The University of Washington had a Spring 2017 class entitled “Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data” and makes available the lecture materials at www.callingbullshit.org (Syllabus, Videos, Tools, Case Studies, FAQ).
Lecture titles:
- Introduction to bullshit
- Spotting bullshit
- The natural ecology of bullshit
- Causality
- Statistical traps
- Visualization
- Big data
- Publication bias
- Predatory publishing and scientific misconduct
- The ethics of calling bullshit.
- Fake news
- Refuting bullshit
The course (Twitter: @callin_bull) was created by (mathematical) biology professor Carl T. Bergstrom (Twitter: @CT_Bergstrom) and associate professor data science and ‘science of science’ Jevin West (Twitter: @JevinWest), both affiliated with the University of Washington.
Coverage at The New Yorker: How to Call B.S. on Big Data: A Practical Guide (this link was posted at Hacker News).
Coverage at Salon.com: Explosive growth in bulls**t studies! The latest academic frontier in the age of You Know Who .
Further reading:
- 2019-06-12: The BS-Industrial Complex of Phony A.I. – How hyping A.I. enriched investors, fooled the media, and confused the hell out of the rest of us (by Mike Mallazzo, published at Medium)
- 2011-05-24: Ziliak/McCloskey’s “Statement on the proprieties of Substantive Significance” (this blog)
- 2011-05-22: Statistical Significance != Scientific Significance (this blog)
- 2011-02-06: Conditions for Considering Scientific Claims (this blog)
EOF