This page lists books or other published material that are recommended by SCSC members as being influential to the way they think about safety.
If you would like to recommend a book, film, TV programme or anything else please send the details of the item together with your recommendation to recommend
scsc.uk.
A practical guide to making good decisions in a world of missing data
In the era of big data, it is easy to imagine that we have all the information we need to make good decisions. But in fact the data we have are never complete, and may be only the tip of the iceberg. Just as much of the universe is composed of dark matter, invisible to us but nonetheless present, the universe of information is full of dark data that we overlook at our peril. In Dark Data, data expert David Hand takes us on a fascinating and enlightening journey into the world of the data we don't see. Dark Data explores the many ways in which we can be blind to missing data and how that can lead us to conclusions and actions that are mistaken, dangerous, or even disastrous. Examining a wealth of real-life examples, from the Challenger shuttle explosion to complex financial frauds, Hand gives us a practical taxonomy of the types of dark data that exist and the situations in which they can arise, so that we can learn to recognize and control for them. In doing so, he teaches us not only to be alert to the problems presented by the things we don’t know, but also shows how dark data can be used to our advantage, leading to greater understanding and better decisions. Today, we all make decisions using data. Dark Data shows us all how to reduce the risk of making bad ones.What this book is all about is the data you don’t have – but probably exists – and the effect the missing data has on your decisions. Several categories are identified, and it makes reference to Rumsfeld’s Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns. I took this theme and asked the question: how does this apply to safety assurance? I realised it does in a big way. Important information is often missing in safety cases and safety analyses and it can have a big effect on the conclusions, see https://scsc.uk/scsc-160.
Thinking the ‘Dark Data’ way has unexpectedly led to an opening of my eyes to all the data that is not available in the world and what this means for us. The Covid-19 pandemic had ‘Dark Data’ in spades – in fact we never knew who was actually infected at any point in time – making decisions about management of the pandemic hard. I was recommended Dark Data and David Hand by a colleague, Bill Blackburn, and I am very grateful for it.