornado sirens went
off last weekend, we were spared any
major damage in our neighborhood.
Judging from CNN news reports,
however, many people weren’t as lucky
and are still reeling from the more
than 70 tornadoes that touched down
this past weekend, leaving death and
destruction in their wake. I can only
begin to imagine the task at hand and
the resources needed by emergency
management crews as they help bring
back some semblance of normalcy to
the central…
May 14, 9:01 p.m.
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8. Dear diary:
The Internet and advanced
technologies such as live, streaming
apps and wi-fi in planes have created
exciting possibilities, but these
advances also pose security and data-
overload challenges. We do live in
scary times.
For instance, I have been counting
down the days to my next vacation
since last year’s vacation. However, I
would be lying if I said that the recent
report about in-flight wi-fi being
susceptible to hackers was not giving
me second thoughts about air travel.
Then, just this week a cybersecurity
researcher claimed he had managed to
take control of a plane mid-flight
through…
May 21, 11:21 p.m.
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9. Dear diary,
You hear a lot of “smarter this” and
“smarter that” discussion these days
about smarter care, a smarter planet
and smarter cities. Recently, Bernard
Marr wrote about how the Internet of
Things creates smarter cities. Smarter
cities are now managing traffic
patterns, parking, lighting and even
garbage trucks that know when
garbage is ready for disposal.
Smarter everything is great, but what
I’m really concerned about is not just
a smarter city but also a safer city.The
10 o’clock news was chock full of
criminal activity tonight, just like
every other night. Perpetrators are
seemingly always finding a way to
defy...
May 28, 10:58 p.m.
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10. To be continued…
on the