In our recent quest for something new, we came across Dr. Eric Siegel who has produced a rap-video on Analytics! He’s a Ph.D. and surely, one of the most creative professors around! As he caught on our interest, we decided to have a chat with him about his cult video on predictive analytics.
The video revolves around the basic concept of predictive analytics. Listening to the lyrics carefully, one gets to know the basic concepts in pretty simple language. Moreover, the video also highlights that data is the new oil for the era of information. Anything can be predicted with the power of analytics, to the limit of whether the user will “click, buy, lie or die”.
Since analytics is considered a dry or intimidating topic by many, it is unusual to have a pop song or a rap video on it, but, the key question is ‘why’ a pop song about predictive analytics at all? Simple answer: “A song can make any topic fun and accessible.” Moreover, he wanted to be creative and make the best educational predictive analytics geek rap music video ever.
Thus, in addition to being a former Columbia University professor who used to sing to his students, and a renowned speaker, educator, and leader in the field; Dr. Eric is also the founder of the Predictive Analytics World conference series, has authored Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die—Revised and Updated Edition (Wiley, January 2016), and is also an executive editor of The Predictive Analytics Times.
He has made the subject of predictive analytics not only understandable but also interesting for his audience. He told us that he has always enjoyed writing humorous, educational songs about computer science, from his time as a faculty at Columbia University. “I’d march into the classroom with a keyboard a couple times a semester, much to the surprise of my students.”
Talking about this video, we got to know that it was inspired by true events and, in a lot of ways, is a reproduction of his story. He says, “More than a dance video for a song about predictive analytics, it allegorically reconfirms the power of embracing your true inner self.” Interestingly, the video has been shot in about ten different locations across five continents and six countries plus Antarctica. However, green screen was used for the outer space shots and a few other scenes.
What’s more, the video was well received by the audience and the responses have been quite positive. He has received many tweets, comments, Facebook shares, and even “fan mail”! In fact, the video has received about 130,000 views (across both Facebook and YouTube), and many positive comments and “likes”.
Even though he hasn’t planned anything yet, but he may make an appearance in the future again! Well, we will keep our eyes and ears open for more Eric!
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