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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
The use of the O.C.E.A.N model and Big Data
The use of Big Data is becoming increasingly evident in the world around us. It was even
used in the recent elections held in the USA which resulted in the startling outcome of Donald
Trump becoming the new president. The company behind Trump’s online campaign was
Cambridge Analytica ― a Big Data firm. This is according to an article published by Hannes
Grassegger and Mikael Krogerus entitled: “The data that turned the world upside down”. The
article appeared in 2016 in Das Magazin, a respected German magazine. An English
translation of their article (a very interesting read) can be found at
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win. I give a short
summary here.
Cambridge Analytica used a psychometric model that measure five psychological traits of
personality. The model is known as O.C.E.A.N. which is an acronym for the personality traits
of Openness (how open are you to new experiences?), Conscientiousness (how much of a
perfectionist are you?), Extroversion (how sociable are you?), Agreeableness (how
considerate and cooperative are you?) and Neuroticism (how sensitive are you?). Measures
of these traits were collected from people who completed online personality tests. These
measures were then correlated with demographic variables such as gender, age and
location, as well as the person’s online behaviour, such as what the person “liked”, shared
and posted on Facebook (many online quizzes demand access to private information as a
prerequisite for the user taking the personality test).
Read more and decide whether or not Big Data has the ability to change the world ―
for good or for bad.
Danie Uys - President of SASA
Editorial
The year is in full swing! Welcome to all.
In the president’s column Danie Uys addresses the concept of Big Data. This issue has
information on the 2017 SASA conference to be hosted by the University of the Free State in
November this year. The Department of Statistics at Stellenbosch University shares their 70th
birthday celebrations. WD Schutte sent a report on the 4th African International Conference
on Statistics held in Limpopo.
The post graduate competition from the Education Committee is announced. Meet Stefan
Britz, a young statistician. A tribute to Nico Laubscher is also included.
Also take note of the calls for the Sichel medal, fellows and honorary members, and a
thought leader Deadlines: 15 August 2017. The seminar program of the University of
Stellenbosch for the second semester is included. Please take note of the vacancies on the
SASA EC from 2018. Nominate someone if you think he/she would like doing the job.
Welcome to a record number of new SASA members!
Mardi
jankomd@unisa.ac.za
https://www.facebook.com/SASAstatistics/.
Contact details, submissions and advertising
Thought Leader Award
SASA will once again award a Thought Leader Award in 2017 to one of its members due to
the generous sponsorship from SAS South Africa. A Though Leader is a person who has
made an impact within the South African statistical community across a wide range of
activities and has made significant contributions in academia, industry, government and
elsewhere. Contributions and activities are evaluated over the last 10 years for the nominated
person. Deadline: 15 August 2017
Read more
Welcome - new members!
Our community is growing - click here to see the list of our new members. Especially welcome to our new
student members.
See who the new members are
Vacancies on the EC: call for nominations
We need your help: please nominate SASA members for Vice-president, Sponsorship, Treasurer and
Managing Editor of the Journal
Nomination form
Call for nominations and submissions: the Herbert Sichel
Medal
We need your help: please nominate SASA members for Vice-president, The Herbert Sichel Medal is
awarded annually to the member (or members) of the Association who has (have) published the best
statistical paper during the previous year. Accordingly, members are invited to nominate or submit papers
for consideration for the 2017 Herbert Sichel Medal.
More information
Stellenbosch Seminar Programme Semester 2
Programme
Spotlight on Prof Nico Laubsher
Nico Francois Laubscher was born in Paarl, 1934. His childhood was spent on a farm near
the small town of Tadcaster at Vaalhartz in the Northern Cape, where he matriculated in 1951
at the Vaalhartz High School. Between 1952 and 1960 he studied at Potchefstroom
University, completing BSc (Applied Mathematics), BSc (Hons) (Mathematics), MSc
(Mathematics) and in 1960 DSc (Mathematical Statistics). His supervisors were HS Steyn
and JM de Wet. His dissertation was titled "On transformations for the stabilization of
variance and the normalization of distribution functions".
Read more
Feedback on the 4th African International Conference on Statistics
Left: Discussions during the poster session. Middle: Dr Barry Nussbaum
(President of the American Statistical Association) giving his address.
Right: Awarding of prizes during the gala dinner
The 4th African International Conference on Statistics was hosted on 20-23
March 2017 by the University of Limpopo in collaboration with the University of
Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. The conference was held at The
Ranch Resort just outside Polokwane with the central theme being “New
Methods of Data Analysis & Statistical Applications to Big Data”.
The conference had a wealth of international experts that presented keynote
addresses during the 4-day conference. As chief guest, Dr. Barry Nussbaum -
President of the American Statistical Association - delighted the delegates with
his very interesting address titled “It’s Not What We Said, It’s Not What They
Heard, It’s What They Say They Heard”. As main argument, he highlighted the
importance of conveying clear and understandable messages to any audience
based on thorough statistical analyses. In addition to Dr Nussbaum, 21 other
international experts (from the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Cameroon, Portugal,
Germany, Belgium and the Philippines) gave keynote addresses during this
thought-provoking conference.
An important panel discussion took place (led by Dr. Malick Mbodj from the
Bowie State University, USA) regarding the retention of African Statisticians in
Africa. The focus of the discussion centred on establishing greater collaboration
between African and international universities in terms of the training of
statisticians on tertiary level. It was agreed that Dr. Mbodj, Prof. Yehenew Kifle
(University of Limpopo) and Prof. Loyiso Nongxa (Wits/NRF) will be the driving
forces of this initiative.
During a splendid gala dinner, a number of prizes were awarded to the student
poster competition winners, sponsored by SAS and the UMBC. Furthermore, Dr
Sinha (UMBC) entertained the delegates with a few (more) card tricks and too
soon it was time to say farewell to all the delegates and the plethora of
international experts.
The 4th African International Conference on Statistics was a great success and
presented an exceptional opportunity to rub shoulders with distinguished
international Statisticians. It is highly recommended that SASA members should
attend the 5th African International Conference on Statistics. We hope to see
many SASA members there.
70th Anniversary of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Stellenbosch
Speakers at US 70 birthday
Front (left to right): Dr Wiesner Vos, Prof Michael Greenacre, Prof Niel Le
Roux, Mnr Dirk Jooste, Prof Stan Du Plessis.
Back (left to right): Proff Trevor Hastie, Paul Mostert, Willie Conradie en Mnr
Wynand Louw.
The seventieth anniversary of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the
University of Stellenbosch was celebrated on Saturday, 26 November 2016. It was a beautiful
spring day in Stellenbosch. The seminar covered technical and popular topics which were
presented by young, well- known alumni of the Department, as well as international
academics with a South African connection. About 100 alumni, staff, colleagues from
Universities in South Africa and abroad, donors and friends of the Department attended the
festivities.
Read the full story
Call for nominations for Honorary Members and Fellows of the Association
According to the constitution of the South African Statistical Association individuals can be
elected to the status of Honorary Member or Fellow of the association. These are described
as follows:
Honorary Member:
Life-long honorary membership of the Association can be bestowed on an individual who has
made an exceptional contribution to the knowledge of statistics or to the advancement of the
Association and who has retired from his/her ordinary position.
Fellow:
Any enfranchised member who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of
statistical science may be nominated and elected Fellow of the Association. In the selection
of Fellows, the nature and quality of the candidate’s contribution to the advancement of
statistical sciences shall be taken into consideration.
Nominations for Honorary members and Fellows, appropriately motivated, and put forward by
at least two enfranchised members of the association, should be submitted confidentially,
before 15 August 2017 to the Chair of the SASA Fellowship Committee, Francesca Little,
Francesca.Little@uct.ac.za
Young statistician: Stephan Britz
Photo: Stephan Britz
Stefan Britz is a promising young statistician employed at the University of Cape Town. He
teaches Statistics at various levels and he is supervising postgraduate students with
interesting research questions, ranging from cricket research to statistics in forensics. Stefan
is a proud member of SASA; he was the brains behind the pub quiz at the most recent SASA
conference. I recently had the opportunity to ask him some questions relating to his career;
read about his passion for stats.
Education News
2017 SASA Postgraduate Paper Competition,
sponsored by Stats SA
It is with great excitement that the SASA Education Committee hereby
announces the 2017 SASA Postgraduate Paper Competition! This competition
is open to all students enrolled for Masters or PhD’s in Statistics at South
African tertiary institutions. Both full and part-time students are eligible.
Stats SA will be funding the competition as part of their drive to provide financial
assistance to deserving students who show promise and diligence in their
statistical work. A person entering the Postgraduate Paper Competition may
submit their paper to a journal but only after the competition i.e. only papers
that have not previously been submitted to a journal may be entered in
the competition. Note however that this restriction does not apply to the SASA
Conference Proceedings, i.e. a paper entered for this competition may
simultaneously be submitted to the SASA Conference Proceedings.
Where can I find out more about SASA and the various competitions? SASA
website: http://www.sastat.org.za
Click here for the student invite: Competitions | Scholarships | Job
Opportunities | Conferences
SASA Education Committee
Contact person: Karl Huang
E-mail: chun-kai.huang@uct.ac.za
Announcement:
A pdf version of this newsletter will be available on the SASA webpage.
Last date of submission for news items are as follows:
May newsletter: 1 April
September newsletter: 1 August
December/January newsletter: 1 December
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