The Four Major Activities of Data Science / Machine Learning

Recently there was a post on LinkedIn by Erle Hall, lead for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the California Department of Education (CDE) with a diagram about machine learning. That diagram had 6 steps: Select Data, Model Data, Validate Model, Test Model, Use the Model, and Tune Model. Those 6 steps mostly encapsulate what traditionally has been called the "data mining" phase. But there are 3 other important phases, which I will call "data surfing", "data wrangling" and "data artistry". In the next few posts, I'll dive into each of these 4 steps, and give a basic explanation of what each step does, and why the step is important.