Data Mindfulness — Who? What? Why?
What is Data?
Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words, measurements, observations or just descriptions of things.
Data gathering
As im sure you are aware for data to be used it needs to be gathered. This is done in lots of ways, you can do surveys, you can pull infomation from an account login, a patients records or cookies on a website.
This is why there is much more of a focus now on why you give out your data and what it is going to be used for.
So what can you use data for?
Example 1 — Netflix
They gather data in lots of different ways
Netflix’s machine learning based recommendations learn from their own users. Every time a viewer spends time watching a movie or a show, it collects data that informs the machine learning algorithm behind the scenes and refreshes it. The more a viewer watches the more up-to-date and accurate the algorithm is.
They even used the data to make the House of Cards series as they knew it would be popular based on their research. They knew that their audience would find the show interesting before they even started producing episodes which are truly amazing.
Example 2 — McDonalds
Many would associate the use of big data with huge technology corporations such as Google or Microsoft. However, even global food service retailers like McDonalds use their customer’s data to create meaningful insights and leverage themselves against their rising competition.
This is the sort of dashboard McDonalds use. They show where certain products are more popular and what times etc.
One aspect of McDonalds that has been optimised thanks to big data and analytics has been the drive-thru experience. By knowing three different factors: design of the drive-thru, information that is provided to the customer during the drive-thru and the people waiting in line to order at a drive-thru, McDonalds are more able to create a more enjoyable drive-thru experience.
For example, knowing what times of day customers are more likely to go through a drive-thru will help them prepare and improve efficiency for the spike in demand ahead of time. Finding the optimal solutions for the design, information and people is an ongoing process that changes over time, context and cultures.
These digital menus have been a huge asset to the fast food chain. Continuously optimised and tweaked, these menus can change based on real-time data and customer information. The menus can change its options based on the weather, the time of the day and any big events happening in the local area. As an example, the digital menu can be used to promote cold drinks, McFlurry and fresh salads on a scorching hot day.
These are examples of data being used to (mostly) enhance the customer experience and they are using all the data they gather go make decisions.
They are being Data Mindful.
So what does ‘Data Mindful’ mean?
The practice of maintaining a non-judgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of factual information, quantitative or qualitative, in your decision-making process.
To put it simply its about looking at relevant facts and data before making any decisions. This also applies a lot in design where you might not have enough data so you need to do more discovery and research.
Its about making sure you have enough data before making decisions and this can sometimes mean going back to the drawing board or slowing down pieces of work to make sure you are moving in the right direction. The hare but procure something quickly but the tortoise is going to be the one creating the right solution rather then the quickest.
For many who gather data in their company's, organisations etc.
Its still not there yet…
Future of Data
Data is going to grow exponentially as time goes on. It helps you understand problems, user and save time and money.
There's also areas like AI that are created by storing and manipulating data. An AI that has recently got popular is DALL-E. An AI for creating art.
Basically you put in anything you can think of and the AI will generate completely new and unique art off the fly, its pretty crazy when you think about it!
Here's a couple i found online:
and here's one i made myself!
Its such a cool thing to do because it shows the power of data and artificial intelligence but also how there are still ways to go… It can’t get the faces right! (this is probably also copyright) Faces are actually one of the hardest things to reproduce in CGI, games etc. It’s all about the ‘uncanny valley’ but that's a whole nother topic for a different blog i think.
Have a go with AI and have a think more about Data you could be harnessing now and in the future…
Sam out!
