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

Sun Sep 4 21:25:52 AEST 2016

Don't believe a word the dog says, he only provided a ruff estimate and is
a paw source of primary data.

Pull on those wellies and count the cows yourself.

On 4 September 2016 at 21:10, Mark <mark at vceit.com> wrote:

> 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> 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 - going out of date - the state of the real world has changed (a few new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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
>>> VCE Informatics Mailing List kindly supported by
>>> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html
>>> - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority <br>
>>> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
>>> Teachers Association Inc <br>
>>> http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/schools - Swinburne University
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> *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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> VCE Informatics Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/infotech/itapplications3-4.html -
> Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority <br>
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
> Teachers Association Inc <br>
> http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/schools - Swinburne University
>

-- 
--
*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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.edulists.com.au/pipermail/informatics/attachments/20160904/8e00b7ad/attachment-0001.html 