Speaking on Ethics in Modern Data at Improving Edge 2022

Christine and I are looking forward to speaking at the Improving Edge conference, co-presenting our session on Monday, June 6th. Our presentation on “Ethics in Modern Data” features topics relevant to modern developers and data professionals, using historical and current events to discuss ethics in data collection and analysis. 

This is an important topic that lives at the crossroads of our careers, Christine's career in organizational psychology and human resources, my career in data, our work and volunteerism in civic non-profits, and our joint passion for history and civil rights. It's important to understand that when dealing with bias: outcomes matter, intentions don't. 

Our slide deck, references, and citations are available for download.

SQL Server linked server to .xlsx Excel files

A question came up recently concerning whether it was still possible to connect to .xlsx Excel files as  SQL Server linked servers.

Short answer: Yes, it's possible as recently as SQL 2019 using ACE.OLEDB.12.0 provider. 

Medium answer: Yes, but linked servers from SQL Server to Access and Excel are only supported when using the deprecated 32-bit Microsoft.JET.OLEDB.4.0 OLE DB provider. 

Long answer: Yes, but this shouldn't be part of any automated ETL process, please please engineer around using Excel file interchange in any automated data ingestion processes. That said... 

Ethics in Modern Data at Music City Tech 2021

 

On Sept 16, Christine and I presented our joint presentation on Ethics in Modern Data at the Music City Tech 2021 Virtual Conference. Thanks for joining our presentation!

This session explores a variety of considerations that modern data scientists and data practitioners must account for when gathering and presenting data, including topics on bias, construct analysis, and machine learning. We'll discuss examples from history and current headlines.

This is an important topic that lives at the crossroads of our careers, my wife's career in organizational psychology and human resources, my career in data, our work in civic non-profits, and our joint passion for history and civil rights. It's important to understand that when dealing with bias: outcomes matter, intentions don't. 

Our slidedeck and all citations and references will be made available for download here.