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With open data on governance, economics, traffic, geographic information rapidly increasing, there is a clear need for free and open tools for analyzing it. Making the analytical tools widely available and facilitating their use will increase the value of the public data resources.
If you asked me what a data scientist was, I would say someone who can bridge the raw data and the analysis - and make it accessible. It's a democratising role; by bringing the data to the people, you make the world just a little bit better
Simon Rogers, Guardian.