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I rather agree, but a non-statistician I know discussed the programme with me today was very interested and engaged by the ideas, so something like this could cut through some of the negativity around statistics and data collection. A big difficulty is that people gain the impression that data, once loaded into appealing animated charts, just speaks for itself. As we know this often just isn't the case, given data quality issues and the presence of hidden factors that induce correlation. It does point to the dangers, and opportunities, in the avalanche of data people want to put out in future and our responsibilities as statisticians to continue to explain and interpret findings. Chris On 8 December 2010 09:13, Goncalves, Miguel < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > I thought it was a dismal programme. Lots and lots of IT, fancy charts, > Hans annoying self-publicising personality, but actually very little of > statistics. The inquisitive mind of a statistician was missing, > hypothesis testing was reduced to something that stops progress, and the > last bit about mapping feelings was verging on ludicrous. In the end, it > just made me depressed. The only interesting bit was Peter Norvig's > stuff on the machine translation, but it is better to see him talking in > his many presentations. > > Miguel > > -----Original Message----- > From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > On Behalf Of Moore, Robert > Sent: 07 December 2010 23:37 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: The Joy of Stats > > Interesting programme (though I do wish documentary makers would not put > irritating background music behind the speech). The first part seemed > to be an exposition of simple statistics as we know and love them. Do > any colleagues have access to the software that produces the gee-wizz > animated graphs that were used? I'm assuming you all have the same > enthusiasm for statistics! > But did I get this wrong - it seems to me that towards the end of the > programme we were moving very close to an old fashioned empiricism of a > kind seldom seen today. This used to say that if you have enough data > and big enough computers you will be able explain the human condition > (or perhaps even 'the laws of society' to quote an early OED definition > of sociology). > But maybe I was reading too much into this. All very entertaining. > Recommended this to some students and will be interested in their > feedback - if they watched. > > Robert > > Professor Robert Moore > School of Sociology and Social Policy > Eleanor Rathbone Building > The University of Liverpool > L69 7ZA > > Telephone and fax: 44 (0) 1352 714456 > ________________________________________ > From: email list for Radical Statistics [[log in to unmask]] On > Behalf Of David Manley [[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 06 December 2010 15:07 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: FW: The Joy of Stats > > From the economic geography list: > > If you haven't already seen it in the listings, you may be interested in > "The Joy Of Stats" by Professor Hans Rosling to be broadcast tomorrow (7 > December) on BBC4 at 9pm. It looks to be a very exciting and inspiring > programme. > > You can see the trailer here: > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cgk8p > > And a short (four-minute) example of the sort of thing Professor Rosling > does here: > http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cgkfk > > Best wishes > > David > > > ___________________________________________________ > > Dr. David Manley > Centre for Housing Research > School of Geography and Geosciences > University of St Andrews > > Irvine Building, North Street, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AL > Tel: ++44(0)1334 462383, Fax: ++44(0)1334463949, Email: > [log in to unmask]<http:[log in to unmask]> > > ESRC Seminar Series: > www.neighbourhoodeffects.org<http://www.neighbourhoodeffects.org> > School of Geography and Geosciences: > www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gg<http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gg> > Centre for Housing Research: > www.st-andrews.ac.uk/chr<http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/chr> > > > > The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No > SC013532 > > > > ****************************************************** Please note that > if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender > of this message. 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