Samiya Khan is a Research Fellow at University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. She is an alumna of University of Delhi, India and did her PhD in Computer Science from Jamia Millia Islamia, India. She has contributed several research papers and her publications extend across journal articles and book chapters in high impact publications of international repute. Samiya’s expertise spans across data science, Artificial Intelligence, edge computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) with experience in development of heterogeneous systems. Her current research focuses on using artificial intelligence for IoT applications. She has recently come out with the book Big Data and Analytics, which combines theoretical and practical facets of big data technology.

I chat with her about her book Big Data and Analytics, how the book came to be, book recommendations, and much more.

Hello, Samiya! Tell us a bit about yourself!

I am a computer scientist and my areas of research are centred on and around big data and artificial intelligence. Currently, I am working at University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, as a Research Fellow. Before joining the University of Wolverhampton, I have also briefly served as faculty at Jamia Millia Islamia, from where I did my PhD in Computer Science.

How would you describe your book Big Data and Analytics in one sentence?

Big Data and Analytics is a beginner level book that covers theoretical and practical aspects of Big Data and Hadoop.

Now tell us a little more about the book! What can readers expect?

This book has been designed to help any beginner get started on this technology. So, readers can expect to get access to reading material on theoretical foundations. Additionally, the book also has step-by-step Hadoop tutorials to support development of practical knowledge. The theoretical and practical foundations serve as base for learning most other technologies that are built on top of Hadoop. Thus, I would classify this book as an introductory book on big data and Hadoop for anyone who is just getting started on these technologies.

What was the moment when the idea of the book first came to be? What made you pursue it?

Firstly, big data is my core area of research. And more importantly, like I said, I have briefly served as faculty before joining the University of Wolverhampton and one of the subjects that I taught at Jamia Millia Islamia was Big Data and Analytics. In my experience of teaching this subject, I have realized that although most institutions have big data as a module or subject, the books available for teaching the same are rather insufficient. I have personally experienced this when students ask about a book that they can follow and I could never refer them one single book for big data theory and practical sessions. There are either research-based books or application-focused works. Since courses taught at graduate and postgraduate level only cover introductory concepts of the subject, this book largely focuses on fulfilling that demand. Besides this, I usually get requests from researchers and industry professionals who are looking to broaden their domain and learn new technologies, asking about material on big data and guidance on how and from where to plan their self-learning journey. Data science has really grown in the recent past and there is no dearth of online material on any aspect of it. However, most of this material is implementation and application-based, which makes it difficult for beginners to grasp. It is because of these reasons that I thought of writing this book.

For readers who don’t know much about it, how would you describe ‘Big Data’?

Other than the invention of mobile phones, the two milestones in tech history are the Internet and social media. Both these have cumulatively contributed to the generation, archival and availability of immense amounts of data. For instance, if you have any question, need any information, or are randomly looking for anything that is expected to have a digital identity, the place we all go to is Google. But then, that is true for people of all ages, belonging to any profession and living anywhere on this planet. Can you imagine the amount of data that Google needs to keep and manage to support the queries of millions of people around the world every single day? And those queries have results corresponding to weblinks, images, videos and what not! Plus, the results need to be updated with every new publication. Or if we talk about Facebook or any other social networking platform, cumulatively people around the world post millions of statuses, pictures, videos, and chat/call on the messenger every day. Facebook needs to keep all this data somewhere and manage it so that you can view it on your profile no matter which device you use for login. The vast amounts of data generated by these organizations that is increasing every second and contains not just one type of data, but a highly complex combination of textual, numeric, video, audio and image data, is unsurprisingly difficult to manage. This data and any data that cannot be managed by the existing/traditional infrastructure of an organization is called Big Data.

Since you are an active researcher on Big Data Analytics and Innovative Technologies for Startups, what was it like translating that research information into writing a book? Did you have to do any additional research for this book?

Although big data is my research area, but like I said, I have also taught this subject to postgraduate level students. So, bringing this book together was actually a combination and result of research and academic experience.

How have you been coping with the current pandemic and what will be the new normal for you post it?

The Covid-19 pandemic has spared no one and coming from academia, where presence and effective communication are paramount for student education and learning, the last couple of years have been difficult. While most people believe that online education and work from home may just be the new normal, I don’t see that effective in academia. So, if you ask me, I look forward to taking classes and workshops, and attending research conferences and labs, in person.

Lastly, are you currently reading anything and do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

The one book I read and re-read is Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan and I believe that is one book that anyone in data science must read.

The book ‘Big Data and Analytics’ is available online and at your nearest bookstore.