如今,三家投资机构正在努力刺激工具和平台的开发,来提高研究者获取和使用这些数据的能力。在华盛顿特区举行的第7届医疗数据研讨会上,(美国)国立卫生研究院(National Institute ofHealth,简称NIH)、总部在英国的威康信托基金(Wellcome Trust)以及霍华德•休斯医学研究所(Howard Hughes Medical Institute)宣布了首届开放科学奖(Open Science Prize)的6支决赛队伍名单。
根据世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)的说法,空气污染是导致8分之1全球死亡病例的罪魁祸首,然而空气质量数据一直被存储在不起眼的网站上,难以访问,同时格式也不一致。OpenAQ平台(https://openaq.org/#/)原型将数据进行了合并和标准化,成为公众可得、实时的空气质量数据。它已经收集和分享了来自13个国家500多个地点的970万空气质量检测数据。
当美国食物和药品管理局(U.S Food and Drug Administration)批准一种药物时,该机构公开发布一系列关于该药物的信息,通常包含先前未公开的临床试验。尽管这些信息相当有价值,但难以获得、收集和搜索。OpenTrialFDA努力建立一个用户友好的网站界面让任何人能访问相关信息,还提供应用接口(API),允许第三方平台接入和搜索数据。(https://www.openscienceprize.org/p/s/1844843/)
R 简单易用。通过 R ,短短几行代码就可以筛选复杂的数据集,通过成熟的模型函数处理数据,制作精美的图表进行数据可视化。简直就是 Excel 的加强灵活版。
R 最大的价值就是围绕其开发的活跃的生态圈: R 社区在持续不断地向现存丰富的函数集增添新的包和特性。据估计 R 的使用者已经超过 200 万人,最近的一项调查也显示 R目前是数据科学领域最受欢迎的语言,大约 61% 的受访者使用 R(第二名是 Python, 占比39%)。
在华尔街,R 的使用比例也在不断增长。美国银行副总裁Niall O’Connor 说:“以往,分析员通常是熬夜研究 Excel 文件,但是现在 R 正被逐渐地应用于金融建模,尤其是作为可视化工具。R 促使了表格化分析的出局。”
作为一门数据建模语言, R 正在走向成熟,尽管在公司需要大规模产品的时候 R 能力有限,也有些人说它已经被其他语言替代了。
Metamarkets 公司的 CEO Michael Driscoll 说:“ R 擅长的是勾画,而不是搭建,在 Google 的 page rank 算法和 Facebook 的好友推荐算法实现的核心中是不会有 R 的。工程师会用 R 进行原型设计,再用 Java 或者 Python将其实现。”
Paul Butler 在 2010 年用 R 构建了一个著名的 Facebook 世界地图,证明了 R 在数据可视化上的强大能力。然而他并不经常使用 R。
Butler 说:“由于在处理较大数据集时缓慢且笨拙,R 在行业中已经有些沦为明日黄花了 ”
那么使用什么作为它的替代呢?看下去。
Python
如果 R 是个有点神经质的可爱的极客,那么 Python 就是它容易相处的欢快的表弟。融合了 R 快速成熟的数据挖掘能力以及更实际的产品构建能力, Python 正迅速地获得主流的呼声。 Python 更直观,且比 R 更易学,近几年其整体的生态系统发展也成长得很快,使其在统计分析上的能力超越了之前的 R 语言。
Butler 说:“Python 是行业人员正在转换发展的方向。过去两年里,很明显存在由 R 向 Python 转化的趋势”
模式识别=机器学习。两者的主要区别在于前者是从工业界发展起来的概念,后者则主要源自计算机学科。在著名的《Pattern Recognition And Machine Learning》这本书中,Christopher M. Bishop在开头是这样说的“模式识别源自工业界,而机器学习来自于计算机学科。不过,它们中的活动可以被视为同一个领域的两个方面,同时在过去的10年间,它们都有了长足的发展”。
The roots of entrepreneurship are old. But, the fruits were never so lucrative as they have been recently. Until 2010, not many of us had heard of the term ‘start-up’. And now, not a day goes by when business newspapers don’t quote them. There is sudden gush in the level of courage which people possess.
Today, I see 1 out of 5 person talking about a new business idea. Some of them even succeed too in establishing their dream company. But, only the determined ones sustain. In data science, the story is bit different.
The success in data science is mainly driven by knowledge of the subject. Entrepreneurs are not required to work at ground level, but must have sound knowledge of how it is being done. What algorithms, tools, techniques are being used to create products & services.
In order to gain this knowledge, you have two ways:
You work for 5-6 years in data science, get to know things around and then start your business.
You start reading books along the way and become confident to start in first few years.
I would opt for second option.
Why read books ?
Think of our brain as a library. And, it’s a HUGE library.
How would an empty library look like? If I close my eyes and imagine, I see dust, spider webs, brownian movement of dust particles and darkness. If this imagination horrifies you, then start reading books.
The books listed below gives immense knowledge and motivation in technology arena. Reading these books will give you the chance to live many different entrepreneurial lives. Take them one by one. Don’t get overwhelmed. I’ve displayed a mix of technical and motivational books for entrepreneurs in data science. Happy Reading!
List of Books
Data Science For Business
This book is written by Foster Provost & Tom Fawcett. It gives a great head start to anyone, who is serious about doing business with big data analytics. It makes you believe, data is now business. No business in the world, can now sustain without leveraging the power of data. This books introduces you to real side of data analysis principles and algorithms without technical stuff. It gives you enough intuition and confidence to lead a team of data scientists and recommend what’s required. More importantly, it teaches you the winning approach to become a master at business problem solving.
This book is written by Thomas H. Davenport. It reveals the increasing importance of big data in organizations. It talks with interesting numbers, researches and statistics. So until 2009, companies worked on data samples. But with advent of powerful devices and data storage capabilities, companies now work on whole data. They don’t want to miss even a single bit of information. This book unveils the real side of big data, it’s influence on our daily lives, on companies and our jobs. As an entrepreneur, it is extremely important for you understand big data and its related terminologies.
This book is written by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz. It’s one of the most appreciated books on data startups. It consist of practical & detailed researches, advice, guidance which can help you to build your startup faster. It gives enough intuition to build data driven products and market them. The language is simple to understand. There are enough real world examples to make you believe, a business needs data analytics like a human needs air. To an entrepreneur, this will introduce the practical side of product development and what it takes to succeed in a red ocean market.
This book is written by Michael Lewis. It’s a brilliant tale which sprinkles some serious inspiration. A guy named billy bean does what most of the world failed to imagine, just by using data and statistics. He paved the path to victory when situations weren’t favorable. Running a business needs continuous motivation. This can be a good place to start with. However, this book involves technical aspects of baseball. Hence, if you don’t know baseball, chances are you might struggle in initial chapters. A movie also has been made on this book. Do watch it!
This book is written by Ashlee Vance. I’m sure none of us are fortunate to live the life of Elon Musk, but this book let’s us dive in his life and experience rise of fantastic future. Elon is the face behind Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX. He has dreamed of making space travel easy and cheap. Recently, he was applauded by Barack Obama for the successful landing of his spaceship in an ocean. People admire him. They want to know his secrets and this is where you can look for. As on entrepreneur, you will learn about must have ingredients which you need to a become successful in technology space.
This book is written by Thomas H Davenport and Jinho Kim. As we all know, data science is driven by numbers & maths (quants). Inspired from moneyball, this book teaches you the methods of using quantitative analysis for decision making. An entrepreneur is a terminal of decision making. One must learn to make decisions using numbers & analysis, rather than intuition. The language of this book is easy to understand and suited for non-maths background people too. Also, this book will make you comfortable with basics statistics and quantitative calculations in the world of business.
The author of this book is Nate Silver, the famous statistician who correctly predicted US Presidential elections in 2012. This books shows the real art and science of making predictions from data. This art involves developing the ability to filter out noise and make correct predictions. It includes interesting examples which conveys the ultimate reason behind success and failure of predictions. With more and more data, predictions have become prone to noise errors. Hence, it is increasingly important to understand the science behind making predictions using big data science. The chapters of this book are interesting and intuitive.
This book is written by Roger Lowenstein. It is an epic story of rise and failure of a hedge fund. For an entrepreneur, this book has ample lessons on investing, market conditions and capital management. It’s a story of a small bank, which used quantitative techniques for bond pricing throughout the world and ensured every invested made gives a profitable results. However, they didn’t sustain for long. Their quick rise was succeeded by failure. And, the impact of their failure was so devastating that US Federal bank stepped in to rescue the bank, because the fund’a bankruptcy would have large negative influence on world’s economy.
This book is written by Eric Ries. In one line, it teaches how to not to fail at the start of your business. It reveals proven strategies which are followed by startups around the world. It has abundance of stories to make you walk on the right path. An entrepreneur should read it when he/she feel like draining out of motivation. It teaches to you to learn quickly, implement new methods and act quickly if something doesn’t work out. This book applies to all industries and is not specific to data science.
This book is written by Avinash Kaushik. It is one of the best book to learn about web analytics. Internet is the fastest mode of collecting data. And, every entrepreneur must learn the art of internet accounting. Most of the businesses today face the challenge of weak presence on social media and internet platforms. Using various proven strategies and actionable insights, this book helps you to solve various challenges which could hamper your way. It also provides a winning template which can be applied in most of the situations. It focuses on choosing the right metric and ways to keep them in control.
This book is written by Eric Seigel. It is a good follow up book after web analytics 2.0. So, once you’ve understood the underlying concept of internet data, metrics and key strategies. This book teaches you the methods of using that knowledge to make predictions. It’s simple to understand and covers many interesting case studies displaying how companies predict our behavior and sell us products. It doesn’t cover technical aspects, but explains the general working on predictive analytics and its applications. You can also check out this funny rap video by Dr. Eric Seigel:
This book is written by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. It shows the importance of numbers, data, quantitative analysis using various interesting stories. It says, there is a logic is everything which happens around us. Reading this book will make you aware of the unexplored depth at which data affects our real lives. It draws interesting analogy between school teachers and sumo wrestlers. Also, the bizarre stories featuring cases of criminal acts, real-estate, drug dealers will certainly add up to your exciting moments.
This book is written by Jessica Livingston. Again, this isn’t data science specific but a source of motivation to get you moving forward. It’s a collection of interviews with the founders of various startups across the world. The focus has been kept on early days i.e. how did they act when they started. This book will give you enough proven ideas, strategies and lessons to anticipate and avoid pitfalls in your initial days of business. It consist of stories by Steve Wozniak (Apple), Max Levchin (Paypal), Caterina Fake (Flikr) and many more. In total, there are 32 interviews listed which means you have the chance to learn from 32 mentors in one single book. Must read for entrepreneurs.
This book is written by Greg Gianforte and Marcus Gibson. It teaches about the things to do when you are running short of money and still don’t want to stop. This is a must read book for every entrepreneur. Considering the amount of investment required in data science startups, this book should have a special space in an entrepreneur’s heart. It reveals various eye opening truths and strategies which can help you build a great company. Greg and Marcus proves that money is not always the reason for startup failure, it’s all about founder’s perspective. This book has stories of success and failures, again a great chance for you to live many lives by reading this book.
This book is written by Thomas H Davenport, Jeanne G Harris and Robert Morrison. This books reveals the increased use of analytical tools & concepts by managers to make informed business decisions. The decision making process has accelerated. For a greater impact, it also consists of examples from popular companies like hotels.com, best buy and many more. It talks about recruiting, coordination with people and the use of data and analytics at an enterprise level. Many of us are aware of data and analytics. But, only a few know how to use them together. This quick book has it all !
This marks the end of this list. While compiling this list, I realized most of these books are about sharing experience and learning from the mistake of others. Also, it is immensely important to posses quantitative ability to become good in data science. I would suggest you to make a reading list and stick to it throughout the year. You can take up any book to start. I’d suggest to start with a motivational book.
Have you read any other book ? What were your key takeaways? Did you like reading this article? Do share your knowledge & experiences in the comments below.