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

[Mark]

So you're saying that a dog performing maths is inaccurate, but a talking
dog is incorrect?

Interesting philosophical point...

On Sunday, 4 September 2016, Roland Gesthuizen <rgesthuizen at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hmm, you could add this to the list.
>
>
> After a talking farm dog gets all the cows into the milking shed, he
> reports back to the farmer: “All 40 accounted for.”
>
>
> “But I only have 36 cows,” says the farmer.
>
>
> “I know,” says the dog. “But I rounded them up.”
>
> On 2 September 2016 at 15:01, Mark <mark at vceit.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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 - going out of date - the state of the real world has changed (a few new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 <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mark at vceit.com');>
>> http://vceit.com
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> --
> *Roland Gesthuizen*
> http://about.me/rgesthuizen
>
> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
> change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret
> Mead
>


-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com
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