March 6, 2014
Video introductions to data science
I have found these videos to be particularly useful in explaining or introducing some aspect of data science:
- Introduction to Data Science and Analysis: This is the first video I ever watched specifically about data science, and remains one of my favorites! Thomson Nguyen discusses the data science role and workflow, explains the necessary skills for a data scientist, and walks through a real-world case study. (The video is unfortunately no longer available, although you can still view the PDF slides.)
- Kaggle Transforms Data Science Into Competitive Sport: The Kaggle website hosts machine learning competitions in which data scientists compete to create the best predictive models. Jeremy Howard, Kaggle's former president, gives this exciting talk about how its competitions have resulted in major advances in domains ranging from air pollution to HIV viral load to the existence of dark matter.
- Getting in Shape for the Sport of Data Science: Also from Jeremy Howard (formerly of Kaggle), this 75-minute presentation explains the tools and techniques he uses to understand and solve a machine learning problem. He touches on many aspects of data science, including data pre-processing, visualization, and algorithm selection.
- A Data Scientist's Guide to Making Money from Start-ups: Although this panel discussion from KDD 2013 is focused on start-up companies (and how and why data scientists can get involved), the panelists also discuss broader questions like whether data scientists should pursue a PhD or go into industry.
Please let me know if you have any questions!