Is Data Science a buzzword? Modern Data Scientist defined

From Marketing DISTILLERY 

“I think data-scientist is a sexed up term for a statistician…. Statistics is a branch of science. Data scientist is slightly redundant in some way and people shouldn’t berate the term statistician.”

Nate Silver (applied statistician) 

According to Gartner, Data Science is reaching its peak of inflated expectations and is considered to be only 2-5 years away from reaching plateau. It is quite new entry on the Gartner Hype Cycle, introduced in August 2014.

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If you're great with numbers, here's a career waiting for you

From Business Today
To become a data scientist, the aspirants need to have expertise in data science and analytics-related tools such as R, SAS, Python, SPSS, etc, along with a sound understanding of statistics. One should also have knowledge of machine learning and predictive modelling. Most of the sources in today's web-dominated era generate unstructured data, which may contain many imperfections such as inconsistent string formatting, missing values and wrongly spelt words.

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Sverige - Rekordmånga ångrar sin asylansökan

Från DN

Sedan den historiska omsvängningen av asylpolitiken kommer nu få flyktingar till Sverige.

Rekordmånga har också dragit tillbaka sin asylansökan, visar DN:s genomgång. Bland irakier tar fler tillbaka sin ansökan än lämnar in en ny.

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Invandring och brottslighet – en kommentar till Jerzy Sarnecki

Från Politologerna
Kriminologen Jerzy Sarnecki publicerade idag (27 aug.) en intressant artikel på DN Debatt, som fått rubriken ”Ökad invandring leder inte till ökat antal brott”. Sarneckis argument är att invandrare visserligen är överrepresenterade i brottsstatistiken, men det beror inte specifikt på att de är invandrare, utan kan förklaras av faktorer såsom fattigdom eller segregation.

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Humans are the weak link in Big Data - STATISTICAL IGNORANCE

Inherent in using Big Data are the tools we use to make sense of them: statistics.

From ZDNet
Inherent in using Big Data are the tools we use to make sense of them: statistics. Before the 2012 election, people claimed that Mitt Romney was ahead by "deskewing" poll results. There was widespread shock when the deskewed results were wrong.

There's a similar effort going on for this election, where Trump's dismal polls are dismissed by true believers because "look at his crowds!" The statistically illiterate often complain that a sample size of ≈1,000 can't possibly be accurate in a nation of 330 million.

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JMP® Academic Webinar Series

From JMP | Statistical Discovery. From SAS. 
We offer a complimentary webcast series in both the fall and spring semesters that covers both introductory and intermediate statistical topics.

Many (but not all) of these live webcasts are recorded. These recordings are posted on the JMP Academic Community.

Read more about upcoming in this series

Statistics & R For Data Science : Do you know enough?

From Analytics Vidhya

This week we are launching 2 exclusive skill assessment tests: Statistics and R for Data Science. These tests are challenging, take your time in solving them, don't rush to complete, keep your focus on understanding every question. 

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Nordiskt statistikermöte 2016 - Speakers, abstracts and papers

From Nordiskt statistikermöte
In addition to the 7 keynote speekers (see below) there are 18 presentations within each of the 4 themes by colleagues from the Nordic statistical agencies. You find them under each sub theme below.

Themes:

1. The role of statistics in society
2. Interaction with users
3. Data collection
4. Efficient statistical production

Microsoft ratchets up its R enthusiasm

Microsoft R Script Showcase for Power BI

Credit: Screenshot of Microsoft website

From Computerworld

I remain pleasantly surprised at Microsoft's enthusiasm for adding R to its analytics ecosystem (and not [at least yet] fulfilling suspicions its end game is to fork a version of R that is semi-proprietary). Today offered another example, with an R for the Masses with Power BI webinar touting R as an option for data heavy-lifting within its Power BI platform. Granted, as an R user I'm biased, but it makes a lot more sense to lean on a language already in wide use for data work, as opposed to expecting people to learn its own DAX and M. During today's webinar, Microsoft revealed that its own survey showed more than 80% of respondents wanted to use R for advanced data work.

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UN Big Data for Official Statistics

From BigData UN Global Working Group 
The Statistical Commission agreed at its 45th session to create the Global Working Group (GWG) on Big Data for Official Statistics to further investigate the benefits and challenges of Big Data, including the potential for monitoring and reporting on the sustainable development goals. In this context, the GWG and the greater official statistical community recognize the need to adequately address issues pertaining to methodology, quality, technology, data access, legislation, privacy, management and finance, and provide adequate cost-benefit analyses on the use of Big Data.

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The BBC must improve how it reports statistics

From Open Democracy
The BBC Trust published its report this week on how accurately and impartially the BBC reports statistics: “Making Sense of Statistics”. Full Fact, the UK’s independent factchecking organisation, submitted written and oral evidence to the review, drawing upon an evidence base of hundreds of factchecks and experiences of working with the BBC since 2010.

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The U.S. Women Probably Weren’t Going To Win The Gold Anyway

From FiveThirtyEight
The outcome didn’t reflect the run of play: The U.S. outshot Sweden 26 to 3 and completed more than twice as many passes. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo said after the match that the U.S. had played “a bunch of cowards,” a reference to Sweden’s defensive tactics. Swedish coach Pia Sundhage, who used to coach the U.S., responded, “It’s OK to be a coward if you win.”

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Practical Statistics for Data Scientists

From O'Reilly Media 
A key component of data science is statistics and machine learning, but only a small proportion of data scientists are actually trained as statisticians. This concise guide illustrates how to apply statistical concepts essential to data science, with advice on how to avoid their misuse.

Many courses and books teach basic statistics, but rarely from a data science perspective. And while many data science resources incorporate statistical methods, they typically lack a deep statistical perspective. This quick reference book bridges that gap in an accessible, readable format.

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Sanningen bakom den dystra statistiken

Foto: FREDRIK SAMUELSON

Från Expressen
Antalet anmälda sexuella ofredanden har ökat kraftigt på svenska musikfestivaler, visar en granskning av P3 Nyheter.

Brås utredare menar att det beror på den stora uppmärksamheten övergrepp utomhus fått.

– De här brotten har alltid ägt rum på festivalområden, säger Klara Hradilova Selin

P3 Nyheter har tagit fram statistik för antalet anmälningar om sexuella ofredanden på 13 svenska musikfestivaler. Förra året anmäldes totalt tio sexuella ofredanden på de festivalerna som ingick i granskningen, i år har siffran ökat kraftigt till 111 anmälningar.

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LO borde inte syssla med statistikfiffel

Från DN
Hur skapar man opinion på bästa sätt? Genom att hitta på, tycks vara LO:s svar.

På organisationens hemsida kan man läsa att ”nästan var tredje arbetare, 32 procent, varken hade råd att åka på semester eller tillgång till fritidshus eller husvagn det senaste året”. Det är betydligt fler än de tjänstemän som räknas till samma kategori.

Uppgiften fick under förra veckan spridning. På ”P1-morgons” hemsida går att läsa att ”Pengarna räcker inte till semester” intill ett reportage där LO-utredaren intervjuas. Aftonbladets ledarredaktions Maria Ehlin Kolk drar utifrån uppgifterna slutsatser om klassklyftor och hur många som ”varken har råd med semesterresa eller sommarhus”.

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