two faces of data science

Two Faces of Data Science:Assisting Humans, Replacing Humans

Andrey Sebrant

YandexDirector, Product Marketing

Lviv, UkraineOctober 2014

Crossing the Trough

The period of disillusionment is dangerous,please take special care ;)

│ http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/08/difference-engine-2

What old tradition tells us

│ From ChaosBook.org & Wikipedia

Data Science != Analytics

Classic:

Deep understanding

Human mind

Building models

Long process(sometimes months and years)

Modern:

• Machine learning

• Huge computations

• Predictive algorithms

• Real time (often less than a second)

Data Science != Analytics

Classic:

•Assisting

Modern:

•Replacing

Data Science != Analytics

Classic:

• Human readable output

Modern:

• Machine readable output

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/08/the-question-to-ask-before-hiring-a-data-scientist/

Here come Psychology

› Do you like anti-spam protection at your e-mail service?

› Do you like context ads next to your private e-mails?

Good news

When we do “reverse engineering” of decision-making by a machine, we often receive:

│ Sanity check│ Useful insights

Look-A-Like in Ad Targeting(and what do they search)

Case study Yandex Crypta

11

12

Light TV-viewers: methodology

User Survey

• TNS forms• 4 questions

• Panel survey by OMI

• 28’000 users

Cookie matching OMI-Yandex

• Matching OMI panel users and Yandex visitors

Online behavior patterns across the Internet

• Crypta technology

• 200 factors of user behavior

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Heavy TV viewers Light TV viewers

«сбербанк», «коммунальный», «шарлотка», «выкройка»,

«биглион», «irr», «заработать»

«книга», «переводчик», «словарь», «формула»,

«японский», «французский», «немецкий», «такси»

Больше запросов кириллицей Много запросов латиницей

14

Heavy TV viewers Light TV viewers

«тнт», «дом-2», «телепрограмма», «стс»

«С++», «wi-fi», «фотошоп», «torrent»,

«adobe»

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Heavy TV viewers Light TV viewers

«спартак», «цска», «пиво» «загранпаспорт», «авиабилет», «виза», «самолет», «аэропорт», «ржд»

Finding A Perfect Mate(and insights in psychology)

Case Study eHarmony

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• Bigger does not mean better (in terms of contact probability)

• And beautiful landscape does not help much ;)

Choose the userpic carefully

Showing you exactly what you like to click

Respond to a person, not a device

Case Study Landing Page and Action Button

Responsive design?

1.Antic: «I said THIS one!»

2.Advanced: «We did A/B testing»

3.Data driven:«We know which one you click with higher probability»

No.Design, tailored for you (and your engagement)

Jpg, Png

Important takeaways

│ 1. Use data for making instant algorithmic decisions whenever it’s possible

│ 2. Mine data to get insights which can make your product unique: data will help you understand your users better than any traditional research

│ 3. Learn which decisions are better made by machines, and which – by humans. And never mix the two ;)

Thank you! ;)

asebrant@yandex-team.ru

+7 (985) 762-4925 @asebrant

https://www.facebook.com/asebrant

Andrey Sebrant