"Dealing with Data Litter" - Section 4 of 5 of THE DATA GARDEN (free excerpts)
This is the fourth part of the chapter titled “The Data Garden”, from the book “The Data Garden And Other Data Allegories”.
This section tackles some of the challenges related to data quality, in particular those associated with data users.
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Dealing with Data Litter
The first problem is one that you’re already used to from the smaller data garden: wear and tear. As such, because you and your part-time data gardener colleagues understand the plants and what needs to be done to care for them, you can quickly establish a routine for this. Together, you pro-actively replace patches of grass, cordon off and re-seed where needed, re-plant flowers, and limplement a range of other measures. The key difference in this larger garden turns out to be the way in which you monitor the plants: it’s too big to check all plants every day, and there’s no more budget for additional technology or more people, so you have to put in place a prioritised, manual system of checking different plants at different intervals, depending on the likelihood that they will be damaged and also, in some cases, based on their value.
One thing that you also do, which is different from the smaller data garden and turns out to be quite effective, is to ask users of the data landscape garden to report damage to you and your colleagues. Whilst many users don’t report anything, there are some who do, and this additional feed of intelligence helps quickly catch some problems before the plants are irreparably damaged.
However, the biggest problem that comes with all of the new visitors, which is a new one to you, is the Data Litter.
It turns out that some data users are very careless and messy. They drop their rubbish as they walk along the pathways and it gets caught up in the flowerbeds and significantly detracts from the beauty of the landscape. In some cases, it also causes harm to the plants and wildlife, which is an even greater concern.
Initially, you and your data gardener colleagues attempt to tidy the place yourselves, but data litter picking quickly becomes a full-time job in itself!
You need to try a different approach.
In order to work out what to do, you contact an experienced gardener friend of yours to understand what she does for one of the many, much larger gardens that she manages. Her insights are invaluable. She takes the time to show you some of the systems and ideas that she’s tried over time, including what’s worked well and what hasn’t. You can’t thank her enough – it gives you all the ideas you need to turn things around.
Now, when you return to your landscape garden, you know exactly what you’re going to do; and the biggest shift in thinking is to start to actively engage with your data users. They are the ones who gain the most value from the garden being in a good and well-maintained state; and they are also the ones who are now having the greatest impact on the data garden’s health. Before you do anything, you talk to the owners to explain your ideas and obtain their support. They recognise the challenges you’re facing and trust you based on the good work you’ve done for them to date, so agree to your ideas and say that you can call on them if you need anything. With a feeling of hope, you get to work.
The first thing you do is to install bins throughout the site. They are positioned as discreetly as possible, but in places where you know the most litter is dropped. You make it as easy for the users to access and use them as possible, because you understand that it is important to make things easy for people if you want them to do something new. You also agree a routine of litter bin collection with your data gardener colleagues, so you’ll be able to both monitor their use and to keep them from overflowing.
Next, you put signs up at the entrance to the data garden and throughout the site, to provide clear guidance on how to get the most out of using the garden, including its rules. However, you make a point to emphasise the points about getting the most out of the garden and the benefits of your guidance, so you don’t just make the signs about rules. This was one of the things you saw worked well at your friend’s data gardens and you’re keen to replicate this approach.
Finally, and most importantly, you change the way that people are welcomed into the data garden. You make sure that each visitor, when they pay for access, is met with a friendly introductory chat. This up-front engagement is used to understand how they will be using the garden so they can be provided with tailored tips on getting the best out of the data based on what they are trying to do, and also so that the rules of the data garden are clearly explained and agreed to before they enter.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this excerpt.
If you are interested in reading more, please do check the book out on Amazon:
Thanks for reading!
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