A brief introduction to Useful Data Artifacts — and the next generation of data analysis systems
By: Jesse Paquette
Tags: Analytics, Data Visualization, Software Development, Data, Data Science

Data analysis systems should be systematic, like vending machines. Your question or request goes in, and a Useful Data Artifact comes out.

For starters, I’d like to acknowledge Josh Dunn for first using the term “Useful Data Artifacts” in a conversation over lunch at the Boston Seaport a few weeks back. I’d been using the term “Data Artifacts” for some time, but what’s the value of one, if it’s not useful?

What is a Useful Data Artifact?

First and foremost, a Useful Data Artifact is an actual digital thing. It is not an idea, a thought, a realization, or an insight. It’s not in your brain — it’s a structured data object, created when you or an algorithm do something with data.

More technically — a Useful Data Artifact is a nonrandom subset or derivative digital product of a data source, created by an intelligent agent (human or software) after performing a function on the data source.

Our industry loves acronyms, so I’m going to use UDATs to refer to Useful Data Artifacts from here on out. It’s fun to say — give it a try.

Why the generation and management of UDATs are critically important right now.

Because data is expanding at an exponential rate, both in scale and complexity.

Because people have far more questions of — and needs for — data sources than current processes and systems can handle. There is a significant Last Mile Problem .

. Because the state-of-the-art outputs from data analysis software are visualizations and dashboards, which are highly overrated — specifically because visualizations fail to generate UDATs .

. Because the investment you put into collecting, storing and utilizing data sources is wasted if you don’t have a systematic process for creating recordable, attributable, reproducible and useful outputs from analysis.

outputs from analysis. Because you don’t want your organization’s discoveries and trade secrets sequestered in the brains of your employees or scattered about in different places or incompatible digital formats.

Within most organizations, data artifacts are scattered around like this.

Some key properties of UDATs:

Digitally storable in a structured schema.

in a structured schema. Immutable .

. With provenance — i.e. explicitly attributable to the persons and processes that created it.

— i.e. explicitly attributable to the persons and processes that created it. FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

(Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Useful! For reporting, making decisions, applying to other data sources or exporting for use in external systems.

You are probably already creating UDATs now, here are some examples:

Analysis parameters — the arguments and settings by which you configure and run an analysis — i.e., the question or request you asked of the data.

— the arguments and settings by which you configure and run an analysis — i.e., the question or request you asked of the data. Cohorts — subsets of entities, otherwise known as clusters or segments.

— subsets of entities, otherwise known as clusters or segments. Vohorts — subsets of variables, otherwise known as signatures or feature sets.

— subsets of variables, otherwise known as signatures or feature sets. Query results — products of structured queries and functions, often producing derivative tables.

— products of structured queries and functions, often producing derivative tables. Summaries — results of an analysis on a single cohort, utilizing one or more variables.

— results of an analysis on a single cohort, utilizing one or more variables. Comparisons — results of analysis comparing cohorts, utilizing one or more variables.

— results of analysis comparing cohorts, utilizing one or more variables. Similarities — results of finding similarities or differences between entities, e.g. nearest-neighbors.

— results of finding similarities or differences between entities, e.g. nearest-neighbors. Correlations — results of finding similarities or differences between variables.

— results of finding similarities or differences between variables. Descriptive Models — results of algorithms more complicated than the simple processes described above.

— results of algorithms more complicated than the simple processes described above. Projection Models — results of unsupervised analysis which show relationships between known cohorts or identify new cohorts.

— results of unsupervised analysis which show relationships between known cohorts or identify new cohorts. Predictive Models — results of supervised algorithms that can predict values or categories for new entities.

— results of supervised algorithms that can predict values or categories for new entities. Systems Models — results of combining cohorts and vohorts with external knowledge bases and ontologies.

Tidy that stuff up.

How to make software systems and processes produce, manage and utilize UDATs:

Systematic parameterization and explicit recording of user intent during analysis — i.e. please stop making hyper-interactive dashboards that don’t record anything.

during analysis — i.e. please stop making hyper-interactive dashboards that don’t record anything. A robust, universal, open schema for digital storage of the different types of UDATs.

for digital storage of the different types of UDATs. Provenance — know what, who, when, why and how a UDAT was created.

— know what, who, when, why and how a UDAT was created. Make UDATs FAIR — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, with important exceptions for keeping trade secrets and sensitive data private.

— Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, with important exceptions for keeping trade secrets and sensitive data private. Make UDATs shareable — and ideally understandable for humans.

— and ideally for humans. Make UDATs systematically deployable — i.e. in the case of predictive models.

— i.e. in the case of predictive models. Enable utilization of UDATs in subsequent analyses on the same data source, and on different data sources, where applicable.

on the same data source, and on different data sources, where applicable. Facilitate transfer of UDATs between software systems that would utilize them.

What did I miss?

There’s clearly a lot more to discuss around the definition, utilization, and value of Useful Data Artifacts as the industry evolves.

I should note that at Tag.bio we’ve been producing, storing and utilizing UDATs for some time now — we just never had a good name for them.

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