Crash Course Four - Data
Is data-driven a bad idea? What is the power of data? Do pirates cause global warming? (one hour course)
About this crash course
This online crash course is number four of ten: data.
The goal of this course is to educate you! To inform you! To inspire you! To entertain you! To dazzle you! To make you think! This is not a crash course for beginners. This is not an advanced course. This is not a basic course with just boring theory. This is a course for you! We do not aim to be complete, we cherry-picked our way through the topics with the aim to interest you, to inform you and to inspire you!
And we designed the course to be fun.
If you think we failed you, no problem, we are open for improvements. Just send us an e-mail at: info@tict.io.
Some time management directions
It will take you approximately one hour to complete this course. This course consists of eleven sections with text, articles, videos and some assignments. Every section lists the estimated time it takes to complete, so you can plan accordingly. If it takes you longer than one hour, maybe that means you are slow, maybe it means we calculated poorly. You figure it out yourself.
There is also a bonus section (number twelve) in which we provide you with all kinds of additional material. These can be books, videos, articles, papers or additional exercises. There is also a PowerPoint if you want to organize an offline experience. The bonus section is updated regularly.
Learning outcomes
The goal of this crash course is to give you a first idea about how to judge or assess the impact of a certain (digital) technology when it comes to using data and to introduce you to some new concepts regarding thinking about technology. After you have completed this course you will:
- understand a little bit about the power of data;
- have a greater understanding of the shortcomings of data;
- be able to understand data and use it to assess the possibilities and limitations of (digital) technology;
- never use the word data-driven lightly again.
Share it
All content in this course is open. The course consists of text, which is free to use, videos (which you should use according to the rules of the platform/video), images, exercices & links to articles, books & papers which all have a source reference. Please share it with all respect with everyone you want.
If you think we (accidentally) violated your rights, please let us know at info@tict.io.
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Section One - The promises of (Big) Data
A definition, some great promises and a mysterie (10 minutes)
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Section Two - All data is subjective
A story about Hurricane Sandy & Beverly Hills 90210 (3 minutes)
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Section Three - Measuring is influencing
A story about Facebook, university rankings and criminalizing poverty (4 minutes)
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Section Four - Apophenia
A story about a rabbit in the clouds, Jesus on Toast and a Flying Spaghetti Monster (7 minutes)
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Section Five - Understanding correlation
A story about avoiding the ambulance (5 minutes)
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Section Six - Cause and effect
A story about Stalin, ice cream & murder (12 minutes)
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Section Seven - Algorithms
A story about code, cats and dogs and cooking (4 minutes)
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Section Eight - Feedback loops
A story about Michael Jordan, Sam Bowie & Frenkie de Jong (2 minutes)
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Section Nine - Data is in the box
A story about looking at the past to solve problems (1 minute)
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Section Ten - The complexity of life
A story about a seal , Ben Bernanke and a horse guru (3 minutes)
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Section Eleven - Predators & data scientists
A story about data fundamentalism and some final tips for working with data (6 minutes)
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Section Twelve - additional materials
Videos, exercises, books, games, papers and so on (updated regularly)