Online Courses in Unstructured Text Analytics
Most courses are 4 weeks and do not require that you be online at any particular time or any particular day during each weekly session.
Unstructured Text Analytics
The term "big data" is in vogue now. What makes data big? In particular, what makes it grow so fast? There have been several leaps forward over the decades - computerization of record-keeping, moving commerce to the web. The latest one is the production and retention of massive amounts of unstructured text -- tweets, blog posts, etc. Structuring data places several constraints on its volume - less is retained than you started with, and the work of structuring it means that much raw data does not make it past your filters. Storing unstructured data, especially raw text data, not only relaxes those constraints but spawns whole new data retention requirements for any ad-hoc transformation or re-structuring of the data.
Analyzing unstructured text data is said to hold great promise. At one level, the technology appears to bring computers closer to humans in capability. At another, as a magical statistical black box, this area of analysis runs the risk of vastly over-promising what it can do. Tweets and blog posts contain lots of information about opinions, for sure, but the new analytical tools do not repeal the laws of well-designed statistical surveys and scientific sampling.
The Institute for Statistics Education has several courses specifically devoted to text analytics:
New to statistics? Analytical methods for text are just the tip of the iceberg. Useful analysis necessarily reduces unstructured text to structured quantitative data, and the rest of the statistical iceberg comes into play. Deepen your understanding and strengthen your skills with certificate programs from the Institute. Take a look at our Programs in Analytics and Statistical Studies (PASS) - particularly Business Analytics and Data Mining.