Conference on Big Data Application to Telecom and Media

Trans-editor: Yating Chan/ Proofreader: Yu-li Liu

Date: March 14, 2015

Venue: Innovation Incubation Center, National Chengchi University

On March 13, the Taiwan Communications Society (TCS) co-hosted the Conference on Big Data Applications in Worldwide Telecom and Media Industries with National Cheng Kung University, Yuan Ze University, Shih Hsin University, National Chengchi University, and the 21st Century Foundation at the Innovation Incubation Center of National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan.

The Conference served as a platform for local and international scholars from Sweden, South Korea, and China to discuss and share their views on the applications of big data and the challenges faced by worldwide telecom and media industries.

In her opening speech, TCS President Yu-li Liu said that the Obama administration’s recent two-million US dollar investment in big data-related research institutes has shown that both the US government and the private sector have placed great importance on the development of big data application.

Dr. Yi-Bing Lin, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology, said that releasing data to the public appropriately is a challenging task and that the government has two goals for big data application: to observe consumers’ need for services and to achieve open data and open government (especially for policy formulation). Lin stated that traffic information is the most important type of open data, as real-time road information (on highways, for example) can appear on every driver’s mobile device within seconds.

In his talk on “Big Data and Broadband Policy,” ITS Chairperson Dr. Erik Bohlin said that big data has brought a great deal of convenience, but that many big data applications are still faced with legal (e.g., the Riksdag regards the use of dashcam data as illegal) and technological (e.g., the huge gap in next-generation network access among countries) challenges.

Dr. Hangjung Zo, Associate Professor at MIS KAIST, said in his talk on “Big Data and Its Applications to Telecom and Media” that in regard to South Korea’s pursuit of national security, the country’s citizens have granted their government the power of information collection. Zo also noted that Gartner’s 2015 survey on technology trends revealed that the ubiquitous analysis of private data (e.g., surveillance cameras on almost every street corner and GPS functions on mobile phones) has raised concerns about privacy in South Korea.  

Zo said that big data also has an upside. It has led South Korea’s telecom market to become more competitive (and more beneficial to customers), as smartphone users and their need for Internet access have pushed telecom operators to release better and more profitable application services with more effective and enticing promotion plans. 

Zse-Hong Tsai, Professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Industrial Engineering, said that big data application is a global trend and that cross-strait telecom operators have recognized its potential and rapid development. It is the right time, therefore, to discuss the applications and restrictions of big data in the telecom industry.  

Xiang Rao, AXON Chairperson and CEO of a Chinese Internet company, said that a key trend of big data application lies in Internet traffic management (for users getting online via mobile phones) and customer value management. He gave the example of the release of the data red envelope plan (an idea similar to WeChat’s virtual red envelope) by China Telecom Jiangsu Electronic Channel Operation Center, which was shared by 30,000 people in five hours.

Taiwan’s three major telecom operators shared their business transformation experiences relating to big data, with Rong-Syh Lin, Vice Chief President of Chunghwa Telecom, and Chao-Hua Jih, Chief Technology Officer of Taiwan Mobile, emphasizing the importance of non-structural data analysis. 

Lin said that given the telecom market’s big data platforms and analysis tools, telecom operators need to change their mindset and recognize the importance of fostering science–technology talent.   

Jih pointed out that quality of experience and KQJ are the most commonly used indicators to evaluate service performance, as most videos (which account for 53% of mobile data use) reported to be of low quality are on platforms belonging to other Internet service providers.  

Charlene Hung, Vice President of the business control department of Far EasTone, said that analyzing the available data to predict customers’ exact needs is of great importance, as only information that indicates customers’ needs is useful.

Po-li Liu, Director of Research Division IV at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said that the government should propose more active policies to address issues related to Taiwan’s big data application, such as individuals’ right to privacy and personal data protection laws concerning data use for public health and academic research.  

Chair-Dir Chung, Executive Secretary at the Board of Science of Technology of Executive Yuan, said that the government is currently aiming to apply big data in nine fields (including public safety) to promote openness, digitization, and education.

NCC Commissioner Peng Shin-yi said that the application of big data is likely to violate personal information protection laws, as few users read through privacy policy agreements carefully (in HTC’s case, for example), resulting in rushed authorization and blind agreement.

Arthur Shay, Head of the Technology, Media, Telecoms team of Shay & Partners, said that it is worth considering the pros and cons of big data as more and more people increase iPad and WiFi usage and become less connected with their friends and family.

Yi Lee, Director of the Advertisement Center at Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group, said that in 2014, only 31% of sales were generated by the company’s traditional advertisement sector. In the face of this challenge, Lee said, the company had designed a highly interactive content-centric model. The company’s online model, which features the first inbuilt ad bidding system in China, allows target users to interact on multiple screens.   

Wei-Ru Huang, Vice President of the Engineering Department at Yahoo Taiwan, said that Yahoo’s biggest advantage is its huge volume of information, which can be used to track consumers’ digital footprints. Huang added that Yahoo has also developed a real-time interaction detection system that can provide customers with the best tailored user content, using Hadoop and Storm to process and sort out batch signals and real-time signals in 15 minutes and retransmit them to generate a personalized search and provide accurate content services. 

Owen Lee, General Manager of udn.com, said that big data is not only about accurate marketing but also about delving into a society’s trends and discovering uncovered news topics.

Ching-Ho Chen, Vice President of Shih Hsin University, said that in big data research, analysis is important but interpretation is even more important. The focus, he believed, should not be on the keywords themselves but on how they are turned into valuable data.

Xinzhou Xie, Dean of the New Media Institute at Peking University, said that the relationship between the Internet and big data is that between “a thousand readers and a thousand Hamlets,” as the essence of big data lies in society’s human connections. With messages easily generated and spread on the Internet, Xie added, micro-content has stood out from social media networking.    

Yun-Keng Hsieh, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said that traditional news reporting needs to change in the big data era, and that this shift should start with leak tracking via computing technology, semi-automated news writing, and increasingly visualized news representation and progress to more accurate ads and program adjustments based on a target audience’s needs. Hsieh gave the 2012 U.S. presidential election as a successful example, where Obama’s team launched an intensive ad campaign at a specific time to win over certain middle-aged female constituents in a region, effectively portraying the candidate as having a positive personal image.  

Professor Yuntsai Chou, from the Information Management Department at Yuan Ze University, said that the local government is currently faced with three issues related to big data applications: how to use identifiable data within the parameters of current privacy regulations (e.g., for tracking potential Ebola virus carriers), how to release data with or without the signing of standard contracts, and how to apply big data to intelligent retailing for more accurate product layouts (e.g., in department stores).   

Johannes Chiang, Associate Professor in the Information Systems Management Department at National Chengchi University, said that people tend to think of different types of big data and non-numeric data, especially words and images, as having great value in daily life. As an example of an application of mass data in Taiwan Chiang, pointed out that local physicists and institutes in the field of computational physics had contributed to the discovery of the Higgs boson.  

Sharon Lee, Associate Professor in the Department of Information & Communications at the Chinese Culture University, said that information communications is about people and that the core of information communications is providing people with information whenever they need it in the way they want it (with whatever media).