We've written about BIG data before and while some reckon it's sexy, you better roll up your sleeves because you'll invariably need to do a lot of 'janitorial' (a.k.a. shit) work first!
Ron Sandland recently wrote about the new phenomenon of 'big data' - weighing up the benefits and concerns. Terry Speed reflected on the same issue in a talk earlier this year inGothenburg, Sweeden noting that this is nothing new to statisticians. So what's all the fuss about? Here's another take on the 'big data' bandwagon.
The Bay's Guardian Angels announced February 01, 2008
The Victorian Government has announced the members of The Office of the Environmental Monitor which will oversee the environmental monitoring associated with the Channel Deepening Project.
The Office of the Environmental Monitor is funded by the Port of Melbourne Corporation and is intended to provide independent assessments of the results of the Port of Melbourne's environmental monitoring program. The chief environmental monitor is Mr. Mick Bourke who is also chairman of the Victorian Environment Protection Authority. Other members are: Ingrid Holliday, Michael Holloway, and Don Hough. A fourth member is still to be appointed. These people are well-credentialed and will no doubt do a fine job. However, it remains to be seen just exactly how the Office of the Environmental Monitor will discharge its obligation to provide an independent assessment of the data, analyses, interpretations, and reports. The CDP monitoring program will generate vast amounts of data. As mentioned in a previous news item (January 19, 2008) on this web site, the challenge is to: 1) have robust, scientifically credible monitoring programs in place that have appropriate spatial-temporal resolution to address the pertinent environmental issues associated with the CDP; 2) have statistical QA/QC procedures in place which guard against the inclusion of aberrant data while ensuring 'interesting' or 'unusual' results are not discarded on the basis that they're simply "statistical outliers"; 3) the data are analysed using the most appropriate statistical methods available; and 4) the interpretation and reporting of the results of thoses analyses is timely and accurate.
