Who doesn’t love a little bit of data in their lives?
The YYC Data Society’s flagship event YYC Data Con promises to deliver insight into Calgary’s thriving data science scene. It goes ahead at the Platform Calgary Innovation Centre on March 8 and 9, 2024.
The event’s co-director, Mirna Damergi, said that the YYC Data Society started during Covid-19, drawing together several different overlapping meetup groups. She said they wanted to help bring Calgary’s data community together.
After all, the world today is built on data.
“It’s kind of like we are surrounded by it,” Damergi said.
“We use it every day.”
It isn’t just spreadsheets and binary numbers, Damergi said. Though, when you say data to folks, it often conjures those images.
“It’s your gender, it’s your ethnicity… The quick definition of data is information,” she said.
“Any type of information is data. It’s just about the way you deal with it is going to be different whether it’s text or it’s a number.”
She said data is being used in almost every industry. Damergi pointed to the local group Data for Good – celebrating 10 years – who collects data to use for social good. There are folks geared towards data in Calgary’s energy industry. Of course, data is being used regularly by local companies developing apps or web-based platforms.
This year’s event will provide more insight into large language models – like ChatGPT and OpenAI, Damergi said.
“We can do so many cool things with data,” she said.
“It’s also not about following the trend but using critical thinking in data to know what we need and how to answer that need.”
Future-proofing Calgary
Damergi said attendees at this year’s YYC Data Con will be treated to panel discussions and showcases with technical conversations about large language models. There will be some panelists showing off the data tools they’ve built.
So far, this year’s DataCon boasts 42 listed speakers for various sessions. With that, there are 26 scheduled speaking sessions for participants to choose from.
“We have a range of content from careers in data and tech, to actual technical conversations around large language models,” Damergi said.
“We’ll try to touch on topics like ChatGPT, but also look at the different types of uses that we have with data. That allows us to showcase the different opportunities there is in Calgary.”
In the end, Damergi said the conference is about strengthening the data community in Calgary and bringing together a collection of data enthusiasts to connect.
“This year’s theme is future-proofing Calgary data, talent and community,” Damergi said.
“It’s really about building that community. It’s about leveraging what we have in Calgary and educating people, but not in the traditional way of education.”
For those interested in attending, or even volunteering for the event, you can visit the YYC Data Con website.
