Big Data and Me
-
Upload
sara-jayne-terp -
Category
Technology
-
view
308 -
download
0
description
Transcript of Big Data and Me
Big Data and Me: experiences from the front line
Sara-Jayne FarmerChange Assembly
April 22nd 2013
ME
Me
• Data Scientist
• Using data to:– connect communities – improve access to information – so people can make better decisions– on both small and large scales
• It’s all about people:– Local people: know their needs; need more information– Local technologists: have skills; need connections– Large organisations: have resources; need guidance
Some of those People
(smart, talented, dedicated hackers in Haiti, January 2013)
My Personal Three Vs
• Variety– Data all over the place– Csv, json, xml, excel, pdf, text, webpages, rss, scanned pages, images,
videos, audiofiles, maps, proprietary. Etc.
• Velocity– Streams updating too fast for a mapping team (100-200 people) to
handle– Pages updating too frequently to check by hand
• Volume– Can’t open the data in a spreadsheet– Can’t fit the data on my laptop– Maxes out my credit card (thank you Amazon!)
VARIETY
“more people have mobile phones than toilets”– UN, March 2013
But… but… there are always data issues…
• Datasets were difficult to find• No data available after 2010• Hard to track provenance – e.g. what decisions did
the people creating these datasets make? What assumptions?
• Data was rounded up• Countrynames didn’t match between sets• Multiple charactersets (e.g. Å, A, Ԇ)• Messy formatting (merges, ‘explanations’ etc)
e.g. Country Names
DR Congo in Data.UN.Org:
• “Congo, Democratic Republic of the”, “Congo Democratic”, “Democratic Republic of the Congo”, “Congo (Democratic Republic of the)”, “Congo, Dem. Rep.”, “Congo Dem. Rep.”, “Congo, Democratic Republic of”, “Dem. Rep. of Congo”, “Dem. Rep. of the Congo”
DR Congo in common standards:
• “Democratic Republic of the Congo” (UN Stats), “Congo, The Democratic Republic of the” (ISO3166), “Congo, Democratic Republic of the” (FIPS10, Stanag), “180” (UN Stats), “COD” (ISO3166, Stanag), “CG” (FIPS10)
And coding
And interpretation
• Hang on… don’t some people have more than one phone?
• And how do you count the people without toilets?• What if the cities have lots of phones and toilets, and
the rural areas don’t? • Where does my composting toilet fit in this?• How big were these surveys?• What do we do with the zeros?• Etc…
And purpose
And Communication
And Alternative Data Sources
And alternative alternatives…
• Social media proxies• Grassroots maps• Etc.
VELOCITY AND VOLUME
2013 Boston bombings
The Humans+Tools Solution: Crisismapping
Find…
Listen…
Estimate…
Geolocate…
Create maps…
Analyse
Explain
Use
BUT WE NEED MORE DATA SCIENTISTS…
Build and Connect Communities
Train Non-Techies
Create Higher-level Tools
Big Data and Me: experiences from the front line
Sara-Jayne Farmerhttp://www.changeassembly.com/
@bodaceacat
MORE REFERENCES
strataconf.com
datasciencecentral.com
analytictalent.com
Tools
Formal (Free) Training
NYC Meetups (see meetup.com)
Volunteering: datakind.org