Data in public communications

Battistini Lecture · 1 December 2020 · Institute of Advanced Studies · University of Bologna


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References

Google Books Ngrams Viewer, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=data&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdata%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cdata%3B%2Cc0
Giuseppe Sollazzo, Parli-N-Grams, http://parli-n-grams.puntofisso.net/index.php?ngrams=commons%3Adata
Maurizio Napolitano, Mappa di Trento 1915 – da un libro di Cesare Battisti, https://medium.com/@napo/mappa-di-trento-1915-da-un-libro-di-cesare-battisti-84935794b1ed
Cesare Battisti, Il Trentino, Giovanni Zippel Editore, 1898. Available on WikiSource: https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Il_Trentino
Cesare Battisti, Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Battisti_(politician)#/media/File:Cesare_Battisti,_Milano,_1915_(portrait).jpg
Illustration from Cesare Battisti, Il Trentino, 1915, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Illustrations_from_Battisti_-_Il_Trentino,_cenni_geografici,_storici,_economici,_1915
Labmod, Trento nel 1915, http://labmod.org/maps/trento1915/
Maurizio Napolitano, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, https://ict.fbk.eu/people/detail/maurizio-napolitano/
Il passaggio all’Italia, Sistema catastale tavolare, Wikipedia, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_catastale_tavolare#Il_passaggio_all'Italia
Source: Wikipedia 1942, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Italy#/media/File:Kingdom_of_Italy_1942_with_provinces.svg and 2020, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_d%27Italia#/media/File:Italian_regions_provinces.svg
Di chi è la Marmolada?, Il Post, https://www.ilpost.it/2018/09/25/marmolada-veneto/
Open Street Map, Forum, Edit War over Jerusalem, https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=13178
Open Street Map, Data Working Group, Disputes, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Data_working_group/Disputes
Mikel Maron, Open Street Map, Forum, Edit War over Jerusalem, https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?pid=181435#p181435
W.E.B du Bois, African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?st=grid&co=anedub
W.E.B. Du Bois in 1918, Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#/media/File:WEB_DuBois_1918.jpg
From W.E.B du Bois, African American Photographs Assembled for the 1900 Paris Exposition, Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?st=grid&co=anedub
William O’Hare, Differential Undercounts in the U.S. Census, https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030109721
John Snow’s map, Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak#/media/File:Snow-cholera-map-1.jpg
Census-taking in the ancient world, Office for National Statistics, https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census/howourcensusworks/aboutcensuses/censushistory/censustakingintheancientworld
David Spiegelhalter, The Art of Statistics – Learning with Data, Penguin, 2020, https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/294/294857/learning-from-data/9780241258767.html
BBC News, UK unemployment falls to 1.44 million, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42802526
ONS, UK labour market: January 2018, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/january2018
ONS, A guide to labour market statistics, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/aguidetolabourmarketstatistics#unemployment
House of Commons Library, “Understanding statistics on employment, unemployment and earnings” Research Briefing, Published Tuesday, 17 December, 2019, https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn07119/
How the Government Measures Unemployment, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization (U-1 through U-6), Labor force characteristics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/cps/lfcharacteristics.htm#altmeasures
Andreas Becker, Debunking the myth of low German unemployment, Deutsche Welle, 2018, https://www.dw.com/en/debunking-the-myth-of-low-german-unemployment/
Viktor Steiner, The labor market for older workers in Germany, Der Arbeitsmarkt für ältere Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland, Journal for Labour Market Research 50, 1–14, Springer Open, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12651-017-0221-9
Office for National Statistics, UK House Price Index: March 2020, https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/housepriceindex/march2020
Office for National Statistics, Average household income, UK: financial year ending 2019, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2019
This is not entirely accurate as multiple factors are at stake during an Ofsted inspection. The result of an Ofsted evaluation is that a good school will be broadly above average, but it’s not a case – nor was a case – of a straight calculation. Once again, this is an example in itself of misuse of data and mathematical definitions.
House of Commons, Oral Evidence taken before the Education Committee, The Responsibilities of the Secretary of State for Education, Tuesday 31 January 2012, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmeduc/uc1786-i/uc178601.htm
For example, John Crace, The Guardian, “Diane Abbott has several numbers on police costs – sadly they are all wrong”, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/02/diane-abbott-has-several-numbers-on-police-costs-sadly-they-are-all-wrong
There are some excellent exceptions, such as the fact-checking efforts started by a number of media outlets, like the BBC Reality Check service, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/reality_check
Eleanor Busby, The Independent, Schools minister Nick Gibb refuses to answer maths question on TV as he launches times tables tests, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/nick-gibb-maths-questions-tv-gmb-refuse-answer-times-tables-test-primary-schools-launch-a8210281.html
NatCen, Public Public Confidence in Official Statistics 2018, https://natcen.ac.uk/media/1714099/Public-confidence-in-official-statistics-%E2%80%93-technical-report-2018.pdf
Valentina Romei, Financial Times, Italian election shines harsh light on economic divide, https://www.ft.com/content/d11902f6-2062-11e8-a895-1ba1f72c2c11?segmentId=6132a895-e068-7ddc-4cec-a1abfa5c8378
Giuseppe Sollazzo, 8 March 2018, Le vere mappe delle elezioni italiane, https://medium.com/@puntofisso/le-vere-mappe-delle-elezione-italiane-a0cb89d27d9e
Map-territory relation, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation#%22A_map_is_not_the_territory%22
How The Washington Post Estimates Outstanding Votes for the 2020 Presidential Election, Washington Post Engineering, October 2020, https://washpost.engineering/2020/10/22/how-the-washington-post-estimates-outstanding-votes-for-the-2020-presidential-election/
Today In Focus, Guardian Podcast, US election 2020: can we trust the polls?, https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2020/oct/22/us-election-2020-can-we-trust-the-polls-podcast
Helena Robertson, Ashley Kirk and Frank Hulley-Jones, The Guardian, Build your own US election result: plot a Biden or Trump win, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2020/oct/30/build-your-own-us-election-result-plot-a-win-for-biden-or-trump
Biden vs Trump: live results 2020, Financial Times, https://ig.ft.com/us-election-2020/#calculator
Ben Walker, New Statesman, US 2020 presidential election forecast model: will Donald Trump or Joe Biden win? https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/11/us-2020-presidential-election-forecast-model-will-donald-trump-or-joe-biden
FiveThirtyEight, https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-biden-election-map/
Wissen Sie noch, wo die Mauer Berlin teilte?, Berliner Morgenpost, https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/berliner-mauer/
Ost-West? Nord-Süd? Oder ganz anders?, https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/deutschland-teilen-deutsche-einheit-wiedervereinigung/
Levontin, P., Walton, J.L., Kleineberg, J., Barons, M., French, S., Aufegger, L., McBride, M., Smith, J.Q., Barons, E., and Houssineau, J., Visualising Uncertainty: A Short Introduction (London, UK: AU4DM, 2020), https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/80424/2/VUI_221219.pdf
Isaia Invernizzi, Come leggere i dati sulle terapie intensive, https://www.ilpost.it/2020/11/03/dati-terapie-intensive-coronavirus/
Alessia Candito, Il trucco con cui la Calabria è passata da 26 a 10 ricoveri in terapia intensiva, La Repubblica, 5 November 2020, https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/11/05/news/cosi_la_calabria_e_passata_in_poche_ore_da_26_a_10_letti_occupati_in_terapia_intensiva-273201335/
Public Health England has changed its definition of deaths: here’s what it means, https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/public-health-england-death-data-revised/
Tim Harford, How to make the world add up, https://timharford.com/books/worldaddup/
Jon Sharman, Tragedy of stillbirths in Europe underestimated due to statistical guidelines, study suggests, The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/stillbirth-rates-europe-underestimated-official-statistics-new-study-who-a8558286.html
Lucy Smith et al., Quantifying the burden of stillbirths before 28 weeks of completed gestational age in high-income countries: a population-based study of 19 European countries, The Lancet, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31651-9
Alan Karthikesalingam et al., Elective Open Suprarenal Aneurysm Repair in England from 2000 to 2010 an Observational Study of Hospital Episode Statistics, PLOS One, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0064163
Nicholas Cecil, London's coronavirus figures 'skewed by university students in other cities' amid fears capital is 'two weeks behind the North West', Evening Standard, 9 October 2020, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/london-covid-stats-skewed-university-students-a4567441.html
John Burn-Murdoch, Twitter, https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1248731769798623235
John Burn-Murdoch, Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/video/9a72a9d4-8db1-4615-8333-4b73ae3ddff8
John Burn-Murdoch, Twitter, https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1247669865982427136
Control of Patient Information, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/1438/contents/made
Care.data, NHS Board Updates, July 2014, https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/04-care-data.pdf
Open Data Definition, https://opendefinition.org/
Cameron in 'people power' pledge, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8067505.stm
McKinsey Global Institute, Open data: Unlocking innovation and performance with liquid information, October 2013, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/open-data-unlocking-innovation-and-performance-with-liquid-information#
Environment Secretary unveils vision for open data to transform food and farming, Gov.Uk News Story, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/environment-secretary-unveils-vision-for-open-data-to-transform-food-and-farming
Owen Boswarva, OpenDefra: 8,000+ open datasets released in one year, https://mapgubbins.tumblr.com/post/146514977190/opendefra-8000-open-data-releases-in-a-year
Clare Moriarty, Redefining success, FDA, https://www.fda.org.uk/home/Newsandmedia/Features/clare-moriarty-women-into-leadership-speech.aspx
Terence Eden, Open Data - but not *too* open, https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/11/open-data-but-not-too-open/
David J Nutt, Estimating Drug Harms: A Risky Business?, January 2009, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242626407_Estimating_Drug_Harms_A_Risky_Business