In this episode of the O’Reilly Data Show, O’Reilly’s online managing editor Jenn Webb speaks with Natalino Busa on the topic of predictive analytics, the challenges of feature engineering, and a new class of techniques that is enabling features to emerge from patterns within the data. They also discuss the relationship between predictive techniques and high-quality microservices, and how machine learning is being used to improve financial services.

Understanding Predictive Analytics

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators. At O’Reilly, a big part of our business is paying attention to what’s new and interesting in the world of technology. We have a pretty good record at having anticipated some of the big technology developments in recent history. For instance, we launched the first commercial Web site, GNN, in 1993; we organized the meeting at which the term “open source” was first adopted; we were early investors in Blogger, which helped launch the blogging revolution; and more recently, our Web 2.0 conference launched a world-wide meme. We call this predictive sense the “O’Reilly Radar.” And while we’re certainly not always right, we are, at least, good at making interesting guesses.

Our methodology is simple: we draw from the wisdom of the alpha geeks in our midst, paying attention to what’s interesting to them, amplifying these weak signals, and seeing where they fit into the innovation ecology. Add to that the original research conducted by our Research team, and you start to get a good picture of what the technology world is thinking about.

Understanding Predictive Analytics

O'Reilly Radar