Small Data Forum podcast

#Business #Bigdata #Information #Mediaanalytics #Newsanalysis #Institute for PR #LexisNexis BIS; co-chair Measurement Commission #Thomas Stoeckle (strategic business development #Politics #News #Neville Hobson

28:24

In our second installment of the Small Business Starter Kit series - we’re tackling a topic that’s sometimes tricky, sometimes confusing, but ever-present: taxes. Hosts Austin and Jannese have an insightful conversation with entrepreneur Isabella Rosal who started 7th Sky Ventures , an exporter and distributor of craft spirits, beer, and wine. Having lived and worked in two different countries and started a company in a heavily-regulated field, Isabella is no stranger to navigating the paperwork-laden and jargon-infused maze of properly understanding taxes for a newly formed small business. Join us as she shares her story and provides valuable insight into how to tackle your business’ taxes - so they don’t tackle you. Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you grow your business: QuickBooks.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

Small Data Forum Podcast

Del

Serier hjem•Feed

Arkiveret serie ("Inaktivt feed" status)

When? This feed was archived on July 08, 2018 22:12 (6+ y ago). Last successful fetch was on November 11, 2024 02:26 (5M ago)

Why? Inaktivt feed status. Vores servere kunne ikke hente et gyldigt podcast-feed i en længere periode.

What now? You might be able to find a more up-to-date version using the search function. This series will no longer be checked for updates. If you believe this to be in error, please check if the publisher's feed link below is valid and contact support to request the feed be restored or if you have any other concerns about this.

How do you make Big Data less intimidating, more actionable and thus more valuable, in particular for marketing and communications professionals? That is the question at the heart of the Small Data Forum, an initiative by LexisNexis Business Insight Solutions to listen, learn, share and educate ourselves and others who grapple with the challenges of the information avalanche. Industry thought-leaders Neville Hobson, Sam Knowles and host Thomas Stoeckle discuss current industry themes and news topics in the wider context of data and society. Thomas Stoeckle leads strategic business development at LexisNexis Business Insight Solutions (BIS). A marketing communications researcher and business leader with 25 years+ experience, he believes passionately in story-telling through robust data evidence and compelling visualization. Originally from Germany, Thomas has been living and working in London for more than 16 years, working with clients all over the globe. In a fast-changing world, he enjoys nothing more than working with partners and clients finding and building better solutions for their communications challenges. Forever a digital Neanderthal among digital natives, he is keenly aware that today's challenges demand fluency in the three languages of business, technology, and of course humans. Thomas is also co-chair of the Institute for Public Relations Measurement Commission. For nearly 30 years, Neville Hobson has been a voice of experience and influence about digital technologies and human behaviours, disruptive change in workplaces and marketplaces, and relevant trends to pay close attention to. He helps organizations leverage his business and communication experiences, knowledge and subject-matter expertise that embraces social, digital and cognitive technologies. He helps clients understand the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact in workplaces and marketplaces; digital communication and engagement strategy and development; and how to leverage social media for stakeholder nurturing and development. Neville is a pioneering podcaster, co-presenting the communication industry's first and most enduring podcast, "For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report," from 2005-2015. Sam Knowles is Founder & MD of Insight Agents, a corporate and brand storytelling business. He has almost 30 years' experience helping organisations communicate better, clearer, simpler. Data and statistics are the foundation of the stories Sam helps companies to build; evidence-based, data-driven, insight-rich narrative. But only the foundation, before the tools and techniques of story take over. With a PhD in experimental psychology, Sam has just written an intensely-practical guide to his craft called "Narrative By Numbers: How To Tell Stories With Data And Statistics". It will be published in early 2018.

86 episoder

Small Data Forum Podcast

updated for ca. et år siden

Del

Serier hjem•Feed

Arkiveret serie ("Inaktivt feed" status)

When? This feed was archived on July 08, 2018 22:12 (6+ y ago). Last successful fetch was on November 11, 2024 02:26 (5M ago)

Why? Inaktivt feed status. Vores servere kunne ikke hente et gyldigt podcast-feed i en længere periode.

86 episoder

Alle episoder

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Infinity. Perplexity. Resentment. 1:00:49

for 1 year siden1:00:49

1:00:49

On a chilly 1st December, Sam takes us to the Bermudas (only virtually, sadly) – to the “Jurassic Park of crypto” that Michael Lewis (of Moneyball , The Big Short and so much more fame) describes with trademark virtuosity in his fly-on-the-wall tale of almost-first-trillionaire-cum-felon, Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), of FTX-Alameda infamy . A self-declared Lewis fanboy, Sam introduces Going Infinite , an account of the life and times of SBF, the people in his cash-fueled orbit, and the fraudulent practices of his crypto business ventures which are now likely to have earned him decades in prison . Continue reading: https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Two rants and a wry smile 58:07

for 1 year siden58:07

58:07

In a distinctly un-Friday 13th Feeling, the @Podnosticators Three gathered for the 78th time to pick through the familiar themes of politics and social media, separately and intermingled. Spoiler alert: this episode may contain rants. The rest is politics Sam started by reviewing the remnants and the impact of the recent U.K. party political conference season. Least said about the Liberal Democrats’ opening event the better – not least because it didn’t touch the sides, of either our or the media’s consciousness. Though as Sam pointed out, several commentators have noted that the LibDems’ decision to try to occupy the centre left when disastrous Jeremy Corbyn was dragging Labour further left has come back to haunt them. With Starmer reclaiming the centre left and the Tories lurching ever further right, there’s clear space – in terms of ideology and electorate – to occupy, and nobody’s making a play for this traditional kingmaker zone of British politics. We then consider the Tories’ week in Manchester. Comic writer Armando Iannucci – creator of the legendary Thick of It and In the Loop – declared satire to be dead, and that he’d have never dreamt of setting a Tory party conference in the very city where a flagship policy designed to benefit that city was axed in a keynote, leader’s speech. But sure enough, Lame Duck PM Sunak cancelled the Birmingham to Manchester link of the £100bn-plus HS2 rail project … from the lectern in Manchester. He came over as the modern day Beeching anti-matter – announcing £30bn on branch lines – but as many had already been budgeted and spent, it all rang a little hollow from the Thin (and Short) Controller. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who will be the sexiest chatbot of them all? 1:00:02

for 2 years siden1:00:02

1:00:02

Another month, another deepish dive by the three podnosticators of the SmallDataForum – who Sam describes as “Thomas = the philosopher-academic and historical context-setter; Neville = the champion experimenter and enthusiastic evangelist; and Sam = the dabbler, observer, and sceptic.” This time, we dive into generative (as well as degenerative ) artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs) and various chat-botty applications, including Neville’s new favourite, Claude , “the most human-like experience”. Turing Test, anyone? Perfectly timed with our latest podcast release, Quadriga University Berlin launched an e-book on AI and PR, edited by friend of the show, Professor Ana Adi . Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations and Communications: Cases, Reflections, and Predictions contains timely, critical, insightful essays from practitioners and academics. This includes a piece by yours truly, informed by decades of stochastic (a posher word for ‘random’) knowledge acquisition. Continue reading ->> https://www.smalldataforum.com…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The three sceptics of the apocalypse 1:03:00

for 2 years siden1:03:00

1:03:00

Scepticism, questioning, and an ever-present gnawing uncertainty whether what Them In Power tell us is the case actually is the case – these are three hallmarks of we three Podnosticators at the Small Data Forum. And these three qualities are all present in abundant spades as we enter our fourth, quarter-century of podcasts in fresh-minted episode 76. We gather in what the British press term ‘silly season’ – in Germany Sauregurkenzeit (“sour gherkin time”), Thomas tells us – and in the hours before we gathered, President Putin had cried crocodile tears over the mysterious downing of a private jet carrying disgraced Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin; a talented man” who “made serious mistakes” , pace Vlad in full-on Marc Antony mode. And increasingly disgraced former (and future?) President Trump had his mugshot taken (yet another first) at the notorious Fulton County jail, his fourth criminal indictment in a growing litany of disgrace, this one for “just wanting to find 11,780 votes” and gerrymander the 2020 US Election. Silly season indeed. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
SmallDataForum’s Diamond Jubilee 59:48

for 2 years siden59:48

59:48

After seven years of vigorous podnostication, the SmallDataForum reaches its diamond anniversary. Or semi-sesquicentennial (‘half one hundred and fifty’) as Sam (of course!) informs us. Seventy-five episodes of wondering and pondering about the strange times we live in, with absolutely no end in sight. Our almost hour-long Zoomwag starts with the battle of the micro-messaging platforms: X vs Threads , Twitter vs Meta, Elon vs Mark – the digital cage fight over the monetizable part of the networked world. Tech maven and serial early adopter and experimenter-user Neville explains it all with exemplary breadth and depth. Social anti-social media “Mega instant network” Threads is actually part of Instagram and should thus be called Instagram Threads. Neville highlights benefits – it’s so easy to attract an audience, just follow all your Insta friends – as well as costs: if you decide to uninstall it, it will also uninstall Instagram. We hear about Threads’ instant success, with more than 150m downloads and over 100m active users within days (though the latest news is that half of the early users have since left again ). Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Flushable, unflushable, or lingering round the U-bend? 58:14

for 2 years siden58:14

58:14

We start episode 74 of the Small Data Forum podcast – or “1 AB” as Thomas christens it; the first after B*ris – in what many are calling “the era past peak podcast”. Things haven’t worked out as well for our medium of choice as Spotify predicted and gambled, and that includes the platform’s not-so-conscious uncoupling from the Sussexes. But we – like the relentless grind of British politics – carry on regardless. Thomas recalls the halcyon days when democracy meant the executive, legislature, and judiciary: three, interlocking, interdependent branches that worked with checks and balances, each branch (or arm) keeping the other in its proper place. In banana republics (like the US and UK), this breaks down when – usually – the army takes over; what was termed Gleichschaltung or a system of coordination or total control in Nazi Germany. There have been more than shades of this under the Johnson and Trump regimes from 2016 onwards. The terrible two Sam surveys the carnage in British politics in the past month. Since we three last met, the House of Commons Privileges Committee has published its findings into the Partygate affair. Getting wind of a pre-publication draft, Johnson clearly saw the writing was on the wall for his political career inside Westminster, pronounced the Committee (and the report) a “witch-hunt”, and resigned as an MP. He’d have been out on his ear when the report was published – recommending a 90-day suspension, triggering a Recall Petition and a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency – so rather than be pushed, he jumped. His pre-publication Trumpian rhetoric added to the severity of the punishment, and yet still Johnson didn’t care. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
We don’t do that here 44:20

for 2 years siden44:20

44:20

“In framing an ideal we may assume what we wish, but should avoid impossibilities.” This Aristotle quote opens one of my favourite books, Aldous Huxley’s last novel, Island (1962). It also summarises neatly Neville’s, and to a lesser degree, Sam’s, position re the appetite and capacity for, and thus the likelihood of radical change to the British political and electoral system. To be fair, Neville suggested not to focus on politics at all in our latest episode, and instead invest all of our podnosticating attention in the “only big news of the day”, the split of Phil and Holly . In a masterclass of persuasive communication, however, Sam and I manage to talk him round to our planned discussion of the recent local elections in England and all the related fall-out. Both Neville and Sam refer to local political evidence in their respective leafy neighbourhoods in West Berkshire and East Sussex, where Conservative councillors are all but extinct. And yet, as Sam highlights, on the local election evidence, UK-psephologist-in-chief Sir John Curtice doesn’t quite see an outright Labour majority at the next general election. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Burn, baby, burn 49:20

for 2 years siden49:20

49:20

Fire and music go well together. Sixties rocker Arthur Brown – a long-time resident of the liberal enclave of Lewes, home of your correspondent, Podnosticator Knowles – made an entire career out of his 1968 cult classic, Fire Indeed, I even played roadie to him and had the honour of putting him out when he caught fire during the first chorus of Fire in a Sussex gig back in 2007, my pimple on the backside of rock ‘n’ roll history. And the first time Arthur had gone up in flames since the 1971 Windsor Jazz Festival. The least successful rockstar of all time, John Otway , was given a 50th birthday present to remember when his fans “rigged” the charts in a totally legal way and bought him a second, top-ten hit in a 5,000-plus gig career, and that catchy ditty Bunsen Burner stormed the charts. Its chorus features the line “Burn, baby, burn”, a lyrical echo through the ages, from The Tramps to (appropriately enough) Ash . And “burn baby burn” is exactly what it appears the planet will be doing – even quicker than the entire combined scientific consensus has unequivocally determined it will do, thanks to our crack-like addiction to fossil fuels – if we don’t shake our very recent, very deep love of generative AI. Sam starts episode 72 of the Small Data Forum podcast with a look at the latest developments in this new technology, whose poster boy is ChatGPT and one of whose early funders was Elon Musk. But more of the Musky one, anon. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Trolley problems 58:28

for 2 years siden58:28

58:28

Back in the grey drizzle of a late March Friday morning in the UK, the three Podnosticators of the SmallDataForum convene to take another sideways look at ‘events, dear boy, events’ (something Harold Macmillan apparently never said ). For once, and in spite of recent headline-grabbing incidents, we give relatively short shrift to the unflushable turds of politics on either side of the Atlantic – though Sam briefly reminds us of the two blonde bombshell’s travails – one with the UK parliament’s privileges committee , the other with a Manhattan grand jury . Perhaps by SDF 72, there will have been some flushing. Though we’re not holding our breath. In the meantime, we focus our attention on three themes: The “sic transit gloria – quo vadis” of the Tory party The UK government’s WORLD LEADING AI plans The BBC post causa Gary Lineker Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Meet the Podnosticators – the Oracle of Riogordo 16:29

for 2 years siden16:29

16:29

In ancient Greece, people consulted oracles to learn about the future. The best known resided at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi , where the blind priestess Pythia provided prophetic prediction for all in need of direction. Above its entrance, the temple had an inscription: Know thyself. In fact, there appear to have been a total of 147 maxims chiselled into the marble – and they are well worth studying in detail if one wants to fine-tune ones moral compass... The first three are the best-known: in addition to self-knowledge, they appeal to moderation and the avoidance of overly strong beliefs or ideology (one might be tempted to call that humility). It is no surprise that the Sam, as the classicist among the three veterans of the SmallDataForum, came up with our new name, blending the ancient Greek word describing foreknowing – prognosis (with gnosis = knowledge at its heart) with our cherished medium of podcasting. Lo and behold, in an act of neology-meets-etymology, the googlewhacking Podnosticators were born... Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
How should we shape our future digital life? 51:00

for 2 years siden51:00

51:00

The Small Data Forum podcast was created spontaneously and almost accidentally after your three co-hosts met on a panel at a media industry event in 2016, a few weeks before the EU Referendum. After a lively debate featuring sometimes radically-divergent views to keep our audience entertained well past the scheduled end time, seasoned podcaster Neville Hobson suggested to podcast ingenus Thomas Stoeckle and Sam Knowles that our ramblechats might work rather well in pod land. Who were we to argue? And so it came to pass – with Thomas’ wry titling – that the Small Data Forum came into being, with the inaugural episode dropping on 14 June 2016. Since then, we’ve taken a more-or-less-monthly, sideways look at the uses and abuses of data big and Small in politics, business, and public life. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Myopic PR industry set to miss yet another boat? 19:36

for 2 years siden19:36

19:36

With the sun beating down on the Small Data Forum Podnosticators on day three of our podcast recording retreat in Ríogiordo, Andalucía, we turn our attention back to the world of AI and its potential impact on the world of communications. With a new generative engine popping up almost every day – for words, structure, music, images, film, translation; you name it, it’s appearing – we consider the approach taken by the communications industry to this brave new world. Neville kicks us off, citing a recent study from the U.K.’s Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) and its global sister, the International Communications Consultancies Organisation (ICCO). The study found that fully 30% of the two bodies’ members had never used ChatGPT or a similar AI chatbot, while 25% claim they never will, to assist them in their work. Neville finds these figures staggering, while for Sam this shows a remarkable lack of curiosity from an industry that could be massively disrupted by AI, as well as hugely enhanced. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Hasta la vista, Auntie? 16:08

for 2 years siden16:08

16:08

Fuelled by nothing more than Coke Zero and Fanta Limon, the Small Data Forum Podnosticators pop up for a special, flash, mini, 15-minute micropodcast, recorded during our podcast retreat in Andalucía over the weekend of 10-13 March. Our topic? The titanic struggle emerging on the future of independent, impartial broadcasting manifested in the battle of Gary vs Suella. For a change, Neville blows the starting whistle to get us going, passing the ball to football lovers Thomas and Sam, with a shared passion for Liverpool, Arsenal, Fulham, but probably not Brighton. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Of bots, turds and turnips 48:17

for 2 years siden48:17

48:17

Always with fingers on the pulses of the most relevant breaking news stories, the not yet scurvy-plagued triumvirate of the SmallDataForum briefly contemplates the shortages of fruit and veg on Great British supermarket shelves. And we decide that neither the Marie Antoinette-esque “ let them eat turnips ” intervention of political-turnip-made Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Therese-with-accents-aigu-et-grave Coffey – nor the seemingly permanently unflushable turds, former-now-shadow Prime Ministers Johnson and Truss , are topics worth any of our (or our listeners) attention. Sam, of course, wouldn’t know much about those domestic five-a-day-struggles, given his jetting all over EUlandia (Catalonia, Amsterdam etc.), promoting his excellent, not-to-be-missed Using Data Smarter online course, building a “digital ecosystem” – and ZING, just like that, Sam won this episode’s jargon bingo. How he finds the time to read Times columns is beyond me. But read he does, and so we find ourselves discussing David Aaronovitch’s piece Nobody wants what the Tories are selling (if only they were selling fruit & veg). Continue reading: ->> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Of AI, Tortoises, and online safety 44:09

for 2 years siden44:09

44:09

The world is split, riven, and – as we so often observe from the three outposts of the Small Data Forum – like never before. Milk or tea in first? Red sauce or brown sauce on a sausage sandwich? And is it still acceptable to say “Happy New Year” after Blue Monday (the third Monday in January and officially the most depressing day of the year, which this year was also your correspondent’s birthday)? We three podders from Plague Island seem to be in the “Aye” camp for the third of these modern dilemmas, particularly as this – episode 65 – is our first digital emission of 2023. The year in which things can only get better , as Thomas notes, doubtless inspired by the work of D:Ream. So Happy New Year, podcats! Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Reflections on 2022 – from Trussonomics to generative AI and goblin mode 1:04:19

for 2 years siden1:04:19

1:04:19

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Schadenfreude squared in the land of Big Tech’s woes 59:19

for 2 years siden59:19

59:19

The 17th century French moralist François de La Rochefoucald observed in his Maximes: “In the misfortunes of our dearest friends we always find something not wholly displeasing unto us.” So there was more than just the tang of sweet Schadenfreude in the air during the recording of the latest episode – 63, no less – of the Small Data Forum podcast. For some of our dearest friends from the past six years of our data-ish ramblechats put in an appearance, like the cast of a mash-up musical all jostling for attention and approbation in light of their latest misdemeanours. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Movin' on up, you're movin' on out 57:52

for 2 years siden57:52

57:52

Given our combined decades of experience in the wider media business, it’s no surprise that this post-party conference edition of the SmallDataForum takes a close look at politicians’ media performances. And boy is there a lot to look at. Front and centre, of course, is the new Prime Minister and her serial car crash interviews. Neville asks serious questions about the buffering Trussbot’s media advisers. It shouldn’t come to anybody’s surprise that Jason Stein, her Director of Comms , was a media advisor to Prince Andrew until THAT Newsnight interview with now News Agent Emily Maitlis. Despite this being fat bear week as Sam informs us, our focus is more on fat cats and those that feed and breed them. So we delve straight into the cesspit of Conservative party politics, where Sam detects a distinct whiff of the mid-Nineties, that case study of Tory self-destruction where things could only get better under fresh-faced new Labour leader, Tony Blair. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The lingering whiff of sulphur in the air 53:46

for 3 years siden53:46

53:46

(Please note that this episode was recorded – and these show notes were written – on Thursday 8 September, before the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.) The first Small Data Forum of the @TrussLiz era sees the podcast team convene IRL on the morning of 8 September for the first time in aeons – and in a professional, West End Studio, to boot. Nothing to do with the fourth Prime Minister (not to mention fifth Chelski manager ) since our ‘umble podcast started crackling over the digital airwaves. More to do with a desire to get together IRL more often post-COVID, as well as a heart-felt yearning to “up” production values, as decent as Zoom may be. Plus an opportunity for a post-pod lunch at our favourite Italian haunt, Olivelli on the Cut. All trussed up and no place to go With a new Prime Minister in place, Thomas asks who fancies prognosticating on the latest incumbent of Number 10. Sam leaps in. He’s concerned about the far right, ideologically-driven agenda of Truss et al. While memes in recent days – from #ThickLizzy to #NotMyPM may be variously misogynistic and laser-focused – Sam pinpoints the Truss administration as “continuity Johnson”. Ironically for a new team replacing de Pfeffel’s hated, ADHD-raddled regime, Sam believes Truss made a profound mis-step with her first two speeches, one to Tory Central, the other to the waiting world. Both at the Gathering of the Tories and outside #10, Truss first name-checked BoJo and all the “amazing” things he achieved, from a bungled Brexshit to “the fastest COVID vaccine rollout” (until – very soon – it wasn’t). Continue listening -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
What happens when enough really is enough? 52:53

for 3 years siden52:53

52:53

Inflation! Energy crisis! Cost of living! Inequality! Strikes! A government out of its depth and out of touch. And that’s just 1978 … The latest episode of the SmallDataForum podcast opens with Thomas comparing the not-so-good old days of the Winter of Discontent in Britain with the dry bleak hot summer of 2022. Ah, 1978: when Margaret Thatcher was not yet Prime Minister, and the average CEO of a UK FTSE 100 company earned 11 times that of the average full-time worker ( Equality Trust report ). Fast forward to today when political weathervane Mary Elizabeth Truss, erstwhile anti-monarchist Liberal Democrat , committed Remainer and serial Maggie cosplayer, is given a 95% chance to be the new Prime Minister by 5 September. The median CEO / worker ratio is now well above 100 to 1. While wistfully recalling the rubbish heaps triggered by a general strike in ‘78/’79, Neville cites a long list of present societal afflictions that the UK's “zombie government” is unable to address, from inflation to climate change impact, energy bills to raw sewage dumped on beaches. Now, as then, there is plenty of anger and a strong sense that we’ve had it, that enough is enough. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Bye bye Alex 57:15

for 3 years siden57:15

57:15

As I am typing up the show notes for our latest podcast, news has come in that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has been assassinated during a campaign event. A sad, sinister reminder that contrary to what the soon former prime minister of the UK would have us believe, it’s not all a laugh and a half. As if we needed reminding. The murder of Sir David Amess was only nine months ago, and Jo Cox was killed just before the Brexit Referendum, in June 2016. Culture wars and wedge politics will only ever make things worse. Even The Spectator is now pushing back against the growing Trumpification of political discourse in the UK. But that was never an issue for the P.T. Barnum of British politics and his confederacy of dunces, as Sam generously labels Her Majesty’s continuously thinning Government. But the times they are about to be a-changin: together with a majority of – not just the Westminster commentariat but – the great British public, the SmallDataForum punditariat on Friday rejoiced in the news that finally, FINALLY, the Shagamemnon (thanks Marina Hyde) of Downing Street, the tousled blonde cherub, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, announced his resignation on 7 July as leader of the UK’s Conservative Party. He remains Prime Minister until a new party leader is voted on by Conservative MPs and party members. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The old rules don’t apply 1:01:14

for 3 years siden1:01:14

1:01:14

For once, it appears, the Small Data Forum three are ahead of the news. So often in recent months and years, we’ve recorded an episode on a Friday morning and by the Sunday night before publication we’ve had to make rapid edits to the show notes because … a president has been impeached, a special adviser been sacked, or a new lockdown announced. But today – today feels different. Is it because we were recording first thing on a Monday for next-day publication? Or is it because so much news had happened of late that we had the timing right for once? Time – of course – will tell. On day 110 of Russia’s war on Ukraine – a topic that doesn’t delay us beyond a heartfelt appeal for the nonsense to stop – Thomas opens proceedings by reflecting on Prime Minister Johnson’s “victory” in his vote of (no) confidence handed to him by his own members of parliament. Well, 211 MPs (59%) voted for the bloated bloviator , while 148 (41%) wanted to see the back of him. A smaller majority than that recorded by Johnson’s lame duck predecessor, Theresa May (a 63%-37% split), who was history less than six months on. Indeed, according to fashion and style bible Tatler – a hapax legomenon in the annals of these show notes if ever there was one – it was May who was ‘the real winner’ of the vote, by virtue of turning up to the vote in a ball gown. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Where we discuss a crazy aviator, BongBong and a pigeon … 56:41

for 3 years siden56:41

56:41

In another case of the speed of news catching out the SmallDataForum’s best-laid arguments, Neville’s, Sam’s, and my combined Musk-whispering was rendered somewhat outdated by the announcement - just hours after our podcast recording - that enigmatic Elon has put his Twitter purchase on hold because ... oh never mind the stated reasons. Actually, it wasn’t our exploring Musk’s motivations that had become outmoded, it was merely the factual base of our musings. Will he, won’t he buy Twitter? Will he, won’t he lose billions over the deal? Musky musings Will he, won’t he instate rules and regulations that draw the line really only at whether speech has been performed by an actual human (you’re fine, and if you say something that’s “illegal or destructive to the world”, you face temporary suspension, because free speech is a more holy principle than protecting against the impacts of hate speech, ostensibly), or a bot (in which case Elon really doesn’t want you, and in fact will retract his offer if he feels he is being outbotted). The free speech issue is one of many highlighted by Neville in his characteristically well informative and well judged blog post . Neville also points us to an Axios piece listing everything Elon Musk wants to change about Twitter (surely another news item that would benefit from hourly updates), as well as challenges surrounding the commercials of the bid: a triple whammy of Twitter’s market cap dropping $9bn below Elon’s offer, Tesla’s share price down by a third from April Fool's Day, and the Bitcoin crash impact on Tesla’s investment position. So maybe, just maybe, Musk’s stated bot problem is a bit of a sock puppet. The Washington Post at least thinks that won’t get him out of the deal . Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
What a terrible shower! 54:11

for 3 years siden54:11

54:11

Shoulda been in Spain! Sporting a gardener’s tan from ongoing travails in his garden in Southern Spain, Thomas welcomes Sam and Neville to the first-ever Saturday recording of the Small Data Forum podcast. We recorded on 9 April, two years to the day – as Neville points out – from when we were supposed to be on a weekend-long podcast recording sojourn to the self-same spot from which Thomas addresses us. But then Covid happened. Indeed, were it not for the Covid-spike-enforced crew shortages for easyJet , Sam should have been with Thomas, but as The Guardian pointed out in that day’s paper, the country – and indeed the world – is suffering a semi-paralysis from a variant of Long Covid and is facing “a new pandemic of disruption”. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Propaganda 3.0: the end of free media (but definitely not of history) 54:42

for 3 years siden54:42

54:42

Taking its cue from professional media commentators, the SmallDataForum kicks off with Thomas quoting Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who is better known by his nom de class struggle, Lenin: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Unprecedent times, anyone? Sam is reminded of the times of Soviet openness and reconstruction, Michail Gorbatschow’s Glasnost and Perestroika initiatives of the late 1980s, ‘when it all began’ – laid out with great insight in this four-part series of The Rest is History podcast. To which Thomas adds some on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand perspective: Francis Fukuyama’s famously misunderstood End of History essay, versus the insight of US Army educators that a permanent pulling back of the Iron Curtain will reveal a stage beset by increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, which gave us VUCA – a sort of cat nip for business school educators. With the benefit of hindsight, declaring the end of history turned out to be as premature as the description of our ever-modern world as VUCA was prescient. Brexit, Trump, COVID, war in Ukraine – it doesn’t get more VUCA than that. Or so we hope. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Nick Manning interview: Time for brands to take control of their data 31:19

for 3 years siden31:19

31:19

The Small Data Forum started its side hustle of interviews with industry experts as an experiment almost exactly a year ago, but already we’re onto our sixth. SDF co-host Sam Knowles spoke on Friday 4 March to Nick Manning , one of the most important, informed, and trenchant figures in media and marketing over the past 30 years. Nick founded the media agency Manning Gottlieb in the early 1990s. Sam and Nick worked together at Ebiquity in the mid-twenty-teens in various guises, as Nick – and then CEO Mike Greenlees – bought consultancies to expand the capabilities and geographical footprint of the media investment analysis consultancy. Nick now runs his own consultancy, Encyclomedia , and is a regular columnist for Mediatel . We spoke at the end of the first week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Metaverse, Omniverse, diverse, averse, perverse? 48:33

for 3 years siden48:33

48:33

Tired of partygate , the SmallDataForum takes measure of the mess surrounding Meta, where user numbers declined for the first time ever , followed by a rather dramatic share price dip , and Peter Thiel announcing that he would be leaving the Facebook board “ to pursue Trump agenda ”. Oh well. However, news of Meta’s impending demise would be awfully premature, as Sam reminds us. For all our Schadenfreude at Meta losing several hundred billion (!) $$$ in market value – at present, their share price is down a cool 35% from the beginning of the year, suffering the ignominy to temporarily drop behind Nvidia on the list of largest US companies – the attention capitalist behemoths Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta now hold a share of 46% of global ad spend, as opposed to 33% pre-pandemic in figures released by the World Advertising Research Center ( WARC ). And yes, that’s total as in everything, not just digital… Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Gina Miller aims to bring good governance to British politics 29:27

for 3 years siden29:27

29:27

The Small Data Forum podcast is both delighted and honoured to bring seasoned campaigner, Gina Miller , to the latest in our occasional – but increasingly frequent – interview series. SDF co-founder and co-host Sam Knowles talked with Gina on 9 February, in the week in which British politics tumbled still further into disrepute. Two days before we spoke, Labour leader Keir Starmer and MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, were surrounded by a rag, tag, and bobtail coterie of anti-everything protesters. The potty-mouthed crew were apparently fired up with confidence by premier Johnson’s “rough and tumble of debate” gibe at Starmer in the previous week’s Prime Minister’s Questions. During that session, in which Eton’s finest rifle accused Starmer of failing to prosecute serial paedophile, Jimmy Savile, while the Labour leader was Director of Public Prosecutions . This attack – which the PM’s advisors all recommended he avoid like the plague – took the low level of political discourse in the U.K. to new depths. Sam starts by asking Gina to explain to SDF listeners why she’d founded her new political party, True & Fair , and what she hopes to achieve with it. Gina believes that Britain's system of politics is outdated, no longer fit-for-purpose, and so in dire need of reform. The lack of systematic checks and balances mean our national politics lacks transparency, accountability, and good governance, and her objective in creating and launching True & Fair is to address these failings head on. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Helping brands navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of digital and social media 28:52

for 3 years siden28:52

28:52

In the latest in the occasional series of Small Data Forum podcast interviews with industry mavens and thought leaders, SDF co-host Sam Knowles caught up with Christian Polman , UK MD of brand communications and publishing house Looping Group . To this content and creative-driven role, Christian brings a consultant’s mindset (with years at Bain and an MBA) as well as digital marketing smarts (from Digitas and Google) and marketing analytics expertise (his role before Looping was with Ebiquity). Sam starts by asking Christian where the smart money is going in digital marketing. Christian’s view is that digital marketing must rest on the twin levers of marketing optimisation and effectiveness, and that on this foundation brands need to build holistic customer experience. We are going through a period of renaissance, currently, for both research AND creativity and content. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Big Dog, Novax and the Andrew formerly known as Prince: lessons in entitlement 48:57

for 3 years siden48:57

48:57

Big Dog , the Andrew formerly known as Prince (as per the cracking headline in the Irish Daily Star) and NoVaxx DjoCovid walk into a bar… Sadly, that’s not how we started our latest podcast on the uses and abuses of entitlement – oops, I meant data big and small in politics, business and public life. Neville kicks us off our recording on Friday 14th by outlining the Politico perspective of possible scenarios regarding the future of Big Dog (although that label, uncovered by The Independent , wasn’t public knowledge by the time of our recording, what with events eventuating so fast and unpredictably these days). The upshot: degrees of likelihood of survival pour Le Grand Chien. Since recording, Operation Red Meat has been added as the tactical ops part to Operation SBD. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was the unedited plot of some third-rate D-Day / Nam / Iraq / Afghanistan war spoof script, when in fact it is the real-life UK government panto in all its glory. No it wasn’t a work event. Oh yes it was. Boo hiss Beeb. We don’t know yet what the Transformation Scene will bring, but Dishy Rishi and The Truss are leading contenders. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
This is the end of the year, as we know it 58:43

for 3 years siden58:43

58:43

“It’s been a funny old year,” muses Thomas as we three kings of the Small Data Forum podcast begin our last ramblechat of 2021, with Thomas sounding like a football manager trying to sum up the most bizarre of seasons. His erudite pun quotient – talking of Johnson’s wretched government of 24-hour party people , Pfeffelling along – is a treat for podcast fans old and new. Sam believes that Thomas’ question as to whether we should see this oddest of odd years as “Plus ça change …” (and so “… plus ç’est la même chose”) is spot on. Accusations of a series of catered parties at Number 10 are becoming more tangible and less tittle-tattle by the day – parties hosted when London was under Tier 3 restrictions and “mingerlin’” was definitely verboten. Screenshots and grainy footage of canapés and revellers crawl out of the digital woodwork to add the fire of verity to the smoke of accusations. Spokesperson after government PR flack is being hung out to dry, resign, and spend more time with their families. The lies are mounting up like yet another set of Covid mortality statistics, and the mud sticks to everyone but the leader himself. For Neville, the PM is deploying Steve Jobs’ notorious “ reality distortion field ”, and if Johnson declares black is white or up is down, everyone around him is required either to agree or get out … preferably by the back door so that no waiting media can spot and snap them, adding to the evidence pile. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
From metaverse to pyroverse. Caution: this episode contains strong language 51:48

for 3 years siden51:48

51:48

Recorded just a week after Facebook’s rebranding announcement , this latest episode of the SmallDataForum podcast is less about “ Greeks bearing gifts ”, and more about the Greek and other connotations of Meta, the new company brand bringing together all of Facebook’s apps and technologies for the leap into the metaverse – although this wouldn’t be the first time Facebook’s commercial strategy is being likened to a Trojan Horse . In keeping with the Classic Greek theme, and the various meanings of meta – some of which appeared to have been overlooked by the rebranding strategists, such as the word meaning death in Hebrew – I share my thoughts on Facebook’s After/Underworld cast, with Mark Zuckerberg as Hades, Nick Clegg as Cerberus, and Sheryl Sandberg – well I’m undecided between Hecate and Persephone. Much to the amusement of classicist Sam, whose knowledge of the Odyssey and the Book of the Dead is a lot more profound, than mine. For Sam, this is less about mythology, and more about good old crookery: a classic misdirection strategy by “pound shop table magician” Mark Zuckerberg to make Facebook’s manifold legacy problems disappear down the magician’s hat. Kevin Roose at the New York Times calls it Mark Zuckerberg’s Escape Hatch , to rebrand himself as “above-it-all-futurist … a visionary technologist rather than a destroyer of democracy.” Continue reading --> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
We're 50! 57:50

for 4 years siden57:50

57:50

It’s been a long time coming, this in-person get-together of the three SmallDataForagers (I assume that’s what you call someone moderating a forum?) to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. 1,955 days, in fact, since our fateful first encounter in the now sadly defunct Hospital Club in Soho. And nearly 650 days since our last Olivelli feast, just before Christmas 2019, when the world was a different, less pandemic place. That is of course all small fry compared with the 5,788 days that Angela Merkel has held the office of German Bundeskanzler. More of her and German politics later. So, a long time coming, and well worth the wait: great company, inspiring conversations – the three of us don’t just have now 50 SDF episodes to reminisce over, but also a shared professional history of one time (Sam, Thomas) and other (Neville) working in the London office of what is now Real Chemistry, a power house of digital analytics alchemy driven business insights in life sciences. As rebranding is such a thing, and in light of our professional interests (not least Sam’s second book), perhaps we should start calling ourselves the SmallDataBigInsightsForum? Demonstrating resilient continuity in the face of pandemic disruption, we also reconvened at the Picturehouse Central members bar high above Piccadilly for one of those rare occasions, a live in-person podcast recording. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Media and marketing industry data under an expert microscope 31:22

for 4 years siden31:22

31:22

In the third of our new (but growing) series of Small Data Podcast interviews with data mavens, Sam is joined by media analyst Ian Whittaker . Ian is the current City AM Analyst of the Year – a gong he scooped for the second time in 2021. He has more than 20 years on the clock, assessing the financial performance of media and tech stocks. Ian’s understanding of the numbers and data underpinning media and marketing businesses is both broad and deep, and he writes regular columns for both City AM and marketing industry bible, Campaign. We spoke at the start of September 2021. Ian is optimistic that the media and marketing industry – at least in part – is making good use of data and analytics to target consumers more efficiently and effectively. Most have moved beyond the bombardment many consumers experienced not so long ago, and some of the bigger players – including consumer goods behemoth P&G – are combining the logic of data and the magic of creative to good effect. That said, some, both client- and agency-side, still have their heads buried deep in the sand. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Veni, vidi, vaxi 50:48

for 4 years siden50:48

50:48

As Thomas is making his usual round of introductions for this, the forty-ninth episode of the Small Data Forum podcast, he comments on Sam’s status as a published author. “Published author you too!” booms Sam, celebrating Thomas’ first-ever, peer-reviewed, academic article, written with his doctoral supervisor – and recent SDF interview guest – Darren Lilleker . For at the very start of this month, the esteemed Journal of Public Affairs saw fit to publish “The challenges of providing certainty in the face of wicked problems: Analysing the UK government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic” , a very on-message, on-podcast, rather-more-academic-than-we-usually-are critical analysis of how the Johnson Junta has managed with the ‘wicked problem’ (technical term) of Covid. Thomas summarises the arguments in the paper, of how Her Majesty’s Government’s response to the threat of the pandemic “has not been all that pretty”. After all the puffed-up, Cummings-laden rhetoric of the December 2019 election campaign which was supposed to be all about ‘getting Brexit done’ ( “campaigning in poetry” to purloin Mario Cuomo’s phrase), Johnson’s cabinet of political pygmies has struggled to live up to the challenge of “governing in prose”. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
SDF Interview: Anne Hardy, CISO at Talend, on regulation vs self-regulation for Big Tech 31:28

for 4 years siden31:28

31:28

Like (slow) buses, you wait for years for interviews to turn up on the SmallDataForum podcast, and two turn up within but five months of each other. With Thomas taking the first plunge with his doctoral supervisor, Darren Lilleker, back in March, it was Sam’s turns to become inquisitor with Anne Hardy , Chief Information Security Officer at US-French data security firm, Talend (lovely animation on the homepage). Our conversation focused on the necessary balance between regulation and self-regulation of Big Tech. After some spectacular failures of anything approaching good governance – from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica to the Trump and Brexit campaigns, familiar topics to aficionados of this podcast – the tide is turning on consumer privacy and the uses and abuses of personally identifiable information (PII data). Finally, the message has hit home that “if the service is free, you are the product” , in an internet floating and bloating on over-targeted advertising revenue. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
It did not come home 42:18

for 4 years siden42:18

42:18

Two Englishmen and a German talk about football… With SDF episode no. 48 being recorded sandwiched between the 1966 World Cup win (20,187 days ago, assuming Sam’s calculation is correct) and the 2021 final of the Euros (2.5 days ahead at the time of recording), we couldn’t possibly avoid the topic. It was by no means the only topic though, and we started our latest Zoom outing by bashfully listing recent achievements, from Sam’s quadruple haul at the Communicate Magazine’s Internal Communication and Engagement Awards – read all about it here , to my co-guest-editorship of ESSACHESS Journal of Communication on the future of all things PR and comms , together with the truly fabulous Ana Adi , to without a doubt the most impressive achievement: Neville’s loss of over two stone in weight in eleven weeks (check out the Zoom video !), thanks to the NOOM programme, behaviour and mindset change, and a copious dose of strong will. On health and behaviour change, Sam briefly mentioned the de Pfeffel government’s weight loss campaign post Alex’s brush with the cold hand of COVID: sunk without a trace, like so many test & trace and other emergency billions. We did talk vaccination, from the US vaccination programme hitting a bit of a red wall (and no it’s not the same as in the UK, more like the opposite), where, via Tortoise Media , Sam tells us that anti-vaxxing Trumplanders are now blocking the way to nationwide herd immunity. Who would have thought… Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Oh-oh-oh, your pants are on fire 49:31

for 4 years siden49:31

49:31

During the Matrix Churchill affair – a conflict of interest and bit of political skulduggery so tepid compared with what’s happened in the intervening 20 years – the Tory MP Alan Clark conceded that he had been “economical with the actualité” in answer to Parliamentary questions. Lying about arms export licences to Iraq seems almost innocent compared to the stodge we’re served up daily by our demagogic masters in the fibbing 2020s. Even if Clark was branded by his wife as a “total Ess-Aitch-One-Tee” in a puff-piece documentary in the 1990s, not least for his endless affairs that were satirised by Private Eye as “discussions about Uganda”. We start our examination of the uses and abuses of data big and small with a focus on politics in the latest outing of the Small Data Forum podcast, episode 47. Sam is inspired by the writing and the message in comedian Stewart Lee’s tragedy vehicle, his weekly Observer byline. In a recent column picking through the ashes of Labour’s shambolic performance in British local elections, Lee takes aim at Prime Minister Johnson’s record as one of the worst – and most transparent – liars in British political history. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The state of the world: "unethical, foolish, possibly illegal" 47:52

for 4 years siden47:52

47:52

“It is beyond moronic.” Yes, this might well have been a quote by Gary Neville, Alan Shearer or some other righteously outraged standard bearer of the purity of – in particular – the original English version of European soccerball, in response to the announcement of that ill-fated, short-lived ‘thought’ experiment in the commercial optimisation of said soccerball, the European Super League. More of that – in Sam’s sober analysis: “arrogant imperialist cultural misappropriation” – later. In this case, the quote refers to a story that broke on the morning of St George’s day, last Friday 23rd April, just in time for the recording of our latest SmallDataForum episode. It should really have been a narrative about a hero slaying a huge fire-breathing beast, but as it turned out – perhaps more in keeping with the storytelling potential of the context and cast – this one was about a cha t ty rat , featuring prominently the near-forgotten Ghost of Barnard Castle, Dominic Cummings. Neville (not Gary, but Hobson) kicks off SDF46 by relaying the highlights of the chatty rat saga, which he informed us had even made headlines in the Knutsford Chronicle. That turned out to be the Knutsford Guardian , but all the same. Continue reading --> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate – or, when Uschi met Jezza 52:15

for 4 years siden52:15

52:15

From our very own version of Numberwang, to utilitarianism, the precautionary principle, the Plague of Athens 430 BC, to Gartner’s latest tech trends, the SmallDataForum serves up another mixed bag of goodies and smarties. I kick off by offering a selection of ciphers for our very own SmallDataForum Numberwang from 1 (Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s silly argument that 0.1 is “a real rise” ), to 6 ( the number of episodes of Adam Curtis’s latest take on the dark forces at play in our modern world ), to 10 ( the maximum prison sentence in the UK Government’s culture war inspired Crime Bill for violating a statue, which according to Labour’s David Lammy “makes protecting statues more important that punishing rape”) , and related to 118 vs 1, ( the number of women killed last year where a man was charged or convicted vs ‘statues killed’, as per the unrivalled Marina Hyde ) 10 in 21 (the Top Ten data and analytics tech trends in 2021 according to Gartner ) to 40 vs 12 ( percentage of population COVID vaccinated in the UK vs EU average ) 25,000 ( excess UK COVID deaths due to the delayed winter lockdown, according to a new report ) and last but not least, $450m ( the sum Cision paid for Brighton based social analytics firm Brandwatch , leaving the three of us a bit speechless, and NOT AT ALL ENVIOUS of founder CEO Giles Palmer…) Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The SmallDataForum Interview, vol. 1: Darren Lilleker on politics and communication 33:07

for 4 years siden33:07

33:07

After almost five years and 44 episodes of the SmallDataForum with the same old (though always fresh and sparkly) line-up of Neville, Sam and Thomas, we’re introducing one-on-one interviews as a new format, and an extension to the show. In the first interview of this new series, Thomas talks with Darren Lilleker , professor of political communication at Bournemouth University (and Thomas’ patient, tolerant PhD supervisor). Main themes include the increasing professionalisation, personalisation and commercialisation of politics the tension between “permanent campaigning” and governing in politics the public’s dissatisfaction with traditional politicians how charisma has replaced practical skills and competence (because legislation is boring and political entertainment is easier than day to day governance). Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
The robber barons are at it again 44:02

for 4 years siden44:02

44:02

Thomas greets the first episode of the Small Data Forum to be “AT” – 1AT, indeed; the first recorded After Trump – with some cheer. That said, this month’s often-passionate look at the uses and abuses of data big and small in politics, business, and public life doesn’t give us much cause for optimism that all that much has changed. In our VUCA world of multi-factorial problems, our Teutonic tipster bemoans the meaningless trend in which complexity is constantly reduced to in and out, black and white, this and that. What is undoubtedly good news is a new format coming soon – perhaps even later this week – to @SDFPodcast: the first in a new series of interviews with interesting people. First in the Nerf-Gun firing line is Professor Darren Lilleker from Bournemouth University, described by the BBC as “a man who watches Westminster” and by Thomas as “my doctoral supervisor”. His dissection of what the state of permanent campaigning by the demagogues of modern politics will be well worth a listen. Although it had been bubbling under for some weeks, breaking news on the morning we recorded this latest episode was that the fracas between the Australian Government and Big Tech has gotten serious. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
I Predict a Riot 59:55

for 4 years siden59:55

59:55

"The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim." (Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd, p. 64) What would Monsieur le Professeur Le Bon make of the fact that his 1895 masterpiece The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind is as timely and relevant today as it was then? Written under the influence of his experience of the Paris Commune, the civil war between Paris and the rest of France which killed thousands and saw the burning of Tuileries Palace on 25th May 1871, some 150 years before the storming of the Capitol on 6th January 2021 (see this remarkable report from the Guardian archive ), he was wary of “our savage destructive instincts” and the “cowardly ferocity” of crowds. He should have come and watched a match at the New Den pre-lockdown. Of course, the first SDF convention of 2021 (the sixth year of our chatventure, no less) on Friday 15th – still a Zoom affair, plus ça change – had a lot to say about that Capitol offence from nine days earlier. And about the latest zigzagging from the government of Plague Island (thanks Sam), about trust in general and the Trust Barometer in particular – with differing opinions, though less so than on the topic of whether and how, or not, The Platforms are publishers. More of that later. Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
2020: Caught in the Gaslights 48:56

for 4 years siden48:56

48:56

“Are you trying to tell me I’m insane?” asks Ingrid Bergman’s character Paula of her husband Gregory (Charles Boyer) in George Cukor’s 1944 film noir classic, Gaslight . To which he responds “Now, perhaps you will understand why I cannot let you meet people.” An emotional manipulation which makes the target doubt their own memory, perception or judgment , gaslighting is a very real and serious form of domestic abuse – and as such has been exacerbated through the periods of lockdown, like all forms of abuse . It has also become something of a media buzzword, so it is no surprise to see it being liberally appropriated (to avoid for once the martial imagery of ‘weaponized’) for political purpose on all our favourite fronts, from Brexit ( for and against ) to COVID and Trump (in liberal propaganda outlet Stylist (!), as well as The Independent , Forbes , Washington Post , to name but a few). The SmallDataForum’s fifth Xmas special was, of course, a socially responsible, zoomy affair – with the three of us in our respective WFH HQs, rather than sat around a table in our favourite Italian restaurant, Ristorante Olivelli by the Old Vic in South London, feasting on fine Italian foods and beverages, and recording to the clattering chattering sound of a busy lunchtime service (and afterwards testing Neville’s thankfully advanced audio editing skills). Continue reading -> https://www.smalldataforum.com/…

Small Data Forum Podcast

1
Cummings and goings 1:09:05

for 4 years siden1:09:05