I'm sending this to Wikimedia-l, Wikitech-l, and Research-l in case other
people in the Wikimedia movement or staff are interested in "big data" as it
relates to Wikimedia. I hope that those who are interested in discussions about
WMF editor engagement efforts, WMF fundraising, or WMF HR practices will also
find that this email interests them. Feel free to skip straight to the links in
the latter portion of this email if you're already familiar with "big data" and
its analysis and if you just want to see what other people are writing about
the subject.
* Introductory comments / my personal opinion
"Big data" refers to large quantities of information that are so large that
they are difficult to analyze and may not be related internally in an obvious
way. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
I think that most of us would agree that moving much of an organization's
information into "the Cloud", and/or directing people to analyze massive
quantities of information, will not automatically result in better, or even
good, decisions based on that information. Also, I think that most of us would
agree that bigger and/or more accessible quantities of data does not
necessarily imply that the data are more accurate or more relevant for a
particular purpose. Another concern is the possibility of unwelcome intrusions
into sensitive information, including the possibility of data breaches; imagine
the possible consequences if a hacker broke into supposedly secure databases
held by Facebook or the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We have an enormous quantity of data on Wikimedia projects, and many ways that
we can examine those data. As this Dilbert strip points out, context is
important, and looking at statistics devoid of their larger contexts can be
problematic. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1993-02-07/
Since data analysis is also something that Wikipedia does in the areas I
mentioned previously, I'm passing along a few links for those who may be
interested about the benefits and limitations of big data.
* Links:
>From the Harvard Business Review
http://hbr.org/2012/04/good-data-wont-guarantee-good-decisions/ar/1
>From the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/technology/big-data-is-great-but-dont-forget-intuition.html
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html
>From the Wall Street Journal. This may be especially interesting to those who
>are participating in the discussions on Wikimedia-l regarding how Wikimedia
>selects, pays, and manages its staff.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1872396390443890304578006252019616768.html
And from English Wikipedia (:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_mining
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence
Cheers,
Pine
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