
Data Skeptic
The Data Skeptic Podcast features interviews and discussion of topics related to data science, statistics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and the like, all from the perspective of applying critical thinking and the scientific method to evaluate the veracity of claims and efficacy of approaches.
Latest episodes

9 snips
Jun 18, 2022 • 42min
Data Skeptic: Ad Tech
Increasingly, people get most if not all of the information they consume online. Alongside the web sites, videos, apps, and other destinations, we’re consistently served advertisements alongside the organic content we search for or discover. Targetted ads make it possible for you to discover relevant new products you might otherwise not have heard about. Targetting can also open a pandora’s box of ethical considerations. Online advertising is a complex network of automated systems. Algorithms controlling algorithms controlling what we see. This season of Data Skeptic will focus on the applications of data science to digital advertising technology. In this first episode in particular, Kyle shares some of his own personal experiences and insights working in pay-per-click marketing. Click for additional show notes

Jun 13, 2022 • 50min
The Reliability of Mobile Phone Data
Our mobile phones generate an incredible amount of data inbound and outbound. In today’s episode, Nishant Kishore, a PhD graduate of Harvard University in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, explains how mobility data from mobile phones can be captured and analysed to understand the spread of infectious diseases. Click here for additional show notes Thanks to our sponsor! https://neptune.ai/ Log, store, query, display, organize, and compare all your model metadata in a single place

Jun 6, 2022 • 34min
Haywire Algorithms
The pandemic changed how we lived. And this had a ripple effect on the performance of machine learning models. Ravi Parikh joins us today to discuss how the pandemic has affected the performance of machine learning models in clinical care and some actionable steps to fix it. Click here for additional show notes Thanks to our sponsor: Astera Centerprise is a no-code data integration platform that allows users to build ETL/ELT pipelines for modern data warehousing and analytics.

May 30, 2022 • 33min
School Reopening Analysis
Carly Lupton-Smith joins us today to speak about her research which investigated the consistency between household and county measures of school reopening. Carly is a doctoral researcher in Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Listen to know about her findings. Click here for additional show notes on our website! Thanks to our sponsor!ClearML is an open-source MLOps solution users love to customize, helping you easily Track, Orchestrate, and Automate ML workflows at scale. Astera Centerprise is a no-code data integration platform that allows users to build ETL/ELT pipelines for modern data warehousing and analytics.

5 snips
May 26, 2022 • 35min
Modern Data Stacks
Today, we are joined by Alexander Thor, a Product Manager at Vizlib, makers of Astrato. Astrato is a data analytics and business intelligence tool built on the cloud and for the cloud. Alexander discusses the features and capabilities of Astrato for data professionals. Visit our website for additional show notes!

May 23, 2022 • 21min
Emoji as a Predictor
Emojis are arguably one of the most effective ways to express emotions when texting. In today’s episode, Xuan Lu shares her research on the use of emojis by developers. She explains how the study of emojis can track the emotions of remote workers and predict future behavior. Listen to find out more!

May 16, 2022 • 46min
Polarizing Trends in the Gig Economy
On the show today, Fabian Braesemann, a research fellow at the University of Oxford, joins us to discuss his study analyzing the gig economy. He revealed the trends he discovered since remote work became mainstream, the factors causing spatial polarization and some downsides of the gig economy. Listen to learn what he found.

May 12, 2022 • 25min
Remote Learning in Applied Engineering
On the show today, we interview Mouhamed Abdulla, a professor of Electrical Engineering at Sheridan Institute of Technology. Mouhamed joins us to discuss his study on remote teaching and learning in applied engineering. He discusses how he embraced the new approach after the pandemic, the challenges he faced and how he tackled them. Listen to find out more. Click here for additional show notes on our website! Thanks to our sponsor! https://neptune.ai/ Log, store, query, display, organize, and compare all your model metadata in a single place

May 9, 2022 • 30min
Remote Productivity
It is difficult to estimate the effect on remote working across the board. Darja Šmite, who speaks with us today, is a professor of Software Engineering at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. In her recently published paper, she analyzed data on several companies' activities before and after remote working became prevalent. She discussed the results found, why they were and some subtle drawbacks of remote working. Check it out! Click here for additional show notes on our website!

May 1, 2022 • 48min
Does Remote Learning Work?
We explore this complex question in two interviews today. First, Kasey Wagoner describes 3 approaches to remote lab sessions and an analysis of which was the most instrumental to students. Second, Tahiya Chowdhury shares insights about the specific features of video-conferencing platforms that are lacking in comparison to in-person learning. Click here for additional show notes on our website! Thanks to our sponsor!ClearML is an open-source MLOps solution users love to customize, helping you easily Track, Orchestrate, and Automate ML workflows at scale.