The hottest Data Integrity Substack posts right now

Holden Thorp was named by STAT News to the STATUS list of top 50 leaders in the life sciences for his work in research integrity.
Thorp has challenged the stigma around corrections and retractions in scientific publishing, advocating for increasing public trust in the scientific enterprise.
Recognition also goes to the team at Science, including Valda Vinson, Lauren Kmec, Meagan Phelan, and Lisa Chong, for their contributions to research policies and Thorp's work.

NULL values in databases create compatibility issues and add complexity to conditional operations
Sentinel values, like empty strings or placeholders, are similar to NULL values and can lead to incorrect results
Creating sentinel-free schemas involves separating attributes into individual tables and explicitly defining reasons for missing data

Consider using unique constraints for composite keys to ensure data integrity
Splitting tables can be a useful exercise for a cleaner data model
Primary keys serve as both a uniqueness constraint and an identity marker in a table

Apple released an open-source configuration coding language called Pkl to enhance safety and scalability of configurations.
Pkl combines static and general-purpose language features for simplicity, expressiveness, and modularity in configuration coding.
Apple's release of Pkl reflects their increasing involvement in open-source software and aims to provide a versatile solution for configuring infrastructure, applications, and environments.

People want restores, not backups.
Data integrity without regular availability is as good as no data at all.
Defense in depth is crucial for data integrity, including soft deletion, backups, and data validation.

Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Body cameras can serve as a tool for police accountability, but for them to be truly effective, the camera data should be managed by a neutral third party to ensure integrity and prevent misuse.
Having an independent third party manage body camera footage can enhance transparency, credibility, and protection for police officers by reducing suspicions of tampering or misuse.
Simply implementing technology like body cameras is not enough; ensuring the integrity of the data produced by the technology is crucial for its effectiveness and impact.