This paper is from Session 4F: Opening up the data world wider and faster

which comes under Topic 4: Statistics education at the post-secondary level

Middleware for Middle Earth

Presenter

• Chris Wild (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Abstract

With the “data deluge”, “big data”, “data science” and a growing emphasis on the importance of analytics it no longer makes sense to stay with our historical curriculum. It is all far too slow and conveys far too little of what the data world has to offer. We have to find ways to get students much further into the world of data, much faster. This must of necessity involve jettisoning significant parts of what we currently do and replacing them by more “valuable” alternatives. Charting a way forward involves identifying values, followed by goals, then priorities and then strategies. We flesh out these issues and convey some visualisation-based glimpses of possible futures. We propose a class of software specifically aimed at allowing learners to experience extracting stories from a wide range of data types rapidly and steal the computer-science term middleware to name it.