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A review by jconte
Dataclysm: Who We Are by Christian Rudder
4.0
I received this book through the First Reads program. Goodreads probably was not aware that they sent this book about big data to someone with a professional background in data analytics and an academic background in the social sciences. As such, I could not wait to write my review.
The information being provided is from Christian Rudder, president and co founder of OKCupid. He analyzes data from his site as well as other social media websites. The premise is that Dataclysm is "An unprecedented deluge of digital information reshaping our view of the world."
In my professional experience I saw enormous strategic decisions based on available data. The actions of our customers online indicated that their interests lay beyond the scope of what we had been providing. Knowing their attitude toward certain content was indeed positive, made it possible for programming strategy to move in a different direction.
This book contains a lot of interesting data: disparities between what people say that want in a relationship and what they actually do. He uses the OKCupid to examine the gaps between what races say about one another, and also how his users feel about sex, filtered by Geolocation.
These types of analyses are just part of the internet landscape now. We have more data than we know what to do with, and as vendors continue to integrate online analytics with real life purchasing data, or actual behavioral data our conclusions will become more robust.
It took a while to get through the book despite the material. The chapters seemed disjointed to me and I was expecting every chapter to support a central narrative. However, I found myself staring at graphs that were interesting but not hugely significant. That’s the problem with big data…narrowing it all to what is really essential.
The information being provided is from Christian Rudder, president and co founder of OKCupid. He analyzes data from his site as well as other social media websites. The premise is that Dataclysm is "An unprecedented deluge of digital information reshaping our view of the world."
In my professional experience I saw enormous strategic decisions based on available data. The actions of our customers online indicated that their interests lay beyond the scope of what we had been providing. Knowing their attitude toward certain content was indeed positive, made it possible for programming strategy to move in a different direction.
This book contains a lot of interesting data: disparities between what people say that want in a relationship and what they actually do. He uses the OKCupid to examine the gaps between what races say about one another, and also how his users feel about sex, filtered by Geolocation.
These types of analyses are just part of the internet landscape now. We have more data than we know what to do with, and as vendors continue to integrate online analytics with real life purchasing data, or actual behavioral data our conclusions will become more robust.
It took a while to get through the book despite the material. The chapters seemed disjointed to me and I was expecting every chapter to support a central narrative. However, I found myself staring at graphs that were interesting but not hugely significant. That’s the problem with big data…narrowing it all to what is really essential.