talk-data.com

This isn’t a “what if” conversation — it’s a behind-the-scenes look at real GenAI deployments from women leaders across different domains. Each speaker will share the tools, workflows, and measurable results from their projects — plus the lessons learned along the way.

Navigating the DAX Dimension: Your Guide to DAX Query View

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff as we embark on a voyage through the DAX Query View in Power BI Desktop. In this presentation, we’ll explore the uncharted territories of Power BI with the help of our Copilot, who’s more than just an assistant – it’s the Goose to your Maverick in the Top Gun of data analytics. As we soar through the skies of ‘SUMX()’ and dodge the turbulence of ‘RELATEDTABLE()’, our Copilot will ensure we don’t crash into the dreaded ‘Syntax Error’ mountains. We’ll navigate through the clouds of complex calculations with ease, thanks to our Copilot’s knack for translating ‘DAX-ese’ into plain English. Watch as we perform daring maneuvers, like seamlessly integrating ‘CALCULATE()’ functions with a flick of the wrist and rescuing lost measures from the Bermuda Triangle of ‘Bad References’. By the end of this high-flying adventure, you’ll not only have learned how DAX Query View can ease your relationship with DAX but also discovered the joy of having a Copilot who can crack jokes while crunching numbers. So, let’s chart a course for fun and function, and may our Copilot’s humor be as ‘calculated’ as our formulas!

When Claude Shannon discovered his equation for the average efficient code length for a probability distribution, it's rumored that he was told by fellow scientist and mathematician John von Neumann, to "just call it entropy, since no one knows what that is anyway."

Jest aside, this was because Shannon's equation for "Information Entropy" had an astonishing resemblance to Boltzmann's equation for physical entropy.

In this presentation, I'll explore not only these connections, but a whole host of problems, ideas, and software that relate to this mysterious quantity, Entropy, that I've spent decades attempting to understand. I'll also introduce and discuss the Kolmogorov Complexity, another very important measure of information and uncertainty.

The slides for the presentation are here!

This will again be hosted at Alphabet City Beer Co.:

https://www.abcbeer.co/

96 Ave C (between 6th and 7th Streets), New York, NY 10009

Don't be shy, bring your friends!

Best,

Charles

When Claude Shannon discovered his equation for the average efficient code length for a probability distribution, it's rumored that he was told by fellow scientist and mathematician John von Neumann, to "just call it entropy, since no one knows what that is anyway."

Jest aside, this was because Shannon's equation for "Information Entropy" had an astonishing resemblance to Boltzmann's equation for physical entropy.

In this presentation, I'll explore not only these connections, but a whole host of problems, ideas, and software that relate to this mysterious quantity, Entropy, that I've spent decades attempting to understand. I'll also introduce and discuss the Kolmogorov Complexity, another very important measure of information and uncertainty.

The slides for the presentation are here!

***Please note this event is on MONDAY, because of the MLB and NFL schedules.***

This will again be hosted at Alphabet City Beer Co.:

https://www.abcbeer.co/

96 Ave C (between 6th and 7th Streets), New York, NY 10009

Don't be shy, bring your friends!

Best,

Charles

We are gathering this Halloween season to hear from Alex Kolokolov about his new book and (virtually) by the Data Witches, Shannon Lindsay & Stephanie Bruno to hear about Direct Lake Mode.

5:30 PM: Dinner & networking 6:15 PM: Lightning Talk (Alex Kolokolov) 6:30 PM: Unlocking the Magic: Direct Lake Mode in Power BI (Shannon Lindsay and Stephanie Bruno)

Talk description: In today's fast-paced business landscape, making quick, informed decisions is non-negotiable. That's why we're excited to introduce you to a true game-changer: Direct Lake mode in Power BI. This breakthrough comes hand in hand with the recently launched analytics platform, Microsoft Fabric.

Get ready to expand your data connectivity toolkit within Power BI. It's not about loading all your data at once; it's about on-demand loading. Translation? Only the data you need for a query gets loaded, making everything crazy fast. It's like data magic that flies when you need it.

Join us for an eye-opening session where we'll walk you through the ins and outs of Direct Lake mode. We're talking about the nitty-gritty architecture stuff, comparing it to other ways of data connecting, and showcasing real-world scenarios where Direct Lake mode works its charm.

7:00 (or when talk ends) Open space to get help from other developers

Join R-Ladies Rome for an empowering Interactive Workshop: Debugging in R exclusively designed for women in technology. In this workshop, we will dive deep into various topics including code troubleshooting tips, essential debugging functions (traceback(), browser(), debug(), trace(), and recover()), and gain insights into effective debugging strategies. Our expert speaker Shannon Pileggi will share pivotal insights, best practices, and tips to degbug code in R.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional, this event is the perfect opportunity for networking and learning from fellow women in the industry.

Join us on February 20th at 6:15 PM CET for an exciting and interactive session where you can expand your knowledge, connect with like-minded individuals, and explore the latest trends in web technology. This workshop is specifically curated to provide a conducive environment for women in technology to enhance their skills and discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in this male-dominated industry.

Format: This hands-on workshop will be hosted on Posit (RStudio) Cloud, a special RStudio instance accessible through your browser. Registered participants will receive details on accessing Posit Cloud closer to the event. Agenda: We'll kick off with a warm welcome on Zoom, provide an opportunity to ensure everyone is set up to dive into the exciting world of debugging. Stay tuned for more updates!

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to be a part of an inclusive community that empowers women in technology. Together, let's accelerate our growth and make a difference in the tech world!

Join R-Ladies Philly for an in-person interactive workshop on version control with git & GitHub with amazing presenters, Shannon Pileggi and E. David Aja!

In order to actively participate in this event, you will need to complete some pre-work to ensure you have a GitHub account as well as the necessary credentials in place to explore this workflow.

If you are unable to complete the pre-work, you may still attend the event as an observer rather than as an active participant.

Pre-work:

1. Please be ready with current versions of both R and RStudio. This means R>= 4.2.0 and RStudio >= 2023.03.0 Build 386, unless you have a good reason otherwise. See the discussion in Install or upgrade R and RStudio: https://happygitwithr.com/install-r-rstudio.html#install-r-rstudio
2. Complete the pre-workshop Git/GitHub set up instructions: https://happygitwithr.com/workshops.html#pre-workshop-set-up
3. Install VS Code (https://code.visualstudio.com/), optionally with R language support (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=REditorSupport.r).

Learning objectives

• Employ version control via git and GitHub with operations including commit, push and pull.
• Fork and clone from remote repositories.
• Describe the importance of viewing commits and diffs.
• Compile markdown reports from an R script for sharing code products on GitHub.
• Create a project web site via GitHub Pages.
• Compare and execute different methods to re-visit previous versions of projects.
• Utilize branches as safety nets for code experimentation.
• Explain situations that can create merge conflicts and strategies to resolve them.

Agenda: 5:30 pm - arrive, get settled, and grab some food! 5:45 - 7:15 - session 1 -- break -- 7:30 - 8:30 - session 2

Warehouses? Where we are going, we won't need warehouses! Join Dillon, Franco, and Shannon as they take an industry-standard Data Warehouse integration benchmark, called TPC-DI, which is a typical 80s style data warehouse, and bring it into the future. We will review how to implement standard data warehousing practices on Lakehouse, and show you how to deliver optimal price/performance in the cloud and keep your data so fresh and so clean. We will take an assortment of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in the form of CSV, TXT, XML, and Fixed-Width files, and transform them warehouse-style into Lakehouse with a historical load and incremental CDC loads.

Connect with us: Website: https://databricks.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/databricksinc Twitter: https://twitter.com/databricks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/data... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/databricksinc/

Negotiating from a position of power can be game changing for your career. In this video, Shannon Morales will lead a conversation sharing pro-tips for reviewing and adding value to a job offer.

Topics covered will include:

Evaluating an offer Examining cultural fit Finding equitable employers Negotiating salary & benefits

Manage your data with a system designed to support modern application development. Updated for MongoDB 4.2, the third edition of this authoritative and accessible guide shows you the advantages of using document-oriented databases. You’ll learn how this secure, high-performance system enables flexible data models, high availability, and horizontal scalability. Authors Shannon Bradshaw, Eoin Brazil, and Kristina Chodorow provide guidance for database developers, advanced configuration for system administrators, and use cases for a variety of projects. NoSQL newcomers and experienced MongoDB users will find updates on querying, indexing, aggregation, transactions, replica sets, ops management, sharding and data administration, durability, monitoring, and security. In six parts, this book shows you how to: Work with MongoDB, perform write operations, find documents, and create complex queries Index collections, aggregate data, and use transactions for your application Configure a local replica set and learn how replication interacts with your application Set up cluster components and choose a shard key for a variety of applications Explore aspects of application administration and configure authentication and authorization Use stats when monitoring, back up and restore deployments, and use system settings when deploying MongoDB

Our new 2015 Edition of O'Reilly's Women in Data report reveals inspiring stories of success and insights from four women working in data, across the European Union. Now featuring a total of 19 interviews with women who are central to data businesses, authors Cornelia Lévy-Bencheton and Shannon Cutt uncover strategies for success for women in the field of data, and anyone interested in pursuing or advancing their career in data. While women are still an underrepresented minority in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), women in data and technology are no longer outliers. With this report, you'll learn how a remarkable group of women in data achieved their current level of success, what motivated them to get there, and their views about opportunities for women in the field. The stories in this book are inspiring, revealing insights that will widen the path for even more women in tech. These interviews explore: The expanding role of the contemporary data scientist New attitudes towards women in data among Millennials Benefits of the data and STEM fields as a career choice for women Remedies for closing the gender gap

“If you want to understand the future before it happens, you’ll love this book. If you want to change the future before it happens to you, this book is required reading.” – Reed Hundt, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission “There is no simpler or clearer statement of the radical change that digital technologies will bring, nor any book that better prepares one for thinking about the next steps.” – Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School and Author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace “ Blown to Bits will blow you away. In highly accessible and always fun prose, it explores all the nooks and crannies of the digital universe, exploring not only how this exploding space works but also what it means.” – Debora Spar, President of Barnard College, Author of Ruling the Waves and The Baby Business “This is a wonderful book–probably the best since Hal Varian and Carl Schultz wrote Digital Rules. The authors are engineers, not economists. The result is a long, friendly talk with the genie, out of the lamp, and willing to help you avoid making the traditional mistake with that all-important third wish.” – David Warsh, Author of Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations “ Blown to Bits is one of the clearest expositions I’ve seen of the social and political issues arising from the Internet. Its remarkably clear explanations of how the Net actually works lets the hot air out of some seemingly endless debates. You’ve made explaining this stuff look easy. Congratulations!” – David Weinberger, Coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto and Author of Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. “ Blown to Bits is a timely, important, and very readable take on how information is produced and consumed today, and more important, on the approaching sea change in the way that we as a society deal with the consequences.” – Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology, Google, Inc. “This book gives an overview of the kinds of issues confronting society as we become increasingly dependent on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Every informed citizen should read this book and then form their own opinion on these and related issues. And after reading this book you will rethink how (and even whether) you use the Web to form your opinions…” – James S. Miller, Senior Director for Technology Policy and Strategy, Microsoft Corporation “Most writing about the digital world comes from techies writing about technical matter for other techies or from pundits whose turn of phrase greatly exceeds their technical knowledge. In Blown to Bits, experts in computer science address authoritatively the practical issues in which we all have keen interest.” – Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Author of Multiple Intelligences and Changing Minds “Regardless of your experience with computers, Blown to Bits provides a uniquely entertaining and informative perspective from the computing industry’s greatest minds. A fascinating, insightful and entertaining book that helps you understand computers and their impact on the world in a whole new way. This is a rare book that explains the impact of the digital explosion in a way that everyone can understand and, at the same time, challenges experts to think in new ways.” – Anne Margulies, Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts “ Blown to Bits is fun and fundamental. What a pleasure to see real teachers offering such excellent framework for students in a digital age to explore and understand their digital environment, code and law, starting with the insight of Claude Shannon. I look forward to you teaching in an open online school.” – Professor Charles Nesson, Harvard Law School, Founder, Berkman Center for Internet and Society “To many of us, computers and the Internet are magic. We make stuff, send stuff, receive stuff, and buy stuff. It’s all pointing, clicking, copying, and pasting. But it’s all mysterious. This book explains in clear and comprehensive terms how all this gear on my desk works and why we should pay close attention to these revolutionary changes in our lives. It’s a brilliant and necessary work for consumers, citizens, and students of all ages.” – Siva Vaidhyanathan, cultural historian and media scholar at the University of Virginia and author of Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity “The world has turned into the proverbial elephant and we the blind men. The old and the young among us risk being controlled by, rather than in control of, events and technologies. Blown to Bits is a remarkable and essential Rosetta Stone for beginning to figure out how all of the pieces of the new world we have just begun to enter–law, technology, culture, information–are going to fit together. Will life explode with new possibilities, or contract under pressure of new horrors? The precipice is both exhilarating and frightening. Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis, together, have ably managed to describe the elephant. Readers of this compact book describing the beginning stages of a vast human adventure will be one jump ahead, for they will have a framework on which to hang new pieces that will continue to appear with remarkable speed. To say that this is a ‘must read’ sounds trite, but, this time, it’s absolutely true.” – Harvey Silverglate, criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer and writer Every day, billions of photographs, news stories, songs, X-rays, TV shows, phone calls, and emails are being scattered around the world as sequences of zeroes and ones: bits. We can’t escape this explosion of digital information and few of us want to–the benefits are too seductive. The technology has enabled unprecedented innovation, collaboration, entertainment, and democratic participation. But the same engineering marvels are shattering centuries-old assumptions about privacy, identity, free expression, and personal control as more and more details of our lives are captured as digital data. Can you control who sees all that personal information about you? Can email be truly confidential, when nothing seems to be private? Shouldn’t the Internet be censored the way radio and TV are? Is it really a federal crime to download music? When you use Google or Yahoo! to search for something, how do they decide which sites to show you? Do you still have free speech in the digital world? Do you have a voice in shaping government or corporate policies about any of this? Blown to Bits offers provocative answers to these questions and tells intriguing real-life stories. This book is a wake-up call to the human consequences of the digital explosion. Preface xiii Chapter 1: Digital Explosion: Why Is It Happening, and What Is at Stake? 1 Chapter 2: Naked in the Sunlight: Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned 19 Chapter 3: Ghosts in the Machine: Secrets and Surprises of Electronic Documents 73 Chapter 4: Needles in the Haystack: Google and Other Brokers in the Bits Bazaar 109 Chapter 5: Secret Bits: How Codes Became Unbreakable 161 Chapter 6: Balance Toppled: Who Owns the Bits? 195 Chapter 7: You Can’t Say That on the Internet: Guarding the Frontiers of Digital Expression 229 Chapter 8: Bits in the Air: Old Metaphors, New Technologies, and Free Speech 259 Conclusion: After the Explosion 295 Appendix: The Internet as System and Spirit 301 Endnotes 317 Index 347