Data Literacy is more important than ever

Data has been sitting in servers and databases for the last 50 years.

Artificial Intelligence has been around for at least that long too.

But data, on its own, does not inform you, does not help you make better decisions, it needs to be interpreted, modelled…

A simple example:

290 -214

This is the current number of votes from the electoral college that Biden-Harris and Trump-Pence are projected to receive. Since a minimum of 270 votes are the minimum to be declared the winner, Mr Biden finds himself called president-elect.

But there is more to this:

The fact remains that close to 8 million people more voted from Trump-Pence in 2020 (as of now) compared to 2016. The Trump-Pence ticket has grown in votes.

Which number you choose to focus on depends on the story you want to tell. A truer picture should use both sets of numbers.

Analytics is not about the data; interpreting, modelling the data, being aware of the weaknesses of modelling techniques is critical.

Data literacy is more important than ever.