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Summary

Ever counted biscuits, checked your steps, or argued with Netflix about your “top picks”? Congrats — you’re already using data. In this first episode of Data with Duke, we break down what data actually is, why you’re surrounded by it, and why it’s not just for techies with three monitors.

Transcript

Okay, let’s start simple.

If you’ve ever counted how many biscuits you’ve eaten in one sitting, congratulations! you’ve done data analysis. Imagine that that time when you drive in the car as a kid and you counted how many red cars you can see, and you want to see if you could beat your sibling. That’s also data analysis. If you’ve sat there and you’ve counted how many steps it takes you to get from one side of the room to the other side of the room, that’s still also data analysis, you know, maybe you’ll take those extra big, huge strides just so you could show that you’re better than somebody else. That’s still data analysis. It might be poor quality data, but it’s data analysis.

Listen, we throw the word data around like it’s something that lives inside a corporate spreadsheet or inside a Silicon Valley server farm, but the truth is, you’re already knee deep in it. You use data every single day, usually without noticing.

Welcome to this first episode of data with Duke, and we’re asking the big question, What even is data spoiler? It’s not that scary, and it’s not just for people with three monitors in the caffeine problem, a little bit like me.

So as I’ve just mentioned, let me tell you about myself. So you can call me Duke. And I am starting this podcast for one pretty simple reason, is that everyone talks about data. People talk about ‘The Science’. People talk about ‘Statistics’. What I’ve come to learn is that actually not many people have got that greater understanding about data. So a little bit about my background is that I actually fell into data analysis as a career. It was something that I started doing quite a few years ago, I found that I had myself a little bit of a passion for and then I went on to actually start teaching people about data analysis. And as my personal development and my own skills got bigger, I thought, actually, do you know what this this is?

There’s a, there’s a pattern that I am seeing with people who actually don’t know how to use data. What data is. you guys are all subjects of data for a countless number of corporations. What if you could actually take some of that power back? What if you could actually start controlling your own data that affects you on a day to day basis? And that’s really what this podcast series is going to be about.

We’re going to start really, really simple. We’re going to start really, really slowly, for those who may be quite new to data, but we’re going to be building it up over time. I’ve got plans for a couple of dozen episodes where we’ll be starting from the very, very early questions like, what is data? And we’re going to be building it up to, but maybe a little bit of coding, a little bit of spreadsheet work, a little bit of maybe artificial intelligence, bits and pieces, and a lot of that is actually going to depend, really on you guys, and what you guys get out of it.

But anyway, back to the point, what is data? So think, think, think about your normal week. Think about you’re going shopping, but you make a shopping list. that’s data. You check your bank account before you actually go shopping. That’s also data. Then, as you’re walking around the shop; the supermarket, you might be told by your fitness watch that you’ve only actually done 3000 steps today, and you might try walking further than the fridge. But so yeah, do you know what, that’s data again. you know, even maybe family chores rota. It’s basically a database, often poorly designed, usually, but it’s still a system for recording about who’s meant to take the bins out.

Then there’s the invisible stuff, like your supermarket loyalty card that’s recording every Jaffa cake you buy. Google Maps knows everywhere that you have been sometimes better than you do. Netflix has figured out that you’re re-watching the same three series instead of watching, discovering anything new. and all of that is Data In Action, shaping decisions about what to recommend or even sometimes to sell to you.

So when people say all the time, well, I don’t really work with data, or I don’t really know much about data, you need to understand that you are you’re using data all the time. It’s following you around, but almost as if it’s like glitter in a in a kid’s craft project.

So let’s clear something up, something actually quite important that I’ll be coming back to in future episodes quite a few times, is that you might have heard the term before ‘Big Data’. And I want to just really be sort of clear about what Big Data is, or specifically what Big Data isn’t. Not all data is massive and huge. You’re a monthly budget that you might create. You get paid, and you know how many bills you’ve got to pay, and you know how much money you’ve got left over. That’s actually counted as a small data if you’ve ever tried sort of documenting or writing it down on paper or a spreadsheet, it can sometimes seem a little bit complex if you if you’re unsure of the skills and how best to go about it, but. So it’s actually what’s counted as small data. And if you guys are playing video games, you know, you might know your best laptop or Mario Kart, that’s that’s also small data, stuff that you can, like, keep in your head maybe, or maybe even just jot down on a post it note, or a rudimentary financing program or an app on your mobile. But then when you zoom out and you start looking at the bigger picture, that’s when you get into big data.

So imagine Amazon, for example, analyzing millions upon millions of purchases every single day to know exactly when somebody who lives in Stockport is going to run out of printer ink, or hospitals, for example, studying 1000s upon 1000s of patient records to understand what treatments work best or where the next sort of flu outbreak is going to be. If small data is like a diary, big data is like the entire library of everybody’s diaries that have ever lived, ever. Both matter, but both are also used very, very differently. So when you hear things like big data in the news, remember that the small stuff that you use every day is actually just the same thing, but it’s scaled up. It’s not mystical, it’s not magical, it’s just lots of it.

So that’s really the first outcome they’re going to going to have for today. Now I’m going to be putting a bit of work into this channel over the next couple of weeks before I actually launch the the very next podcast. But, but what the the sort of idea is, is that I’m going to pick a topic, I’m going to talk about, a topic to talk about every couple of weeks, and then I’m going to send you guys away with just like, a little bit of homework or a little homework or a little bit of stuff to look into.

And folks, find me on YouTube, find me on the website, ask me the questions, what you know more about, and we’ll basically take it from there. As I said, I’ve got a plan of what I’m going to be covering on the podcast over the next, probably the next 12 months or so really, but, but nothing set in stone. Happy to take some input from you as well.

So I mentioned homework, something for you to think about, something for you to look at. So think, think about this. Just pick one thing, just a single thing there is in your daily routine where you are already using data, but maybe you’ve got, like, a Fitbit watch or a step tracker on your mobile and your your sort of tracking your steps, or maybe how much you spend on on fuel, petrol, diesel, for your for your weekly fill up or whatever, or how many coffees do you need to survive in a particular day, and when do you actually have them write it down that becomes your first data set, then I want to hear from you share your everyday data sets with me. The funnier or the more creative, the better.

Maybe I’ll pick some out to read in the next episode. If I get some great ones, bonus points if your data set proves that you only binge four Netflix episodes at once instead of the full season in one sitting. Come on, guys, that’s amateur numbers. But listen, if nothing else, it’ll also make me feel better about my own stats as well.

So anyway, next time on the next podcast, in about two weeks time, we’re going to be looking at how data sneaks into every single corner of your life. I’m going to be talking about things like Spotify playlists, so the maybe the receipts that are crumbled up in your wallet or purse. But for now, listen, you’ve just survived episode one. That’s that’s as big as it’s going to be, just for you to think about, what is Big Data? What is data? What is big data? What is small data?

Have a think about the data that you were using on day to day, and we’ll come back to you in a couple of weeks time. Folks, good to speak to you. This has been Duke. Signing off.