{"id":5142,"date":"2024-08-26T08:14:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/?p=5142"},"modified":"2024-08-26T08:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:14:40","slug":"data-science-accelerator-its-about-the-journey-not-the-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/2024\/08\/26\/data-science-accelerator-its-about-the-journey-not-the-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"Data Science Accelerator – It\u2019s about the journey not the destination"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Guest blog post by Lilly Herridge, Senior Assistant Statistician, National Records of Scotland.\"\"<\/a><\/strong>

Next week sees the launch of the 2024 Data Science Accelerator, a public sector programme that supports innovation in the use and analysis of data. I\u2019m now part of the judging panel that selects projects for this programme but back in 2018, I was a participant on the very first cohort.

The project that I took to the 2018 accelerator related to text data in forms. Being on the programme gave me the opportunity to explore machine learning supported by a mentor. With their guidance over the 12 weeks I learned how to train a machine learning algorithm known as a Random Forest with sample data. This protected development time coupled with the support of my mentor allowed me to progress my understanding much more quickly than if I\u2019d been trying to carve out time in amongst my day to day work.

In the end, the approach I\u2019d explored wasn\u2019t adopted but as anyone reading this who is familiar with working with Agile development approaches will know, there\u2019s always valuable learning that comes from testing our ideas even if we don\u2019t deploy the solution. So I\u2019d like to take this opportunity to wish all our 2024 participants every success on their accelerator journey and to remind them that it\u2019s about the journey not the destination.

And if you are reading this and thinking you\u2019ve got an idea that you\u2019d like to dedicate more time to then this might offer you a way to take your idea forward. It won\u2019t be long before recruitment begins for 2025 so drop a line to the programme team at DataScienceAccelerator@gov.scot<\/a> and hopefully I\u2019ll see your application next year.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blog post by Lilly Herridge, Senior Assistant Statistician, National Records of Scotland. Next week sees the launch of the 2024 Data Science Accelerator, a public sector programme that supports innovation in the use and analysis of data. I\u2019m now part of the judging panel that selects projects for this programme but back in 2018,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,422,6],"tags":[328,408,410],"class_list":["post-5142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data","category-data-science-accelerator","category-digital-scotland","tag-data-science-accelerator","tag-national-records-of-scotland","tag-public-sector-data"],"yoast_head":"\nData Science Accelerator - It\u2019s about the journey not the destination - Digital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.gov.scot\/digital\/2024\/08\/26\/data-science-accelerator-its-about-the-journey-not-the-destination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Data Science Accelerator - It\u2019s about the journey not the destination - Digital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Guest blog post by Lilly Herridge, Senior Assistant Statistician, National Records of Scotland. 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