Data Scientists are Sexy

Okay so that's not exactly what the article says but close enough.

The most recent issue of Harvard Business Review published an article titled "Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century".  Well worth the read as it talks about how data scientists are the hot new job because there is high demand and not many of them out there.  It also discusses the combination of skills that are needed, the companies that are recruiting for them and how they're being used.  The are some interesting comments, as well.

ICPSR Data Fair On Election Data

ICPSR will be hosting their online 2012 Data Fair on October 1-3.  This year's theme is "Analyzing Election Data with ICPSR" and "the series of webcasts will focus on election data held in ICPSR's archives, and how to use them for analysis and teaching."

From the announcement:

The event is designed for the social sciences data community at large including researchers, librarians, teaching faculty, students, and policymakers from around the world who are interested in the use of social science data.
The first day will provide an orientation to ICPSR's services, including a tutorial on navigating our newly redesigned Web site. Other topics will include the American National Election Studies, minority voting behavior, and using election data in classroom instruction.

The event is free and open to everyone. The tentative schedule of sessions, with links to register for the webcasts, is available here (NOTE: all times are Eastern):

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/membership/datafair/schedule.html