Category Archives: Critical Thinking

Are Digital Skills Useful in the Middle-Skill Job Market?

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Kevin Murnane

It’s mid-March of 2015 and unemployment in the US is at it’s lowest point (5.5%) since May of 2008. But you don’t have a job. You also don’t have a college degree. Is there a decent job with a future for you … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Economy | Tagged Burning Glass, college degree, digital skills, economy, high school diploma, jobs, middle skill jobs | Leave a comment

Changing Musical Tastes

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Kevin Murnane

Paraphrasing the philosopher Immanuel Kant, good data without a good infographic is blind, a good infographic without good data is empty. The Music Timeline is a multi-layered, interactive infographic developed by Research at Google that is beautifully designed to illustrate the popularity of … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Information visualization, Music | Tagged area graph, critical thinking, Google Play Music, information visualization, music, music streaming, music timeline, musical genres, Research at Google | Leave a comment

Why Did Your Diet Stop Working?

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Kevin Murnane

Does this sound familiar? You decide it’s time to lose some weight. There’s a hot new diet you’ve been hearing about and people you know swear it’s working for them. You buy a book about the hot new diet; maybe you … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Health, Weight loss | Tagged calories, critical thinking, diet, dieting, metabolic homeostasis, weight loss, weight loss industry | Leave a comment

How Reliable Are Conclusions Based on Social Media Data?

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Kevin Murnane

The popularity of social media, the digitization of large databases, smartphone, laptop and tablet apps that gather user-generated data, the internet of things, and the reliance on cloud storage has increased the availability of very large data sets for both discovery … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Social media | Tagged big data, critical thinking, facebook, instagram, linkedin, Pew Research Center, pinterest, representative sample, social media, twitter | 2 Comments

What Does Xbox One Sales Have “More Than Tripled” Mean?

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

We’re often told that something increased or decreased by a certain percentage. This isn’t very useful unless we’re also given some additional information. Here’s an example. In mid November online media and news websites that cover gaming and digital technology … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Gaming, Numbers Game | Tagged critical thinking, Forbes, numbers game, percentages, Playstation 4, Playstation 4 sales, Xbox One, Xbox One sales, Yusuf Mehdi | 1 Comment