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FutureLearn Week 2: Post 2 of 4

With big data becoming much more important in recent years the need for data scientists has also increased. These data scientists are educated in discovering, collecting, processing, analysing and presenting information gained from these large amounts of data and often compare and combine it with different sources.

The skills these data scientists must have are data visualisation skills, statistical skills, data processing and systems engineering skills, they must have an understanding or have a sufficient level of skill with programming languages as well as mathematical and analytical skills.

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FutureLearn Week 2: Post 1 of 4

Open data has been increasing for some time now with data being made open on various sites globally. There are many advantages to having open data, these advantages include being able to share public data sets so that they can be compared. These open data sources can also be used for environmental purposes or even health issues. Disadvantages of open data would include the fact that the site providing the data would be inherently biased and formed in the opinion of the creator.

Post 11: (Question 7) Limitations of traditional data analysis

As with all things there will always come limitations to data analysis due to the fact that it is created by humans and is subsequently subject to human error. Some of the limitations that you may come across would be that the data may be incomplete, whether it be missing values, or lack of a section of necessary data. This could severely limit the data's usability. Survey data can also be scrutinised due to the human component. People do not always provide accurate information through surveys and many are likely to not answer truthfully. For example if a person were asked how much alcohol they consume within a week they are likely to say less than their actual intake. 

FutureLearn Week1: Post 2 of 3

The best example of environmental big data is that of weather forecasting, as discussed in the video on futurelearn. The use of drones to monitor and measure atmospheric pollutants is another form of environmental big data. This can all be used to reduce carbon footprint by making use of the data to reduce or introduce more efficient transport in areas with high levels of pollution.