Numbercrush

The uncomprehending, blinking gaze: this is the default response when I tell people I’m “into” data.

It’s like being into electrical wiring, or urban sewer systems – yes, we’re glad they’re there, and yes, we’re certainly glad they work as expected, but yes, aren’t we also rather glad it’s someone else who has to worry about them and not us?

Well, I can see where these people are coming from. Data, as I’ve said on this blog before, looks like this:

That’s about as boring as it’s possible for something to look I’d say.

So it’s little wonder perhaps that no one knows, cares or thinks about data in this world of exciting stuff to see and do.

But data is the one abstract concept that could feasibly be said to run the world. It’s being gathered in every imaginable context, from your pocket, to the furthest reaches of the solar system, and it’s being used to make decisions on how we deal with subjects ranging from refugees to pirates, to city planning to arms trading.

On Thursday of next week, I’ll be giving a lunchtime lecture here at UCL on the subject of data, why it’s informative, when it’s misleading and why on earth I love it so much. It’ll have examples of data visualisation so beautiful they’ll make you want to quit your job, and examples of the misuse of data so scurrilous they’ll make you wish other people would quit theirs. It doesn’t get more exciting than that…

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