07 May 2018

The Book I Didn't Get Around to Writing

On more than one occasion, I've bemoaned the silliness of Big Data. So have some others, every now and again. This morning's email brought a spiel from Amazon, with some books I might like. There is one: "Big Data, Big Dope".
While others have written about the dangers of Big Data, Stephen Few reveals the deceit that belies its illusory nature. If "data is the new oil," Big Data is the new snake oil. It isn't real. It's a marketing campaign that has distracted us for years from the real and important work of deriving value from data.

Exactly. OTOH, I worry that BLS/Census survey efforts have been corrupted by Orange Julius Caesar's minions in the agencies. Remember, it was the political appointees who made the case for WMD, not the grunts doing the work. When something is too good to be true, it likely is. One doesn't need all the population to make appropriate data-driven decisions. But it is easier to put a thumb on the scales when sampling is involved. It was bad stratification that led Crooked Hillary to believe she had it in the bag.

No comments: