Why the government needs predictive analytics

Data can appear lifeless and dull on the surface – especially government data – but the thought of it should actually get you excited. Data is a very interesting and powerful thing. First off, data is exactly the stuff we bother to write down – and for good reason. But its potential far transcends functions such as tracking and bookkeeping: Data encodes great quantities of experience, and computers can learn from that experience to make everything work better. For example, take agriculture – and the federal studies that advance it.