Datafarts

Datafarts is a pejorative term used in data science and information technology to describe a practice or phenomenon in which large volumes of data and dashboards are produced or shared without clear relevance to decision making. It is used both as a cultural meme and, occasionally, as a tongue‑in‑cheek product name.

The term blends “data” with a crude term for flatulence and emerged in online tech communities in the 2010s as a lighthearted critique of analytics practices that emphasize metric volume over clarity. It is not a formal discipline but recurs in discussions of dashboards, visualizations, and data governance.

In practice, datafarts appear as dashboards with dozens or hundreds of metrics, telemetry streams, or reports that bury conclusions under numbers. Proponents argue that data abundance can reveal subtle trends; critics say it invites noise, obscures decision‑relevant signals, and can erode trust when visuals mislead.

Responses to datafarts emphasize disciplined design: selecting a small set of action‑oriented metrics, annotating dashboards, and aligning metrics with business questions. Anti‑fart practices include data hygiene and governance, along with storytelling that ties data to decisions rather than charts for their own sake.

Related topics include data visualization, dashboard design, data storytelling, data governance, and data overload.