John Ladley and Mark Cooper welcome Tony Mazzarella to Rock Bottom! He just completed a Ph.D. focused on Data Governance, reframing it not as a static control layer but as a dynamic system that connects technology, people, and real-world outcomes. He'll explain all that, and much more, in this episode and the next.

We also have a new Archedataology artifact, Data Poetry Slam, and advice from the 8-Bit Consultants. As always, if you have a suggestion for an artifact to explore, a poem to share, or question in 256-characters to answer, write us.

Be sure to visit DATAVERSITY where you can use discount code ROCK15 to get 15% off your first purchase!!

• DATAVERSITY Training Center
• Live Classes
• Applied Data Governance Certification | DATAVERSITY

Chapters:

00:00 – Open & Introduction; 03:25 – Monologue; 05:36 – Tony Mazzarella Part 1; 33:09 – Data Poetry Slam; 34:13 – Dispatches from Rock Bottom; 36:19 – The 8-Bit Consultants; 37:40 – Recap & Close

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Stijn Christiaens, co-founder and Chief Data Citizen at Collibra. He talks more about what data really is, and why it's far more than just transactions. From user interactions and system logs to external data sets and entirely new data created by redesigned products, Stijn unpacks the expanding scope of data in modern organizations.

Today we are excited to introduce a new opening segment, Archedataology: Data before it knew it was data. In this and upcoming episodes, we'll look at records, artifacts, and traces people created long before the modern language of datasets, databases, and analytics even existed. Societies counted, tracked, and remembered things like ledgers, tallies, and inventories, revealing that the practice of "data" long predates the word itself.

We also have another Data Poetry Slam and we play the Audio Data Rorschach Test with Stijn.

Be sure to visit DATAVERSITY where you can use discount code ROCK15 to get 15% off your first purchase!!

• DATAVERSITY Training Center
• Live Classes
• Applied Data Governance Certification | DATAVERSITY

Chapters:

00:00 – Open & Introduction; 03:20 – Monologue; 06:08 – Stijn Christiaens Part 2; 29:57 – Dispatches from Rock Bottom; 32:27 – Data Poetry Slam; 32:49 – Audio Data Rorschach Test; 34:44 – Recap & Close

John Ladley and Mark Cooper are back with the fourth series of The Rock Bottom Data Feed! We're introducing some new segments; some in this episode and more in upcoming episodes (we would tell you more, but we want them to be a surprise).

Something else that we're trying this series is to do more long-form interviews. Instead of hours long episodes, though, we're splitting each conversation into two episodes. This allows us to go deeper into the topics, as well as to chase the squirrels that inevitably cross our paths.

We look forward to hearing what you think. Post a comment or send an email.

We lead off the fourth series with Stijn Christiaens, co-founder and Chief Data Citizen at Collibra. In this episode and the next, he'll be talking with us about what’s exciting, new, and changing in data management and governance. He's got a front-row seat. We also dig into how AI is breaking open unstructured data, pushing governance beyond “data governance” into “AI governance,” and why adoption (not tools) is the real measure of maturity. Best of all, Stijn is seeing executives finally take ownership. They're getting educated, reorganizing around data capabilities, and moving governance toward business-as-usual.

Be sure to visit DATAVERSITY where you can use discount code ROCK15 to get 15% off your first purchase!!

• DATAVERSITY Training Center
• Live Classes
• Applied Data Governance Certification | DATAVERSITY

Chapters:

00:00 – Open & Introduction; 03:52 – Monologue; 06:02 – A New Segment; 06:28 – Stijn Christiaens Part 1; 30:59 – Dispatches from Rock Bottom; 33:06 – Another New Segment; 34:26 – Recap & Close