Our recent event, “ChatGPT: ‘Next Big Thing’ or passing trend?” sparked a lively discussion on the potential impact of this ground-breaking AI technology on society and the future of work. Joining us on our panel was Dr Gina Helfrich, from the Centre for Technomoral Futures at Edinburgh Futures institute, Alex Velinov, CTO at Tag Digital, […]
Tech blog
Marking ChatGPT’s Homework with TDL’s Data Scientists
Alfred Tiley, Data Scientist at The Data Lab, reviews ChatGPT’s predictions on data trends for 2023 Recently The Data Lab team asked ChatGPT to write a blog post on the data trends for 2023. While this is unlikely to be the first or the last time that ChatGPT is called on to help with an […]
Back to Basics – What are the different types of machine learning?
In our new series, Back to Basics, we aim to simplify answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about data technologies and data science. Following on from Joanna McKenzie’s blog, ‘What is machine learning?’, our Data Scientist Anselma Foxton talks about the different types of machine learning. In this article: Types of machine […]
Making a reproducible RShiny application
In a previous post we wrote an article about an RShiny app for exploring traffic accidents in Scotland. Unfortunately, if we wanted to run this application today, we would face compatibility issues. Imagine, if as an organisation we decided to deploy this application somewhere else or a colleague, client or any user wanted to run […]
Back to Basics: What is Machine Learning?
In our new series, Back to Basics, we aim to simplify the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions around data technologies and data science. In this blog, The Data Lab’s Principal Data Scientist Joanna McKenzie draws on her experience as an analyst and team leader to tackle some of the most popular […]
Data Storytelling
I’ve been thinking a lot about story lately – it’s such a key point about really engaging people with your work. Storytelling with facts, helping people to really understand a situation, is one way to describe a key data science skill. As part of this I’ve been looking into aspects of the storytelling craft, such […]
Can we completely automate forecasting for industry?
Guest blog by Nick Finch, CTO at DataPA Ltd We’re delighted to be able to bring you a technical blog from another of our speakers who would have been speaking at DataTech20 back in March. To do any sort of business planning, you need forecasting. Our reason for existing is to help our customers […]
Digital security and how not to do it
Guest blog by Colin Gillespie, Data Scientist at Jumping Rivers Colin was due to speak at DataTech20, which was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. We’re delighted that he has put together this brilliant blog on digital security for us. How not to do security Digital security is everywhere. Unfortunately, bad digital security is also everywhere. Take […]
Why practical data analytics is still so painful…and how we can help
Guest blog by Professor Chris Williams, University of Edinburgh. Chris was due to speak at DataTech20, which was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. This article is based on the presentation that was prepared for DataTech20 in Glasgow and The Turing Present: AI UK in London, both of which were due to be held in March […]
Understanding Customer Behaviour Using Uplift Modelling
Guest technical blog by Garry McFarlane, Senior Analyst and Dr. Paul van Loon, Head of Analytics, both at Forecast. Garry and Paul were scheduled to speak at DataTech20, and have kindly presented us with this blog instead. Enjoy. What is uplift modelling? Targeted marketing is so commonplace, nearly synonymous to online marketing, that consumers […]
