Say R

My head is still hurting. I have spent all morning in an introductory session to R, the open source statistical  computing and graphics package.

Now, I am no programmer and much of what was shown to us went over my head but I am blown away by the power of the tool set. It gives me hope that even novices like me can unleash the power of our data. I wish I had the intellect (and the time) to learn more.

The taster session was arranged by Jumping Rivers and it was very kind of them to invite me along. I first met Esther, the Director of the company, through a mutual friend at an event in the Crowne Plaza. Our paths crossed several times since then and one thing lead to another. That seems to be how my world works.

My passion for data has been long standing. My belief is that the answer to all our problems lie within our data. It is something that I was heavily involved in my time at Durham, especially with the hackathon at the University and Smart Stanley. We worked hard to try and get a meaningful data project off the ground. If I only knew then what I know now, I suspect it would have been a lot easier.

R can allow us to hear the stories that our data has been longing to tell us.

What will I do then with this new found understanding? There are several clients that I am working with that I believe would benefit from releasing the power of their data. The issue though is to get them to realise the gold mine that they are sitting on. We do not know what we do not know and so I asked Esther to have a think about how we can open people’s eyes to the possibilities.

My introduction to R has rekindled my enthusiasm for the topic. I’m no data scientist yet but who knows? One day perhaps…