Stanley T John

A data-driven service that I regularly use is Blackboard. This is a perfect example since I use it everyday. If the data was stored in a spreadsheet, the rows would be all the classes I take. The columns would consist of the professor’s name, the semester the class was taken, exam grades, time of class, etc.

Out of the eight core principles, the most important one in my opinion is the “simplify” principle. Data can be useful for viewers if they have a better understanding of it. If data is complex and hard for one to grasp then the data is useless and doesn’t really serve its purpose. Simplicity is key in order for data to be easily understood.

The biggest takeaway from Maurice Whetstone’s talk is the concept of “trust but verify”. He wants us to understand that all data may seem credible at first glance but not to just assume it to be right but instead verify it just to make sure that what you are looking at is accurate. There have been many instances where people didn’t want to take…[Read more]

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cavs-fire-coach-david-blatt/
This article I found on FiveThirtyEight briefly discusses the firing of Cleveland Cavalier’s head coach David Blatt. Even though Blatt led the team to the NBA Finals last season and has a 30-11 record currently this year, his firing portrays how coaching in the NBA is not an easy…[Read more]

An example of a conventional wisdom is the belief that movies are only successful if it stars a famous actor/actress. Although this may be true as the audience will be more inclined to watch a movie in which their favorite actors/actresses are in, but there has been many movies with no real star and it has become a big hit. This can be tested by…[Read more]