Archaeologists preserve records of their excavations, but many are never analyzed. Digital archaeology is making these records more accessible and analyzing the data in new ways.
Statisticians are able to assess and analyse data, crucial skills in today’s world.
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Governments can exclude certain groups of people in policies and services not only by the type of data they collect but also how they collect, store, analyze and use the data.
The government, banks and other financial organisations are now dealing with fraud by using increasingly sophisticated detection methods.
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In health care crises, researchers can avoid waiting for clinical trial results by using data from health care systems to analyze the effectiveness of treatments for COVID-19 and other illnesses.
Fans celebrate at the William Hill Sports Book in Atlantic City, N.J.
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Researchers who analyzed every sports bet placed online since 2018 found that young adults are the fastest-growing group of bettors, with more than 70% of them placing in-game bets.
Twitter itself produces a lot of data that’s available nowhere else.
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If Twitter were to go dark, with it would go a valuable source of data as well as a means of sharing information relied on by activists, journalists, public health officials and scientists.
Big data analysis has unveiled startling links between seemingly unrelated things, such as how a person’s physical elevation above sea level might influence their personality.
South African fruit producers use digital technologies such as blockchain and radio frequency identification tags.
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With mountains of digital evidence, advanced computing techniques could help judges and jurors better understand how criminal syndicates operate — potentially allowing fairer sentencing.
Studies like this are important because they help gather data from an African perspective.
Singapore’s successful use of a mobile contact tracing app is among the ways New Zealand could use technology better in its COVID-19 lockdown.
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Jon MacKay, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Automated text messages if your phone detects you’re a long way from home, or discounted home internet, are just a few possible technology solutions to make New Zealanders “stay home to save lives”.
Processes of data collection and analysis being used to decide policy need to be as independent and transparent as possible, particularly on issues as contentious as Sydney’s lockout laws.
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The collection and analysis of data used for making policy should be independent and open to ensure public trust in decision-making. The debate over alcohol licensing shows why this matters.
Analysing big data can tell us how a big city ticks, including where suitable housing and jobs are, and how best to get to them.
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Sae Chi, The University of Western Australia and Linda Robson, The University of Western Australia
We have learnt to be wary of big data, but it can also be your friend: one platform combines and analyses data about housing, jobs and transport to reveal very useful information about living in Perth.
Working together, people and technology companies can make a lot of progress.
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Amazon, Facebook and Google have lofty goals for their effects on global society. But people around the world are still waiting for the positive results. Here’s what the tech giants could do.
Is a cassette player an “ordinary object” or a “mystery”? It depends on whom you ask, and ethnography can help you ask the right questions.
Yoshikazu Takada
Big data is all the rage in management circles and beyond, yet little is said about the understanding needed with such voluminous data. An important lesson can be learned from ethnographic research.
This year’s preliminary release of NAPLAN data was due out August 8.
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It could seem attractive to try to teach computers to detect harassment, threats and abusive language. But it’s much more difficult than it might appear.