Week 1 - Day 2

Fall 2022

Dr. Jared Joseph

September 10, 2022

Overview

Timeline

How to use Slack
What is Data?
Towards critical data studies
Tabular Data & Survey results

Goal

To define and understand the concept of data, and show what it can be used to make.

How to use Slack

Slack UI

Chatting

Use the appropriate channel
- general is for course announcements
- Use coding-help to ask coding questions
- Use course-help to ask questions about the class
- Use shoutouts to thank the people that helped you
- Use random for whatever
- Let me know if you have an idea for a channel you think would he helpful
Use threads to respond and keep topics contained
Use emoji/reacts to show interest and recognition

Tone

E-mail

Dear Dr. Joseph,

My athletic team will be traveling next Tuesday, during your schedule office hours. Would you be available some time later in the week to meet with me about the lab due on Friday?

Thank you!

~ Student

Slack

My team will be traveling next Tuesday during office hours. Could we find another time to meet that week?

What is Data?

Defining Data

???

Defining Data

Data

Discrete information that can be used to gain knowledge or make decisions.

From Information to Data

Pine trees — Raw Pine Wood (Information)

A log cut into smaller planks — Processed Planks (Data)

Data as Material

The frame of a house showing the support structure — Application of Processed Wood

WHO Covid dashborad — Application of Processed Data

Towards critical data studies

Main takeaways

In groups of 3 or 4, discuss the reading. Create a comprehensive list between you of the following:

What are the authors’ main points from each of the three main sections?

“A critical approach to data”
“Charting and unpacking data assemblages”
“Uncovering the work of data assemblages”

A critical approach to data

Data volume, variety, and use has grown enormously and is now a valuable resource which is created, extracted, and applied.

Data volume, variety, and use has grown enormously
- huge in volume, consisting of terabytes or petabytes of data;
- high in velocity, being created in or near real-time;
- diverse in variety, being structured and unstructured in nature;
- exhaustive in scope, striving to capture entire populations or systems (n=all);
- fine-grained in resolution and uniquely indexical in identification;
- relational in nature, containing common fields that enable the conjoining of different data sets;
- flexible, holding the traits of extensionality (can add new fields easily) and scaleability (can expand in size rapidly).
It is said data is neutral, it is used. This is not true
Data is generated by people using processes created by people (all fallable)
Data is now an economic resource
data are never simply neutral, objective, independent, raw representations of the world, but are situated, contingent, relational, contextual, and do active work in the world.

Charting and unpacking data assemblages

Ask about the loop. Do students understand it?

Data systems are created by agentic people or organizations and these systems define and alter the world we live in.

A data assemblage consists of more than the data system/infrastructure itself, such as a big data system, an open data repository, or a data archive, to include all of the technological, political, social and economic apparatuses that frames their nature, operation and work.
In other words, data infrastructures are never neutral, essential, objective; their data never raw but always cooked to some recipe by chefs embedded within institutions that have certain aspirations and goals and operate within wider frameworks.
The Looping Effect:
- 1. classification, wherein things that are regarded as having shared characteristics are grouped together, or in cases of deviance forced into groupings;
- 1. objects of focus (e.g., people, spaces, fashions, diseases, etc) that in the case of people eventually start to self-identify with the class into which they are assigned, or for non-human, people come to understand and act toward through the classification;
- 1. institutions, who institutionalise classifications and manage the data infrastructures;
- 1. knowledge, that is used to formulate, reproduce and tweak classifications; and
- 1. experts, those within institutions who produce and exercise knowledge, implementing the classification.
People start to define themselves by the classification made by experts (mental health example)

Uncovering the work of data assemblages

Tabular Data & Class Survey

Information Trees

Data Planks (Spreadsheets)

GEOID	NAME	total_popE	total_popM	pov_popE	pov_popM	med_incomeE	med_incomeM	unemployed_over16E	unemployed_over16M	race_whiteE	race_whiteM	race_blackE	race_blackM	race_natamE	race_natamM	race_asianE	race_asianM	race_hawpiE	race_hawpiM	race_2moreE	race_2moreM	total_hispE	total_hispM	pov_0_.5E	pov_0_.5M	pov_.5_.99E	pov_.5_.99M	labor_totalE	labor_totalM	total_occupiedE	total_occupiedM	owner_occupiedE	owner_occupiedM	foreign_bornE	foreign_bornM	median_age_maleE	median_age_maleM	median_age_femaleE	median_age_femaleM	male_18_19E	male_18_19M	male_20E	male_20M	male_21E	male_21M	male_22_24E	male_22_24M	female_18_19E	female_18_19M	female_20E	female_20M	female_21E	female_21M	female_22_24E	female_22_24M
25001	Barnstable County, Massachusetts	213505	NA	210734	404	76863	1835	4466	544	192844	1286	6098	545	1142	213	3088	293	136	199	6931	1245	6915	NA	6216	868	7960	1009	185805	221	95859	1505	76319	1281	17985	1416	51.2	0.2	55.4	0.1	2317	185	987	260	828	203	4240	376	1724	132	705	199	562	179	3537	332
25007	Dukes County, Massachusetts	17430	NA	17279	33	77318	11503	474	179	14855	330	764	229	297	89	104	106	0	21	1004	330	612	NA	742	291	549	255	14912	91	6887	542	4990	404	2151	399	47.3	1.5	50.0	0.8	288	135	21	39	91	91	251	121	241	139	13	18	117	87	179	105
25013	Hampden County, Massachusetts	466647	NA	452156	773	57623	1342	14240	1102	364776	2237	41265	1073	936	295	11681	475	73	79	26744	2038	119915	NA	30119	2110	40994	2170	378550	550	180492	888	111246	1680	40871	2174	37.5	0.3	41.0	0.2	7183	38	3689	373	3897	440	9420	490	6840	4	4089	534	4274	480	8252	554
25019	Nantucket County, Massachusetts	11212	NA	11090	54	112306	10162	398	155	8614	243	1455	390	110	161	157	59	7	14	555	268	1577	NA	429	181	271	124	9711	225	3709	317	2563	240	1751	419	39.3	3.7	44.6	1.7	34	43	34	57	10	11	197	102	145	82	0	21	5	10	138	66
25003	Berkshire County, Massachusetts	125927	NA	119537	439	62166	2305	3401	376	113238	587	3423	477	316	118	2192	166	54	51	4720	627	6237	NA	5863	858	5764	774	107415	223	54786	750	38359	732	7077	599	45.4	0.3	48.9	0.3	1817	128	1018	204	884	168	2271	249	1903	161	1076	194	836	155	2131	225
25005	Bristol County, Massachusetts	563301	NA	548482	942	71450	1420	16304	1087	466712	2361	23616	1401	468	152	12873	508	183	96	27461	2245	47071	NA	27306	2116	31140	2440	461161	585	220365	1190	138424	1940	71985	2646	39.3	0.2	42.8	0.2	7287	100	3799	476	3470	402	11204	519	7064	99	3308	453	3523	443	11161	565

Square (Tidy) Data

Class Data

fav_char	fav_color	fav_num	b_month	car	pineapple_pizza	mint_choc	nerd	hours_sleep	pets	fav_art	coffee_days	tea_days	soda/pop_days	juice_days	none_days	lt_location	fict	recreation	hotdog	key
Spike Spiegal	Orange	3	December	FALSE	FALSE	4	TRUE	7	None	I really enjoy all the wo...	Sunday	Sunday	Tuesday	Friday	Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	Osaka, Japan	Fiction	Board/Card Games, Crafts,...	TRUE	Spike Spiegal_1
Doreamon	purple	9	August	FALSE	TRUE	1	FALSE	6	None	NA...	NA	NA	NA	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	NA	Fiction	Board/Card Games, Hiking/...	TRUE	Doreamon_2
Sherlock Holmes	Seafoam green (somewhere around RGB 190, 250, 221)	27	September	FALSE	TRUE	5	TRUE	7	Dog, Plants (two)	To preface, this is kind ...	NA	Wednesday	NA	NA	NA	New York City, New York	Non-fiction	Books, Crafts, Drawing, H...	FALSE	Sherlock Holmes_3
Tiana	Purple	6	September	TRUE	FALSE	1	FALSE	6	None	The song "All Night" by B...	NA	Saturday	Monday, Friday	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	Washington D.C.	Non-fiction	Athletics (Team), Music (...	FALSE	Tiana_4
Crush	blue	8	October	TRUE	TRUE	5	TRUE	7	Dog	My favorite work of art w...	Wednesday, Saturday	Sunday, Friday	NA	NA	Monday, Tuesday, Thursday	Quebec, Canada	Fiction	Athletics (Team), Books, ...	FALSE	Crush_5
Thor	Yellow	8	May	FALSE	FALSE	5	FALSE	6	Dog	Rap and R&B music...	NA	NA	NA	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	Atlanta	Fiction	Athletics (Team), Board/C...	FALSE	Thor_6
Rhys (from A Court of Thorns and Roses)	Purple	36	May	FALSE	TRUE	5	TRUE	6	Cat, Rock	As of right now, my favor...	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	Sunday, Wednesday	NA	Tuesday	NA	NA	Fiction	Athletics (Solo), Board/C...	TRUE	Rhys (from A Court of Thorns and Roses)_7
Buffy	Red	9	March	TRUE	TRUE	5	TRUE	7	Dog	My favorite artwork is an...	Tuesday	NA	NA	Wednesday	Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	Barcelona, Spain	Fiction	Athletics (Solo), Board/C...	TRUE	Buffy_8
Sasha Braus	Pink, Brown	7	March	FALSE	TRUE	3	TRUE	8	Spider Plant	Shepard Fairey artworks i...	NA	NA	NA	Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday	Tolleson, AZ	Fiction	Crafts, Drawing, Hiking/W...	FALSE	Sasha Braus_9
Catra	Green	14	November	FALSE	FALSE	5	TRUE	7	Cat	I don't know if this woul...	NA	NA	Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday	NA	Boston, MA	Fiction	Board/Card Games, Books, ...	FALSE	Catra_10
Pikachu	Blue	56	May	FALSE	FALSE	4	TRUE	8	Dog, Reptile	My favorite work of art i...	NA	NA	Tuesday	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	I would like to live in Los Angeles, California	Fiction	Athletics (Team), Crafts,...	FALSE	Pikachu_11
My Melody	Green	7	April	TRUE	TRUE	1	TRUE	6	Dog	my favorite work of art i...	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday	NA	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday	Sunday, Monday, Thursday	NA	Chicago,IL	Fiction	Books, Crafts, Movies, Mu...	TRUE	My Melody_12
Claire Fraser	Purple	11	January	FALSE	TRUE	1	TRUE	7	Cat	NA...	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	NA	NA	NA	Austin, TX	Fiction	Books, Hiking/Walking, Mo...	TRUE	Claire Fraser_13
Shinchan	NA	29	May	FALSE	TRUE	4	FALSE	8	None	NA...	Tuesday, Wednesday	NA	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday	NA	NA	NA	Fiction	Athletics (Solo), Athleti...	FALSE	Shinchan_14

Quick Info

Class Survey Quick Stats
Data	Value
Entries	14
Completed Questions	85.71%
Most Common Birth Month	May
Own Cars	28.5714286%
Average (Mean) Sleep/Night	6.8571429
Hotdog == Sandwich?	YES: 6 / NO: 8

What We can Build with Data - Survey

Rating of Mint x Chocolate by Birth Month

What We can Build with Data - Survey

Coffee Consumption x Hours of Sleep

What We can Build with Data - Nets

Class network graph

Data in the World

Violent Crime in the United States

Data in the World

Violent Crime in the United States

For Next Time

Topic

Install all the things

To-Do

Nothing