While writing about data cleaning, I came across something that felt odd. The digitial humanities/social sciences (where I did my MS work) all point a very critical eye towards using big data, because we deal w/ very messy data and tiny effects that need careful control (1/

This position appears to exist in contrast to a "technologist view"(?) of big data that's sorta caricatured as being just "YEAH! THE DATA IS ALL!". Also seen in the "Just throw AI at your rando data" marketing hype. (2/

Here's the part I find odd. Who the heck actually holds that caricatured view? Since I come out of Communications, I was trained to be skeptical of data from the start. I can't easily imagine another way. I honestly can't imagine any serious scientific researcher w/ that view. (3

I think many of us believe people with such a-scientific beliefs are out there because we see expressions of it. I'm just having trouble identifying who these actual groups are.

I almost wrote about such people in my article, but came short because I couldn't point at them. (4

And now I'm just wondering where are these folk. From what tradition/background do they come from?

I have no idea and this gap is really nagging at me.
(5/5