[Informatics] Factors that harm accuracy. (Warning - bad cow jokes.)

[Adrian Janson]

Mark,

I'm not sure which of these I am more concerned about:
- the existence of 'cows with guns'
- the process of you actively searching for 'cows with guns'.

;)

Adrian

On Fri, Sep 2, 2016 at 3:01 PM, Mark <mark at vceit.com> wrote:

> Hi, accurate ones,
>
> Following on from the recent fist fight about accuracy vs correctness,
> today I have been pondering...
>
> *ITI U3O2KK05 - "criteria to check the integrity of data including ...
> accuracy"*
>
> I started wondering about factors that might affect the *accuracy* of
> data or information.
>
> N.B. *Not* 'correctness'. Or 'precision'.
>
> Let's accept that data are an abstract representation of phenomena in the
> real world, such as "There are four cows in the top paddock."
>
> The actual cows are the reality.
> The recorded number of them is the data.
>
> The data representing this cow fact might be - or become - inaccurate due
> to:
>
> - going out of date - the state of the real world has changed (a few new
> cows were put into the paddock) but the data has not been updated to
> reflect that change.
> Or the number of cows had been copied from one database to a mirrored
> site, but the mirror has not been synchronised recently with the master
> copy so the mirror is no longer representative of the true current size of
> the herd of cows*.
>
> - being damaged - someone accidentally or deliberately changes the text "4
> cows" to "40 cows".
> Or disk rot caused the recorded data to be misread by the digital system.
>
> - poor initial data collection - the cows were counted by someone glancing
> out of the window of a fast-moving car, or the cows kept moving about and
> some were counted twice.
>
> - an unreliable data source - there were not four cows: they were goats.
> The data came from an idiot in the city who could not tell the difference.
>
> - bias - the cow-counter had some reason to misrepresent the true number
> of cows in the top paddock, e.g. to reduce his tax bill, or to impress the
> milk maid next door.
>
> - faulty data processing - the wrong formula was used in the spreadsheet
> that added up the number of cows.
>
> - poor validation - the number of cows was entered into the software as
> "four" instead of "4". The software was not expecting text, and - because
> there were no recognisable digits - its *VAL(numCows)* function converted
> the word "four" into a numeric value of zero.
>
> - translation or conversion errors - the reader of the data did not speak
> English and relied on an incorrect electronic translation of the text.
> Or the text said "There are 4 (four) cows" and a careless data entry
> person entered "There are 4 (4) cows" which was later turned into "There
> are 44 cows".
> Or poor optical character recognition of "4 cows" became "9 cows".
>
> True story: I was listening to an audiobook about the history of space
> travel and was astounded to hear that "Apollo Two landed on the moon." It
> took me a while to realise that the text must have been "Apollo 11 landed
> on the moon" but the narrator mistook "11" for the Roman numerals "II".
> Sadly, no cows were involved.
>
> Can anyone think of other interesting ways in which data/info accuracy may
> be reduced ?
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
>
> Notes:
>
> 1. This post is cow-neutral. I have NO bovine agenda. It is true that I
> did help milk cows when I lived on a dairy farm in Yarrawalla while
> teaching in Boort (1980-1985) but there was NO inappropriate activity,
> *especially* with cow 1056. Rumours to the contrary are udderly untrue,
> in spite of what Doris might moo.
>
> 2. To comply with the federal *Cow Comedy Act (1953)*, I am obliged to
> refer you to the anthem: Cows with Guns
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMbXvn2RNI>.
>
> * Herd of cows? Of course I've heard of cows. Bad cow pun.
>
> --
>
> Mark Kelly
>
> mark at vceit.com
> http://vceit.com
>
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