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43.10. Data Science in real world#

43.10.1. 1. Data Science + industry#


  • Google Flu Trends used data science to correlate search terms with flu trends. While the approach had flaws, it raised awareness of the possibilities (and challenges) of data-driven healthcare predictions.

  • NYC Taxicab Route Visualization - data gathered using Freedom Of Information Laws helped visualize a day in the life of NYC cabs, helping us understand how they navigate the busy city, the money they make, and the duration of trips over each 24 hours.

  • Uber Data Science Workbench - uses data (on pickup & dropoff locations, trip duration, preferred routes, etc.) gathered from millions of uber trips daily to build a data analytics tool to help with pricing, safety, fraud detection, and navigation decisions.

  • etc.

Data Science applications in the real world[1]

1. DataFlair. 6 amazing data science applications – don’t forget to check the 5th one! URL: https://data-flair.training/blogs/data-science-applications/ (visited on 2022).

43.10.2. 2. Data Science + research#

Let’s look at one example - the MIT Gender Shades Study from Joy Buolamwini (MIT Media Labs) with a signature research paper co-authored with Timnit Gebru (then at Microsoft Research) that focused on,

  • What: The objective of the research project was to evaluate bias present in automated facial analysis algorithms and datasets based on gender and skin type.

  • Why: Facial analysis is used in areas like law enforcement, airport security, hiring systems and more - contexts where inaccurate classifications (e.g., due to bias) can cause potential economic and social harm to affected individuals or groups. Understanding (and eliminating or mitigating) biases is key to fairness in usage.

  • How: Researchers recognized that existing benchmarks used predominantly lighter-skinned subjects, and curated a new data set (1000+ images) that was more balanced by gender and skin type. The data set was used to evaluate the accuracy of three gender classification products (from Microsoft, IBM & Face++).

43.10.3. 3. Data Science + humanities#

“Emily Dickinson and the Meter of Mood” - a great example from Jen Looper that asks how we can use data science to revisit familiar poetry and re-evaluate its meaning and the contributions of its author in new contexts.

  • Data Acquisition - to collect a relevant dataset for analysis. Options include using an API (e.g., Poetry DB API) or scraping web pages (e.g., Project Gutenberg) using tools like Scrapy.

  • Data Cleaning - explains how text can be formatted, sanitized and simplified using basic tools like Visual Studio Code and Microsoft Excel.

  • Data Analysis - explains how we can now import the dataset into “Notebooks” for analysis using Python packages (like pandas, NumPy and matplotlib) to organize and visualize the data.

  • Sentiment Analysis - explains how we can integrate cloud services like Text Analytics, using low-code tools like Power Automate for automated data processing workflows.

43.10.4. 4. Data Science + sustainability#

The 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development - adopted by all United Nations members in 2015 - identifies 17 goals including ones that focus on Protecting the Planet from degradation and the impact of climate change.

The Planetary Computer initiative provides 4 components to help data scientists and developers in this effort:

  • Data Catalog - with petabytes of Earth Systems data (free & Azure-hosted).

  • Planetary API - to help users search for relevant data across space and time.

  • Hub - managed environment for scientists to process massive geospatial datasets.

  • Applications - showcase use cases & tools for sustainability insights.

43.10.5. 5. Data Science + students#

We’ve talked about real-world applications in industry and research, and explored Data Science application examples in digital humanities and sustainability. So how can you build your skills and share your expertise as a Data Science beginner?

43.10.6. 6. Your turn! 🚀#

  1. 17 Data Science Applications and Examples - Jul 2021

  2. 11 Breathtaking Data Science Applications in Real World - May 2021

  3. Data Science In The Real World - Article Collection

  4. Data Science In: Education, Agriculture, Finance, Movies & more.

43.10.7. 7. References#

  1. Data Science in the real world