Data Points: Books
2017-06-19
In this installation of Data Points, I include several books that have been instrumental in shaping my career and life in general.
Cargo Cult Science
2017-06-02
In his 1974 Caltech Commencement Address, Richard Feynman speaks on scientific integrity, which equally applies to practitioners of data science.
Data Points: Publications
2017-04-17
I'm starting a new monthly series called Data Points where instead of taking a deep dive into a topic, I touch on several external sources that speak to me, and hopefully some of which will have an impact on you, as well.
A New Job Direction
2017-04-03
This post includes a few details about a new job I've accepted, and what that means for this blog.
TensorFlow Dev Summit 2017, Part 2
2017-03-20
This post is Part 2 of my survey of the 2017 TensorFlow Dev Summit. In this round of videos, there are some impressive applications of TensorFlow.
TensorFlow Dev Summit 2017, Part 1
2017-03-06
After the TensorFlow introduction from my last post, I thought it would be interested to take stock in where the community is currently from their 2017 developer summit.
Intro to Tensor Flow
2017-02-20
This week we dip our toes into Google's open source machine learning library and get our hands dirty with an example program. Wait, so are we washing our feet or dirtying our hands? Oh, never mind.
Medicine Effectiveness Experiement
2017-01-30
Two weeks ago I posted an experiement, and in this post I'm going to analyze the results.
A Quick Experiement
2017-01-16
For the first time on the blog, I'm actively collecting experimental data which I'll analyze in a future post.
The Year Ahead
2017-01-02
I'm excited for 2017 for a number of reasons. At the top of that list are a few new opportunities I'll update you on here.
The Santy Claus Problem
2016-12-19
In this seasonal take on the classic Monty Hall problem, we'll look at yet another paradoxical result of probability in action.
Finals
2016-12-05
As I enter the last week of my first semester of the OMSCS program, I have a little perspective to offer.
Improving a Car Theft Visualization
2016-11-21
I ran across a visualization the other day that I thought could use some improving.
Data Visualization at Netflix, Part 2
2016-11-07
In this post, I continue with the Netflix interviews from a previous post to get a deeper look at how data analysis and visualization comes into play at the company.
The Thinking Eye
2016-10-24
Edward Tufte gave a talk at Art Center College of Design on some of his work that hasn't been published yet. Tufte is an incredible visionary, and this talk doesn't disappoint.
Data in Science
2016-10-03
Data Science and the traditional sciences are similar in so many ways, and communication between the two is vital to both communities.
Lessons from my Online Masters
2016-09-19
Taking grad courses online isn't what I was expecting, but a few weeks in, I think I already have some advice for anyone considering it.
Data Visualization at Netflix
2016-09-05
A look into how data science is used at Netflix, a company that relies heavily on data-driven functionality.
OMSCS: First Semester
2016-08-29
My first semester of grad school has officially started. In this update, I'll talk about my experience so far, and how it might affect this blog.
Crime Fighting Algorithms
2016-08-22
Data and machine learning have the potential to save human lives in a variety of contexts, but in every such instance, ethical concerns are raised as well.
Cases of Deanonymization
2016-08-15
The mantra of big data is 'more is more', but this sentiment must be tempered with a respect for privacy, in my opinion. In this post, I'll look at some cases where identities were exposed not by malice but by lack of rigor.
Entropy and the Central Limit Theorem
2016-08-08
The Central Limit Theorem is extremely fundamental to statistics, but it's so fundamental that it pops up in other places, like physics, too.
Practicing Algorithms
2016-08-01
Algorithmic problem solving skills are crucial to data science, and as such, is a skill that deserves constant sharpening.
Simpson's Paradox
2016-06-27
People say 'You can make statistics say anything', but that's only true if you don't know how to spot the warning signs of bad statistics.
Local Data Projects
2016-06-20
Lately, I've been attending local meetups for civically minded data science projects. The one I attended last week had amazing projects and presenters.
Notes from 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'
2016-06-13
I've been studying the incomparable works on visualization by Edward Tufte, and I'm sharing my notes here along with some general self-study tips.
Data in Civic Tech
2016-06-06
The best way to enter into the world of Data Science is to practice Data Science. A great way to get involved (and to make a real difference in the world) is to join the civic tech community in your area.
The Intelligence Age
2016-05-30
Human progress can often be grouped into phases, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age to the Information Age and beyond. We may be on the brink of another technological revolution powered by AI.
Data Ethics and Privacy
2016-05-23
This post is a continuation on the concepts of previous data privacy posts, focusing on the perspective of Eleanor Saitta, Etsy's new Security Architect.
Experimenting with Bayes
2016-05-16
The kind of statistics that have been covered in previous posts has mostly been Frequentist statistics. This post goes into the basics of Bayesian statistics with a look at experimental design.
Bias in Supervised Machine Learning
2016-05-09
Algorithmic bias can pop up in unexpected places if you don't safeguard against it.
Numeric Calculation Workflow
2016-05-02
A Data Scientist is often concerned with optimization problems, so when I find a great workflow for getting a task done efficiently, I immediately want to incorporate it into my process.
Online Masters in Computer Science
2016-04-25
As I wrap up my Udacity Data Analyst Nano Degree, I look forward to my next steps as a Data Journeyman.
U.S. Legislative Process Visualization
2016-04-18
A visualization project I did for my Udacity nano degree program.
Jen Christiansen's Four Visualization Lenses
2016-04-11
The senior graphics editor at Scientific American magazine, Jen Christiansen, has four rules of thumb for when a data visualization is appropriate.
Newsletters
2016-04-04
I like to stay up to date on data science news, and a great way to do so is through newsletters. I have a couple of tips for managing them.
HemoVis: A Visualization Case Study
2016-03-28
My visualization posts so far have covered a lot on the theory side of things. Armed with that background of theory, we can appreciate a very inspiring case where data visualization actually saved lives.
Preattentive Processing
2016-03-21
Tying together concepts from the past three posts, the principals of preattentive processing give your visualization that extra punch that can make communication with your audience more effective.
Color
2016-03-14
Color is one of the most misused visual encodings, so I'm dedicating an entire post on its dos and don'ts.
Visual Encodings
2016-03-07
Visual encodings are the building blocks of data visualizations, so before we go any further with visualization posts, we need to go over them.
Data Visualization
2016-02-29
This introductory post to data visualization will be the first of a several-week series on the subject.
Transparency Versus Privacy
2016-02-21
As proponents of the data revolution will often say, more data is always better. But is this actually the case?
Uncertainty in Data Science
2016-02-15
What is the role of uncertainty in data science? It definitely needs to be part of the equation. Um...probably.
Being Scientifically Minded
2016-02-08
I take an introspective look at what the scientist part of data scientist really means in terms of one's personal worldview.
Correlation Nation
2015-11-23
'Correlation does not imply causation' is data science mantra, but in this post I take a look at another problem with reports of correlations.
Pivot
2015-11-16
After many weeks of not posting and much consideration, I'm taking this blog in a new direction.
Looking Ahead
2015-07-06
I'm making a personal shift in my data science studies, and we're making a curriculum shift as we move on to explore Bayesian statistics.
Set Theory and Infinity
2015-06-15
Taking a quick break our statistics curriculum, let's dive into the world of theoretical set theory. Don't worry, our previously scheduled programming will continue next week when we start tackling Bayesian Statistics.
The Illusion of Causality Analysis
2015-06-01
We previously looked at a paper that showed a concept called the illusion of causality. Now that we have the tools to check the results of that paper, we're going to do just that.
ANOVA
2015-05-25
This week we wrap up our Inferential Statistics course with a look at Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), a very common technique to test the relationship of outcomes among multiple groups.
Chi-Squared Tests
2015-05-18
We've done some hypothesis tests for normal distributions (and t distributions when appropriate). Now we'll look how we can use the chi-squared distribution to perform hypothesis tests on other distributions.
Comparing Populations
2015-05-11
We've looked at confidence intervals and hypothesis tests by comparing a sample to an entire population (with well defined parameters), but what changes if you replace that population with another sample?
The Button: An Alternate Timeline
2015-04-26
A simple April Fool's Day stunt turned into a fascinating social experiment, but was derailed weeks into it by technical issues. I'll offer an analysis that will hopefully bring closure to those who were invested in the experiment.
Hypothesis Testing
2015-04-13
We will look at hypothesis testing by way of an example problem.
Confidence Intervals
2015-04-06
A look at the concept of confidence intervals (as opposed to point estimators) by way of several examples, including one that introduces a new distribution, the t distribution.
Basic Discrete Distributions
2015-03-30
A quick look at some common discrete distributions.
The Illusion of Causality
2015-03-24
Incorrectly recognizing a relationship as causal is so hard-wired into the human psyche, experts have given it a name: causal illusion.
Inferential Statistics
2015-03-16
Moving on from Think Stats, we'll apply many of its probability concepts by looking into the Inferrential Statistics curriculum on Khan Academy.
Correlation
2015-03-09
This week we wrap up our studies on the Think Stats book with the subject of its final chapter, correlation.
The German Tank Problem
2015-03-02
With the concept of estimators in hand, we'll take on an actual wartime usage of the concept.
Estimation
2015-02-23
The idea of estimating a distribution's parameters is often glossed over, but it's important to know the difference between an estimated parameter and a true parameter.
Wikipedia With Academic Styling
2015-02-16
Wikipedia is an unrivaled source of information, but who says you can't have brains and looks?
Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy
2015-02-09
Not all misrepresentations of data are of malicious intent. Sometimes a misrepresentation arises from a lack of due diligence.
The Distribution Within
2015-02-02
If you've been reading along and are convinced of the value of modeling your data with a well-defined distribution, then understanding how to know which distribution is a good fit for you data is the important next step.
Basic Continuous Distributions
2015-01-26
Examining well-known probability distributions will give us a lot to chew on in our path to understanding data. We'll start of with 4 common continuous distributions.
Why Data Science Will Power the Future?
2014-11-13
Udacity's Co-Founder and CEO, Sabastian Thrun, and VP Engineering and Data Science, Nitin Sharma, answer some aspects to this question.
Probability and Statistics Terms
2014-11-06
Starting out with Think Stats will require us to cover the preliminary definitions that the book covers.
Think Stats and the Data Journeyman Curriculum
2014-10-29
I'm starting a Curriculum tag to track a linear and (hopefully) fairly complete progression of data science skills and knowledge, starting with a statistics refresher book.
Misrepresented Healthcare Poll Data
2014-10-11
When I found myself in the weeds of the comment section of a politically charged opinion piece, I couldn't stand by and let some misleading data representations slide.
Chocolate Consumption and Cognitive Function
2014-10-03
Dr. Messerli takes some liberties in his paper comparing chocolate consumption to cognitive abilities and reaches a dubious conclusion.
Finding Data Sets
2014-09-28
Finding good (and preferably free) data sets online can be challenging, but hopefully this list will help you get jump started on your next data project.
A Failed Experiment
2014-09-23
Trying to build a case for the claim "Ice Cream Sales and Violent Crime Rates are positively correlated" proves to be harder than I expected.
Ice Cream Crimes
2014-09-16
I'm kicking off a new series of posts to point out incorrectly applied data analysis techniques.
Thinking With Data
2014-09-12
In this post I'll take a look at Max Shron's book Thinking With Data: How to Turn Information into Insights.
Birthday Paradox
2014-09-06
In honor of my birthday weekend, here's a look at one of the first unintuitive statistics results I ever encountered, which just so happens to deal with birthdays.
Data Tools
2014-08-31
An overview of the tools that are used throughout this blog.
Data Journeyman
2014-08-28
In this prefatory post, I will answer several starting questions.
Who am I? What will this blog cover? What is a Data Journeyman, anyway?