Hi Pine,
It might be because of the alcohol I've ingested these last days, but
- what are you proposing exactly?
Hapy new year,
strainu
2012/12/30, ENWP Pine <deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com>om>:
I'm sending this to Wikimedia-l, Wikitech-l, and Research-l in case other
people in the Wikimedia movement or staff are interested in "big data" as it
relates to Wikimedia. I hope that those who are interested in discussions
about WMF editor engagement efforts, WMF fundraising, or WMF HR practices
will also find that this email interests them. Feel free to skip straight to
the links in the latter portion of this email if you're already familiar
with "big data" and its analysis and if you just want to see what other
people are writing about the subject.
* Introductory comments / my personal opinion
"Big data" refers to large quantities of information that are so large that
they are difficult to analyze and may not be related internally in an
obvious way. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
I think that most of us would agree that moving much of an organization's
information into "the Cloud", and/or directing people to analyze massive
quantities of information, will not automatically result in better, or even
good, decisions based on that information. Also, I think that most of us
would agree that bigger and/or more accessible quantities of data does not
necessarily imply that the data are more accurate or more relevant for a
particular purpose. Another concern is the possibility of unwelcome
intrusions into sensitive information, including the possibility of data
breaches; imagine the possible consequences if a hacker broke into
supposedly secure databases held by Facebook or the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
We have an enormous quantity of data on Wikimedia projects, and many ways
that we can examine those data. As this Dilbert strip points out, context
is important, and looking at statistics devoid of their larger contexts can
be problematic.
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1993-02-07/
Since data analysis is also something that Wikipedia does in the areas I
mentioned previously, I'm passing along a few links for those who may be
interested about the benefits and limitations of big data.
* Links:
From the Harvard Business Review
http://hbr.org/2012/04/good-data-wont-guarantee-good-decisions/ar/1
From the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/technology/big-data-is-great-but-dont-fo…
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-wo…
From the Wall Street Journal. This may be especially interesting to those
who are participating in the discussions on Wikimedia-l regarding how
Wikimedia selects, pays, and manages its staff.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443890304578006252019616768.h…
And from English Wikipedia (:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence
Cheers,
Pine
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