The new frontier in data analysis?

Where is the new frontier in data analysis?

I tried to work this out.Let me explain the question further. I’m a bit of a geek. I try to hide it, but in those moments no-one is looking too closely, I crunch numbers. Whereabouts? I cycle a bit. I play golf – a bit, and I invest in stocks, shares and gilts – a bit.

At the moment I’m trying to workout how I can build my stock portfolio – it sounds very grand – into a decent High Yield Portfolio. How do I work out if we are at the bottom of a cycle, and I can buy cheap, sell high and retire at my leisure just after buying Mauritius – for cash!

Likewise my golf. I don’t play enough these days, but I steadfastly record data as I go round the course. Fairways hit off the tee, long irons/short irons, putts, up & downs, etc… My scorecard looks like one of those old IBM punchcards.

Finally my cycling. Simple measures such as power, cadence and the like.

I’ll not go into detail, but each of these simple examples is about me – as an individual – trying to understand the nature and shape of my activity, being able to quantify it and hopefully, being able to use the statistical measures to improve. (I can feel Lord Kelvin applauding from his grave)

Golf is a great one – I like to think I’m a long hitter, but thumping the ball a long way and seeing it roll off the fairway and head into the undergrowth isn’t fun. Likewise, understanding and playing to get in better position, so I can use a shorter club (usually a more accurate club) means my game (net score) improves.

I’ve just finished reading Michael Lewis’ book ‘Moneyball’. He talks about how the Oakland Athletics started using data analysis to roster the team rather than more conventional wisdom. They were blessed with geeks who dared to challenge the accepted wisdom and champion new measures. Or maybe they were blessed with people who were prepared to think a little differently, and to commit to their ideals.

We see in football (soccer – depending on where you are in the world) the adoption of systems like ProZone. (I saw this link to a story about Hoffenheim’s use of data analysis Would Geeks make better football managers  ) I wonder how long before our kids’ clubs have a Chief Data Officer? I might try and sound out the committee at my daughter’s swim club, maybe Weston-super-mare needs a ‘data analytics sub-committee’?