Qlik’s director of data literacy Jordan Morrow saw validation of his program soon after he took the job: His new series of online modules, he reports, rose to four of the top 10 downloads within the first couple of months.
None of the modules were easy. Being on subjects like basic statistics, they sure weren’t shiny. Without knowing the subjects of competing modules or other details, their popularity is notable — an interesting break with the data industry’s drive toward “data democratization” and “self-service” by thrusting ever newer, shinier tools toward users’ “fingertips.”
“Without data literacy,” says the head of Qlik’s data literacy program, Jordan Morrow, “[data analysis tools are] just Excel on steroids.”
Visualized data did make a leap, but it’s still just data. “If you can’t interpret [the data], it’s nothing.” That is, there’s more value than meets the eye. Artificial intelligence will find that value — and happily for owners of capital, AI will run on fewer and fewer warm bodies.
As machines overtake quantitative decision-making, humans will be left with qualitative decisions — which have to be based in data, of course.
Question: The data industry has been talking about “data democratization” and “self service BI” for years. Why does it seem to have accelerated now? What do you think? Tell me. (If the form is too short for you, just give me a brief answer and invite me to get back to you.)
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