[Informatics] Bad Cow Jokes (Factors that harm accuracy)

Paragreen, Chris J paragreen.chris.j at edumail.vic.gov.au
Mon Sep 5 08:44:57 AEST 2016 

We need to do something, or we’ll be discussing it until the cows come home.

From: informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of ATKINSON-BUCK, Damien
Sent: Monday, 5 September 2016 7:43 AM
To: Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List <informatics at edulists.com.au>
Subject: Re: [Informatics] Factors that harm accuracy. (Warning - bad cow jokes.)

Has this thread been milked too far? I wonder if we should put a steak through it?

Damien Atkinson-Buck
Head of Learning Area: Technology/Arts
<http://>

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From: Mark [mailto:mark at vceit.com]
Sent: Sunday, 4 September 2016 9:48 PM
To: Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List <informatics at edulists.com.au<mailto:informatics at edulists.com.au>>
Subject: Re: [Informatics] Factors that harm accuracy. (Warning - bad cow jokes.)

Hang on. I'll get my cowculator...

On Sunday, 4 September 2016, Roland Gesthuizen <rgesthuizen at gmail.com<mailto:rgesthuizen at gmail.com>> wrote:
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<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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<mailto: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<mailto: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<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','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<mailto:mark at vceit.com>
http://vceit.com





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