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In this episode, social and data scientist Aurore Paligot shares her fantastic journey of becoming a data scientist after studying literature and getting a Ph.D. in linguistics first. Using examples from her various work, Aurore tells us why is important to bring together various disciplines to inform and give context when creating data, and to create inclusivity. She explains what data is and who creates it, the of role data visualisation, and what the Tada manifesto does for ethical and responsible use of data.

You may also hear us talking about inclusion in sign language, the concept of the magic glove, AI and societal values we embed into AI, and data feminism.

Alongside examples of exciting projects and collaborations Aurore is working on in her free time, as she tries to understand how using social media data can inform us about how citizens live in smart cities; how data helps us understand the ecosystem of a place to build something with it; how we live in the city in times of pandemics and experience the emptiness of the city, and what is the representation of the city from inside in these times.

Aurore Paligot is a linguist turned data specialist whose focus is to deliver meaningful insights and human-centric visualisations. Her research interests currently lie at the intersection between Tech and Social Sciences and part of her free time is spent exploring Digital Humanities. She is also a R-Ladies enthusiast and a keen Tableau developer.

Aurore holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Namur (Belgium) and a specialisation in Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning from the Ubiqum Code Academy (The Netherlands). She has more than eight years of experience working with qualitative, quantitative and experimental research methods and is currently working as a Data & Analytics Consultant at Positive Thinking Company. You can connect with Aurore on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurorepaligot/ and Twitter @AurorePaligot

Show Notes and Links:
Aurore Paligot’s website: http://aurore.rbind.io/projects/
Data Feminism by Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/data-feminism
Tada Manifesto : https://tada.city/en/home-en/
Interview Barack Obama and Joi Ito, Wired 2016:
https://www.wired.com/2016/10/president-obama-mit-joi-ito-interview/

Music Credits:
Migrant Mother by Mild Maynyrd licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, Creative Commons.

Get in touch with us:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NLEpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nlepodcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NotLoudEnoughPodcast/
Email: notloudenoughpodcast@gmail.com

The following is a computer-generated transcript by https://otter.ai and minimally edited by Aurore Paligot. Please listen to the audio to verify accuracy.

Canan Marasligil  
I'm Canan Marasligil in Amsterdam,

Laura M. Pana  
and I'm Laura M. Pana in Vienna.

Canan Marasligil  
And this is Not Loud Enough, a podcast that delivers authentic conversations about actions we take to build a more inclusive and empowering world, brought to you by two very good friends and their guests across various industries.

So today on the podcast, we are welcoming Aurore Paligot. She holds a PhD in linguistics from the University of Namur in Belgium and a specialization in advanced analytics and machine learning from the Ubiqum Code Academy in the Netherlands. She has more than eight years of experience working with qualitative, quantitative and experimental research methods and is currently working as a data analytics consultant at Positive Thinking Company and she will tell us more about all this. As a linguist turned data specialist she cares about delivering meaningful insights and human centric visualizations. Her research interests currently lie at the intersection between Tech and Social Sciences and part of her free time is spent exploring Digital Humanities. She's also an R Ladies enthusiast and a keen Tableau developer. Oh, you're gonna have to tell me more about that, because I have no idea what a Tableau developer is. Welcome to Not Loud Enough, dear.

Laura M. Pana  
Thank you. Welcome, Aurore. Hi.

Aurore Paligot  
Hi, Laura.

Canan Marasligil  
We are so happy to have you because this is something Laura and I actually know very little about, all these topics. And we are very curious about your experience. But first, we would like our listeners to know more about you because you have a very interesting story. Because what brought you to data analysis from the world of linguistics, from the world of Academia, from Belgium to the Netherlands, and now back to Belgium? We want to know everything about you Aurore, please tell us.

Aurore Paligot  
Well, thanks for having me with you, connecting Brussels, Amsterdam and Vienna together, it feels really good. And I'm happy to share a story that also Canan you've been involved in it for the last chapter. So, it's really nice to think about all the things we shared and how I arrived where I'm at now. A Tableau developer, what is it? Maybe let's start with that. That's my main activity, actually, at the moment. So as a consultant, I'm now working in a telecommunication company. And my role is to develop metrics and to visualize that, to report them. And Tableau is the name of a business intelligence tool that delivers insights through data visualization. And so, I'm really busy with building graphs at the moment, but also thinking about my own practice, as you said, coming from this background in literature and how I can use data and data visualization to build meaning, share meaning and also question the data itself. 

So how did I get there? Well, first of all, the first question is maybe how I got into Academia because it's a story by itself. It was really not part of the plan. When I started my studies, it was well, more than 10 years ago, I started a bachelor in [French and Spanish] literature. I was really hesitant when I started. I wanted to be an illustrator. And then I also wanted to be a biologist. So, you know, arts, literature, science in a way now, as I reflect upon it, are starting to mix again, which feels really nice. But then I started this bachelor in Namur, I was the average student:  interested, I liked literature a lot. It's played a huge part in my life overall. But then I had a really impactful course about linguistics and I would say that this is where it all started for me. And when I mean, started, I mean, seeing myself as a researcher, which is something unknown. Well, from where I come, I think I was the first child of my family to go to the university. So, it's not like we have a representation of what being a doctor means. So, for me, being a doctor, you could either be a medical doctor or a doctor in law, that was my full representation of what it was. But then, luckily, I was in a small university, but that was really involved into research and also had a special program about linguistics, sign language linguistics, and also a specific, a very strong, let's say, theoretical background there about linguistics. It was really, I can say, an intellectual revelation in the sense that I can say that it changed the person that I am now. And then, in fact, what really got me into linguistics is already working with data, linguistic data, as a way to ...  in a very clinical way. So that language was the medium between us and the word that we w