Are you always your best self when you’re online or otherwise using your computer / tablet / phone? No, I'm not either. Given how much of life is moderated by a screen, and how imperfect a window to the world that screen can be, is it any wonder? This imperfect window hides from us important … Continue reading A prayer before going online
Influences on me as a programmer
In this article I will talk about two things that have influenced how I approach my craft, which is programming. They appear to be contradictory, but I think I can live with both at once. This is an area where everyone has to work things out for themselves. I’m not trying to preach; just talk … Continue reading Influences on me as a programmer
Regression to the mean
In this article I’ll try to explain the statistics term regression to the mean. I’ll describe what it is, why it happens, and what consequences there are for important things like developing medicine, training and education. What is regression to the mean? Imagine there is a group of students taking a test, where the range … Continue reading Regression to the mean
Measurements that matter?
I talk about data a bit here, but this is a bit different from what I normally write. I was opening the packet inside a box of cereal and wondered how many times I'd done that over my life. These thoughts started rattling around my head, so I've put them down here partly to get … Continue reading Measurements that matter?
Visualising wealth inequality using Lorenz curves
In this article I will do some analysis and visualisation of data on wealth inequality. The data is, slightly randomly, a combination of historical data from three towns in Suffolk from 1522, and the most recent data about Great Britain. I’ll go through the data a little, the analysis, the visualisations, and why I think … Continue reading Visualising wealth inequality using Lorenz curves
The Struggle with Learning to Code
This post is, belatedly, inspired by the Ministry of Testing blog idea: The Struggle with Learning to Code. I have a Computer Science degree, and have been programming for a while. (I started doing it as a hobby, and then studied it, and then got paid to do it.) I struggle with learning to code, … Continue reading The Struggle with Learning to Code
Looking for copyright music in live streams
My friend Ted has recently started exercising in earnest, to get fighting fit for when he can go back into schools, museums etc. to blow children's minds about creative writing. While he exercises, he plays music from CDs to motivate him and he live streams it to Facebook for accountability. Sometimes the live stream is … Continue reading Looking for copyright music in live streams
The compounding value of information
Information is one of those things where sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That is, you get extra value from combining bits of information, on top of the value from the separate bits of information on their own. I’ll illustrate this with an example to do with spies, but then … Continue reading The compounding value of information
Sankey diagrams to explain Coronavirus and Covid19
There’s a kind of diagram, called a Sankey diagram, that can be used to show relationships between things. I will briefly introduce it, and then use one to illustrate Coronavirus and Covid19 in the UK. It will simplify things, but I hope will still help you get a better understanding of how the various numbers … Continue reading Sankey diagrams to explain Coronavirus and Covid19
User experience (UX) and data quality
Someone I know was moaning recently about a lot of tedious electronic form filling they had to do for work. It was something that happened once a year, but it was much more lengthy and tedious this year than before. It struck me that this was a sharply focused example of when user experience (UX) … Continue reading User experience (UX) and data quality
