Reading
The material on the following sites is important and should be read either before or after the text in this section.
Chapter 1. Introduction: What Is Data Science?
This web article discusses the new field of data science, and presents the tasks and goals of data science, what data scientists do, and the skills and knowledge they need. The article is illustrated with several intuitive graphs describing the different fields of knowledge that contribute to data science. The role of social science in data science is also discussed.
Read: Chapter 1. Introduction: What Is Data Science?
Is Data Science a Humanities Field?
Rebecca Sealfon
July 20, 2021
This web article argues that data science belongs to the humanities, and not just to engineering and science. Although analyzing data is in the domain of science, and therefore quantitative, obtaining the data in the first place and making decisions about the nature of its analysis is a qualitative task, and therefore one belonging to the humanities. Data science therefore blends “two cultures”.