All of us in communications measurement are data fans, intrigued by the process of quantifying the world and learning what those numbers have to say. Whether you are a full-fledged data scientist or still a Stats 101 student, you’ll find plenty of data news, stories, and inspiration in the newsletters and podcasts listed below. They all celebrate the joys of data, ranging from those that provide mostly general knowledge to those for you hardcore Python programmers:
Newsletters for Data Fans
Harvard Business Review: Mostly general interest, but with sections on data and analytics. Some recent articles:
- What to Do When Someone Angrily Challenges Your Data
- A Refresher on A/B Testing
- How to Integrate Data and Analytics into Every Part of Your Organization
IPR Research Letter from the Institute for Public Relations. The academic end of public relations measurement.
The Full Monty: Mostly general interest, but with a section on Measurement/Analytics/Data. “Virtually everything you need to know from the week’s digital news.”
MIT Technology Review: A wide range of general science interest articles, with emphasis on AI, and emerging technologies. A recent issue included:
- DDoS Attacks Are Getting Smarter and More Widespread
- Facebook Is Finally Automating Its Fake News Fight (a Little)
- YouTube’s Extremism-Spotting AI Is Working Hard, But Must Work Harder
Priceonomics: Specializes in repackaging fascinating data from its clients to investigate topics of interest to a wide audience. You’ll find:
- Is There a Relationship Between Coffee Shops and High Rent?
- How Often Do Customers Pay Different Prices for the Same Thing?
- How Much Are People Making from the Sharing Economy?
AllAnalytics: The SAS-sponsored newsletter that covers data, AI, analytics, and visualization. (Read more about editor James Connolly in “15 Nuggets of Data Wisdom From Jim Connolly and All Analytics.”) Recent articles include:
- Searching for Our Lost Analytics Continuum
- Structure, Integrity, Manipulation: How to Compare Data Models
- Analytics and School Attendance: A Laundry Story
Data Elixir: “…a [free] weekly newsletter for curated data science news and resources from around the web.” News, tools and techniques, jobs. Examples include:
- Hill for the data scientist: an xkcd story
- Your ‘Anonymous’ Browsing Data Isn’t Actually Anonymous
- What’s so hard about histograms?
KDNuggets: by Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro and Matthew Mayo. Some seriously geeky data geeks hang out here.
Podcasts for Data Fans
After the Fact: from The Pew Charitable Trusts. “Experts from Pew and other special guests discuss the numbers and trends shaping some of society’s biggest challenges, then go beyond the facts with nonpartisan analysis and action.” Recent podcasts include:
FiveThirtyEight: The website has lots of great articles, videos, and infographics, too. Recent podcast topics include:
- The Eclipse Was A Big Deal in 1878, Too
- How Food Tastes To Me Is Totally Different From How It Tastes To You
- How The Planet Vulcan Changed Science Forever
Freakonomics Radio: Host Stephen Dubner has “surprising conversations that explore the riddles of everyday life and the weird wrinkles of human nature.” (We wrote about one of these in “The Most Exciting Data Detective Story of All Time.”)
Recent podcasts include:
- Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask)
- The Harvard President Will See You Now (Rebroadcast)
- Calling All Music-Industry Insiders and the Economists Who Love Them
Live from the Poundstone Institute: Paula Poundstone is on a quest “to get less stupid, one topic at a time.” Recent episodes:
- Why Is Fluffy Looking At Me Like That?
- Do I Need A Bath?
- Does Science Think You’re Pretty?
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