• Question: what kind of magical feeling dose reducing data give you

    Asked by to Sarah on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sarah Casewell

      Sarah Casewell answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Sometimes it’s not very magical at all – the computer doesn’t work or the programmes won’t work properly! However, just knowing that you are the first person to look at this star is a great feeling.

      I think the idea it feels magical is watching the data come from something that looks really like nothing. If you’ve ever watched someone develop film from a non-digital camera, you take some paper, and then with some chemicals and the negative the image gradually appears on the paper. Reducing data feels like that, watching something emerge from the nothing, and it does seem like magic!

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