KDD-2014 Ice Bucket Challenge

By Gregory Piatetsky, @kdnuggets, Aug 30, 2014.

The Ice Bucket Challenge has raised many millions of dollars for ALS charity, but in the summer of 2014 it also has become a fun and promotional activity.

KDD-2014 held in hot August days in New York has not escaped it, with several KDD-2014 organizers challenged by Ronny Kohavi.

Here was our response.

Before,



during,



and after.



From left to right, @Jure Leskovec (KDD-2014 PC Co-Chair),
Sofus Macskassy (KDD-2014 General Co-Chair),
@Claudia_Perlich (KDD-2014 General Co-Chair),
@RayidGhani (KDD-2014 Industry/Gov. Track Co-Chair, and Obama 2012 Campaign Chief Data Scientist), and
Gregory Piatetsky (KDnuggets Editor and KDD co-founder).

The moment when ice water is dumped on your head is stunning!

Thanks to Tanya Berger Wolf for taking these pictures and video (although I have serious doubts that it will spread virally).

In the video, Claudia challenged the KDD-2015 organizers.

I challenged data scientists to think how they can help their community, their city, and the world.

So donate to ALS or a charity of your choice and may the ice-cold water help you objectively assess the data and avoid overfitting !