New post: 'New decade, new tagline: Data & AI for Nature'

content/posts/2024-01-19-new-decade-new-tagline-data-and-ai-for-nature/index.md

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+---
+title: 'New decade, new tagline: Data & AI for Nature'
+author: Yanir Seroussi
+type: post
+date: 2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00
+url: /2024/01/19/new-decade-new-tagline-data-and-ai-for-nature/
+cover:
+  relative: true
+  image: data-and-ai-for-nature-logo.png
+  alt: Logo of Yanir Seroussi's consulting services, depicting a wave and an up-and-to-the-right graph.
+summary: Shifting focus to 'Data & AI for Nature', with more nature-positive content, increased posting frequency, and deeper audience engagement.
+tags:
+  - artificial intelligence
+  - blogging
+  - data science
+  - environment
+  - personal
+---
+
+Exactly a decade ago, on 19th January 2014, I published my first post on this website ([Kaggle beginner tips](https://yanirseroussi.com/2014/01/19/kaggle-beginner-tips/)). In most of the following years, my tagline was _Data Science and Beyond_. While the _beyond_ bit gave me an excuse to write about various topics, [most posts were indeed around data science](https://yanirseroussi.com/tags/data-science/) – an area that [also became broader](https://yanirseroussi.com/2018/07/22/defining-data-science-in-2018/) (arguably to [the point of uselessness](https://yanirseroussi.com/2016/08/04/is-data-scientist-a-useless-job-title/)).
+
+While I've never abandoned my software engineering roots, the broadening of data science means that [many data scientists can no longer be assumed to possess solid engineering skills](https://yanirseroussi.com/2023/06/30/was-data-science-a-failure-mode-of-software-engineering/). Therefore, I changed the tagline last year to _Engineering Data Science & More_. However, this didn't feel quite right – some people now have an adverse reaction to any mention of data science, after negative experiences of failed projects.
+
+Recently, **I switched the tagline to be both broader and narrower: _Data & AI for Nature_.** With this change, **I'm also aiming to revitalise my approach to publishing and audience engagement.**
+
+What does this mean in terms of focus areas?
+* Still publish technical and high-level posts on Data & AI.
+* Aim to highlight nature-positive applications of Data & AI tech.
+
+More importantly, I'd like to improve some things around posting and engagement:
+* Produce content that's useful for those who find the tagline compelling – especially people working on startups and scaleups that are using Data & AI to make a positive impact on nature (i.e., the biosphere and our shared environment).
+* Post more frequently – aiming for weekly from February onwards.
+* Use the mailing list to email full posts, and as a two-way avenue for comments and conversations (as opposed to public comments, which are now closed).
+
+With more frequent posts, what I publish should be quicker to produce and consume. This means I may lean more heavily on showcasing other people's work – possibly through interviews. Other than that, here are some rough post ideas for the immediate future:
+* Series on a minimum viable data stack
+* Best practices and opinions on a startup's first data hire
+* Answering questions people ask on the future of data science
+* My experience as a Data Tech Lead with Work on Climate
+* Nature isn't only Green: De-politicising nature positivity
+* Use cases for ChatGPT and other LLMs
+* Catching up on different aspects of LLMs / AI tech
+* Opportunities for Data & AI professionals in the energy transition
+
+Historically, for each post I've published, about 5-10 ideas went unpublished. I hope that by aiming for shorter and lower-friction publishing, more posts will see the light of day.
+
+My long-term aims are to learn by publishing, do more nature-positive Data & AI work myself, and help others in the space. Rather than sinking into doom and gloom, I'd like to focus on positive applications of Data & AI tech that make our world better (in the spirit of publications like [Volts](https://www.volts.wtf/)).
+
+**Call to action:**
+* If this all sounds uninteresting to you, you're welcome to unsubscribe – no hard feelings.
+* If you know people I should talk to and feature in future posts, I'd appreciate an intro.
+* If you have any suggestions, please send them by replying to any of my emails, or [contact me through other means](https://yanirseroussi.com/contact/) – I'd love to hear from you.