September 2012
9 posts
Why Don't Researchers Care About Tumblr?
I read a social media study yesterday from a research agency which had my eyebrows rising a bit. It was a global study talking about people’s awareness and usage of various platforms, and it seemed very compehensive. It talked about Facebook and Twitter, it examined the Pinterest phenomenon, it had a good secton on V-Kontakte, and it delved down as far as almost-forgotten networks like Ning...
Regulate... The D-Funk Era
I spoke at the ASC’s Funky Data conference today on “The Human Edge Of Data”. I may write up the full talk at some point as it’s a theme – how people (including consumers, researchers and clients) relate to data – that I keep coming back to.
But here are a few of the main ideas:
I talked about an underlying tension between a world where data informs strategy (where data exists to explain why) and...
Research In A World Without Questions →
So, I won a prize! The PDF linked to above won Best Paper at the ESOMAR Congress, a terrific honour for me and co-writer Bob Pankauskas of Allstate Insurance. I got a lovely award which someone on Twitter accurately compared to a prop from a Lady Gaga video.
The paper has a broad theme which hopefully the title outlines pretty clearly - but beneath that it’s a kind of BrainJuicer mixtape...
Autotune My Heart
I’m at the ESOMAR Congress in Atlanta where I’ve seen some good presentations and some less good ones. One of the good ones was by Rana El Kallouby of Affectiva, talking the audience through Affectiva’s emotional recognition technology and its application at scale on mobiles. Not having played with Affectiva output I don’t know how useful it all is but the tech is...
Reinventing Society In The Wake Of Big Data →
This was very interesting. I’d go so far as to say it’s the most interesting thing I’ve read all week. It’s good because it’s a clear explanation of what a top data scientist thinks “Big Data” is and what it does, and because it’s open and honest about the assumptions being worked from.
It’s also remarkable for its unashamed techno-topianism -...
“If [International Art English] were simply the set of expressions required to...”
– From this essay, which is very interesting and well worth reading.
I’ve been interested for a while in “business speak”. I’ve been interested in it because a) it’s ubiquitous but b) it’s continually changing and c) it’s a terribly easy target, and one thing...
Hostage To Fortune
I’m on the road again next week, speaking at the ESOMAR Congress on Monday - giving a presentation with the ambitious title “A World Without Questions”.
I’m more than a bit nervous, because this is a first for me in two important ways.[[MORE]]
It’s my first time using Prezi. I’ve formed opinions as a viewer of Prezi’s pan-and-lurch style, but I also...
Advice For A Research Newbie
Before I went on holiday recently I was asked for 3 pieces of advice I’d give to someone starting a research career. I wrote them in an immense hurry but looking at them today they seem sensible, so here they are.
Learn to code. This goes for any industry but MR projects in five years time will live or die on the ability of some kid dynamo to get an app to do what they want quickly. NB I...
