Counting is one of the basic things we do when we make decisions. Do I need to buy one or two apples? How many pairs of pants do I want? The ability to make a judgement is backed by both what we know and don’t know. Expand this to grander decisions like how to build cities, improve traffic flows, where to send medicine, etc., then information and data, like linking it to location, clusters, and population density, to support decisions starts to get interesting.
Data can be anything – from the miles you log on your bike to work or the number of times you buy milk a week – and if diligent enough it can be captured by hand, like writing down your routines in a calendar, or using a device, like a GPS or a phone App. And once this data is structured and standardized around some common variables (i.e. location, occurrence, frequency, user), it becomes an important piece of information in how we can make better (or worse) decisions.
For example, Trulia, a website to help visitors find housing in the US, has not only put together where and how much you can find a house or apartment in a particular city in the US, but you can also compare the place with crime rates, school locations, things to do, and even the risk of earthquakes or floods. It’s not meant to scare but to give visitors the information they need to make a decision as to where they want to live.
This concept of using data to support decisions isn’t new. We’ve collected data in various forms, such as market research, surveys, focus groups, etc., for years. The only difference is that with technology and tools for analysis, we can not only get a better representation of a situation, but also capture a lot more data since we’re producing much more using our computer and mobile phones. It’s no surprise that the job of a Data Officer, or in advertising heavyweight Ogilvy’s case a Chief Data Officer, is becoming a valuable asset in business and any work that wants to use data to make better decisions.
In the end, it isn’t just about crunching numbers, but about how we interpret it to help us make decisions. More information and data isn’t the only answer. It’s understanding the data… or as Twitter blogged about recently:
Something else to remember: Who are you talking to? How engaged are they? Do they follow or retweet you? Without context and interpretation, numbers are just numbers.