Continuing from my last post on this subject, I found some more examples of influential data sets from a page on FlowingData.com. I’m expanding beyond government data in this post.
“Baseball Statistics: In 2003, Michael M. Lewis’ book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, was released. As a result, the way baseball teams were built changed completely. Before Moneyball, teams relied on insider information and the choice of players was highly subjective. However, in 2002, a year before the book was published, the Oakland A’s had $41 million in salary and had to figure out how to compete against teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox who spent over $100 million in salaries.”
“Megan’s Law: Since 1994, those who have been convicted of sex crimes against children have been required to register with local law enforcement. That data is made public so that people know about sex offenders in their area. Mash that data with Google Maps. Lo and behold, parents became instantly aware of caution areas and some might never look at their neighbor the same way ever again, while sex offenders start declaring themselves homeless.”
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