This is the second year in which I have produced a retrospective of my blogging activity. As in 2017, I have failed miserably in my original objective of posting this early in January. Despite starting to write this piece on 18th December 2018, I have somehow sneaked into the second quarter before getting round to completing it. Maybe I will do better with 2019’s highlights!
Anyway, 2018 was a record-breaking year for peterjamesthomas.com. The site saw more traffic than in any other year since its inception; indeed hits were over a third higher than in any previous year. This increase was driven in part by the launch of my new Maths & Science section, articles from which claimed no fewer than 6 slots in the 2018 top 10 articles, when measured by hits [1]. Overall the total number of articles and new pages I published exceeded 2017’s figures to claim the second spot behind 2009; our first year in business.
As with every year, some of my work was viewed by tens of thousands of people, while other pieces received less attention. This is my selection of the articles that I enjoyed writing most, which does not always overlap with the most popular ones. Given the advent of the Maths & Science section, there are now seven categories into which I have split articles. These are as follows:
- General Data Articles
- Data Visualisation
- Statistics & Data Science
- CDO perspectives
- Programme Advice
- Analytics & Big Data
- Maths & Science
In each category, I will pick out one or two pieces which I feel are both representative of my overall content and worth a read. I would be more than happy to receive any feedback on my selections, or suggestions for different choices.
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| General Data Articles | ||
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February A Brief History of Databases |
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| An infographic spanning the history of Database technology from its early days in the 1960s to the landscape in the late 2010s.. | ||
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July How to Spot a Flawed Data Strategy |
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| What alarm bells might alert you to problems with your Data Strategy; based on the author’s extensive experience of both developing Data Strategies and vetting existing ones. | ||
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August Fact-based Decision-making |
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| Fact-based decision-making sounds like a no brainer, but just how hard is it to generate accurate facts? | ||
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| Data Visualisation | ||
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August As Nice as Pie |
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| A review of the humble Pie Chart, what it is good at, where it presents problems and some alternatives. | ||
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| Statistics & Data Science | ||
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August Data Science Challenges – It’s Deja Vu all over again! |
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| A survey of more than 10,000 Data Scientists highlights a set of problems that will seem very, very familiar to anyone working in the data space for a few years. | |
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| CDO Perspectives | ||
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February The CDO – A Dilemma or The Next Big Thing? |
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| Two Forbes articles argue different perspectives about the role of Chief Data Officer. The first (by Lauren deLisa Coleman) stresses its importance, the second (by Randy Bean) highlights some of the challenges that CDOs face. | ||
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May onwards The “In-depth” series of CDO interviews |
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| Rather than a single article, this is a series of four talks with prominent CDOs, reflecting on the role and its challenges. | ||
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October The Chief Marketing Officer and the CDO – A Modern Fable |
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| Discussing an alt-facts / “fake” news perspective on the Chief Data Officer role. | ||
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| Programme Advice | ||
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June Building Momentum – How to begin becoming a Data-driven Organisation |
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| Many companies want to become data driven, but getting started on the journey towards this goal can be tough. This article offers a framework for building momentum in the early stages of a Data Programme. | ||
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| Analytics & Big Data | ||
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January Draining the Swamp |
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| A review of some of the problems that can beset Data Lakes, together with some ideas about what to do to fix these from Dan Woods (Forbes), Paul Barth (Podium Data) and Dave Wells (Eckerson Group). | ||
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February Sic Transit Gloria Magnorum Datorum |
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| In a world where the word has developed a very negative connotation, what’s so bad about being traditional? | ||
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August Convergent Evolution |
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| What the similarities (and differences) between Ichthyosaurs and Dolphins can tell us about different types of Data Architectures. | ||
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| Maths & Science | ||
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March Euler’s Number |
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| A long and winding road with the destination being what is probably the most important number in Mathematics. | ||
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August The Irrational Ratio |
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| The number π is surrounded by a fog of misunderstanding and even mysticism. This article seeks to address some common misconceptions about π, to show that in many ways it is just like any other number, but also to demonstrate some of its less common properties. | ||
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October Glimpses of Symmetry, Chapter 24 – Emmy |
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| One of the more recent chapters in my forthcoming book on Group Theory and Particle Physics. This focuses on the seminal contributions of Mathematician Emmy Noether to the fundamentals of Physics and the connection between Symmetry and Conservation Laws. | ||
Notes
From: peterjamesthomas.com, home of The Data and Analytics Dictionary, The Anatomy of a Data Function and A Brief History of Databases
