This was presented during Innovation Days at NORC on 2014.02.25
Regardless of whether you call it "business intelligence", "big data", "analytics" or just plain old "math", we have many tried and true techniques for dealing with uncertainty. But ambiguity is a separate matter and, at least in my experience, is the hardest part of creating value from data. During this talk, I will illustrate how the design process can be used to solve ambiguous problems by drawing on projects we've done at Datascope.
4. origins of ambiguity
unclear problems
identify the best locations to plant new trees
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
5. origins of ambiguity
unclear problems
identify the best locations to plant new trees
aesthetically pleasing?
maximize growth?
increase foliage?
offset CO2 emissions?
how many?
what kinds of trees?
move old trees?
replace old trees?
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
6. “design process” is used everywhere
anticipate failure
generate
hypotheses
evaluate
feedback
1-4 week
iterations
build
prototype
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
8. design and data science
challenges in practice
problem lost in translation
generate
hypotheses
takes a long time to
collect data, analyze, and
build visualization
evaluate
feedback
1-4 week
iterations
build
prototype
proof is in the pudding
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
10. a project always starts with…
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
11. a project always starts with…
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
12. a project always starts with…
Kathie was promoted
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
13. informal conversation to stated goals
mostly bad ideas, but a few good ones
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
14. informal conversation to stated goals
mostly bad ideas, but a few good ones
Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
!
Author:
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up documents. It has a
long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in digital millennium for typesetting
electronic documents, page designs, etc.
!
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an ancient Latin
book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem Ipsum’s words have been
changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
!
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some text rather
than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they contain proper English
words and sentences almost every reader will deliberately try to interpret it eventually,
missing the design itself.
!
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and punctuation
or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s what Lorem Ipsum helps
to achieve.
!
Peppermint Patty for her support on studying
Lorem Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of Linus van Pelt and his
I would like to thank
willingness to use his blanket in my experiments.
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
15. informal conversation to stated goals
mostly bad ideas, but a few good ones
Lorem Ipsum: a narrative about blankets.
Charlie Brown
Date: 31 Jan 2012
!
Author:
Lorem Ipsum is a dummy text used when typesetting or marking up documents. It has a
long history starting from the 1500s and is still used in digital millennium for typesetting
electronic documents, page designs, etc.
!
In itself, the original text of Lorem Ipsum might have been taken from an ancient Latin
book that was written about 50 BC. Nevertheless, Lorem Ipsum’s words have been
changed so they don’t read as a proper text.
!
Naturally, page designs that are made for text documents must contain some text rather
than placeholder dots or something else. However, should they contain proper English
words and sentences almost every reader will deliberately try to interpret it eventually,
missing the design itself.
!
However, a placeholder text must have a natural distribution of letters and punctuation
or otherwise the markup will look strange and unnatural. That’s what Lorem Ipsum helps
to achieve.
!
Peppermint Patty for her support on studying
Lorem Ipsum as well as the infinite wisdom of Linus van Pelt and his
I would like to thank
willingness to use his blanket in my experiments.
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
16. informal conversation to stated goals
mostly bad ideas, but a few good ones
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
33. tips for designing with data
problem lost in translation
generate
hypotheses
takes a long time to
collect data, analyze, and
build visualization
evaluate
feedback
1-4 week
iterations
build
prototype
proof is in the pudding
@deanmalmgren | bit.ly/design-data
34. solve ambiguous problems
with an iterative approach
http://bit.ly/design-data
!
@deanmalmgren
dean.malmgren@datascopeanalytics.com