On the first day at The Data School London, the team was asked: What is data? The formal answer is: “According to The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (2021), data are facts or information, especially when examined and used to find out things or to make decisions.” While this is an accurate definition, understanding what data is can be challenging for those not in the field.
Explaining Data to a Data Person:
Data is everything and everywhere. The magnitude of what can be used as data is like the universe—it encompasses everything humans can create in a virtual world or imagine in their brains. It is information from the simplest to the most complex, including known and unknown (to us) “elements” and the details of each action or interaction. It's a formula and the results that explain everything.
However, if someone is unfamiliar with the subject, this explanation might sound like alien language.
Explaining Data to a Layperson:
There are easier ways to explain what data is, and it is a piece of cake.
What is the recipe (data) for making and baking the simplest cake?
Spoiler alert: Each ingredient (quantity or type) and instruction (preparation, oven heat, baking time) is data.
The Ingredients:
- Butter
- Sugar
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Eggs
- Milk
How much of each ingredient is needed?
Instructions:
Preparation:
Should the ingredients be blended, crushed, or simply stirred together?
Baking:
At what temperature should it be baked?
Time in the oven:
How long should the cake be in the oven?
How a Data Person Writes This Recipe:
When the measurements or instructions are changed, the result changes. Have a look at the second row:
A pastry chef might know hundreds of recipes and create hundreds more by adding or manipulating the ingredients and/or the instructions. Every change in any part of the recipe—information or facts—can be examined and used to create new cakes or pastries or to make decisions about what to do and what not to do.
At The Data School UK, students learn how to help the pastry chef make the best cakes in the world.