What do we do with all this big data-

1. WHAT DO WE
DO WITH THE
BIG DATA – BY
SUSAN
ETLINGER

2. Every day,
a
worldwide,
2.5 trillion
bytes of
data are
generated
2

3. “
3

4. But You Know What
4
Data do not create
meanings, neither do
technology, but we do.
Data do not create
meanings, neither do
technology. We do.

5. 5
And that’s
where things
get tricky.

6. 6
EXAMPLE
ICE-CREAM CAUSES
DROWNING
A Regression Analysis shows that
there is a strong correlation
between ice-cream consumption
and deaths by drowning.

7. “
▪ STRANGE
▪ HUH?
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8. 8
When deaths by
drowning increase...
So does ice cream
consumption. And
when deaths by
drowning decrease,
so does ice cream
consumption.

9. “
▪ just by looking at the data,
you could plausibly come
to that conclusion. But it
would be the wrong
conclusion.
9

10. 10
More people
eat ice-
cream in the
hot summer
weather, an
d more
people
ALSO go
into the
water to
cool down
They just
occurred at
the same
time of year.
The common factor is
called summer. More
people eat ice-cream in
the hot summer
weather, and more
people ALSO go into the
water to cool down,
They just occurred at
the same time of year.

11. Be caution to causation
That's a simple example, but imagine that
compounded in everything that we know..
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12. INSIGHTS
12

13. “
▪ We do need to be better
critical thinkers so that
people are responsible
consumers of data and
responsible producers of
data
13

14. 14
You can draw the
wrong conclusions
from a three-
question survey just
as easily as you can
from terabytes of
data.

15. We need
to do
instead is
spend a
little bit
more time
on things
like
- because they give us a context that
is so important for big data and
because they help us become
better critical thinkers.
15
Rhetoric EthicPhilosophy

16. if I can spot a problem in
an argument, it doesn't
much matter whether
it's expressed in words
or in numbers.
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17. What we need to do is to think
about the ways in which the
technology can serve us, but also be
mindful and have a set of principles
that govern the way that we will
and we won't use data.
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18. 18
THANK YOU