4 ms·

Typically, when one does a university research study in the US involving human subjects there are something like IRB requirements (e.g. [http://humansubjects.st

• idm 10y ago
  It's a synthetic world population derived from public population data; these are not real people (i.e. human subjects) and the source raw data were not identifiable or even individual-level data. I nevertheless think there are a number of issues raised by the possibility of a human population database, but to be clear: pplapi does not have actual people in it. I am currently writing about some of these issues.
  • ideonexus 10y ago
    Until I looked at the actual data, I didn't realize this was synthetic either. The developer might want to make that clear in the header text. "Virtual Database" doesn't make this clear. I think "virtual database synthesizing the entire human population" might make it clearer. That said. This is very impressive and has my imagination tingling with ways to apply it.
    • bayonetz 10y ago
      Yeah, maybe just "Simulated ..." or "Synthetic ..."?
    • philtar 10y ago
      It was very clear to me from the title. And secondly, I don't believe the author should pander to people who won't even visit the site and instead judge from titles.
      • divbit 10y ago
        I think virtual can either mean: stored /accessed on a computer, or simulated on a computer, which is what confused me.
        • basch 10y ago
          where do you hear virtual used to mean digital data and not simulated or emulated. a virtual machine is a synthetic digital representation of physical hardware. virtual reality is a fake representation of reality. virtual memory is a simulacron of ram. a virtual assistant is not a dedicated helper. i just googled the word virtual not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. in effect or essence, if not in fact or reality; imitated, simulated. simulated in a computer or online. I suppose a counter example could be a virtual library, which is a digital representation of a library, not a simulation, but still the word virtual is not wrong in this context, if anything is confusing it is the word order. maybe A Database of Virtual ... instead of A Virtual Database
          • ideonexus 10y ago
            How to make it clear what this data represents is a semantic conundrum. If I take a "virtual" tour of New York City, I expect to see an actual geographically-accurate approximation of New York City, not buildings randomly generated based on the probabilities of buildings having various dimensions of those found in New York City strewn across a google map. What do we call such a thing? After reading the author's paper, I think "synthetic" is most appropriate because we would be synthesizing a city like NYC, but not a virtual representation of NYC. In fact, I find the word "virtual" in this context somewhat misleading.
            • basch 10y ago
              if virtual means simulated, I dont find it misleading. simulated demographic population statistics implies an approximation.
          • idm 10y ago
  • popobobo 10y ago
    Yeah, this almost got me. Until I start to see a bunch of 3-7 years olds making 6 digits. I have no idea toddler modeling could make this much. Me: Mom, y didn't you sign me up for this? Mom: Cuz you never asked for it... Me: Uhhhh, I was little. I barely knew anything.
  • SoftwareCSpace 10y ago
    I did look at the data, and wasn't sure if it was real people, or what the source was. I then searched the site, and couldn't find a description of what the project was, nor the data it contained. Finally I came here to the comments to find out. I consider the site a failure if it doesn't answer obvious questions about what it is, an unfortunate failure that is common in new 'lean startup' pages etc - In defense against these sites that wants me to sign up etc before I know what it is, I simply forget them and their name and never mention them to anyone. It helps me sleep knowing I'm only supporting honest sites that explain what they are and what they do .. ymmv