May 2023 round-up

May was busy. There were several big things happening at the same time, and I constantly felt being pulled between different demands on my time and attention. As much as possible, I tried focusing only on the task at hand, rather than let myself feel overwhelmed about everything that had to be done. This is … Continue reading May 2023 round-up

The importance of focusing on a target segment (and how to decide which one)

In episode 11 of season 11 of the Marketing Companion, Mark Schaefer and his guest, Jay Acunzo, discuss “the meaning of brand and personal relevance in a world exploding with new creative output”. Their discussion is focused on content creation, but the points that they cover are relevant well beyond this application. For instance, they … Continue reading The importance of focusing on a target segment (and how to decide which one)

Day in the Life of an Academic #15: The research sandpit

While the previous DITL post focused on something that I do regularly (i.e., teaching), this one looks at something that I had never done before: participate in a research sandpit. UKRI, the UK’s government main body for funding research and innovation, defines research sandpits as residential, interactive workshops bringing together “a highly multidisciplinary mix of participants (…) … Continue reading Day in the Life of an Academic #15: The research sandpit

In search for evidence of ChatGPT’s user experiences and perceptions

Last week, I did a presentation at the University of Birmingham, related to the paper “Snakes and Ladders: Unpacking the Personalisation-Privacy Paradox in the Context of AI-Enabled Personalisation in the Physical Retail Environment”, with Brendan Keegan and Maria Ryzhikh. In that paper, we report on the results of a study which looked at young female … Continue reading In search for evidence of ChatGPT’s user experiences and perceptions

What if AI was your customer? Some thoughts on LLMs as medical patients

Some time ago I read a paper by Ming-Hui Huang and Roland T. Rust where they introduced the idea of AI as a customer. In the paper appropriately titled “AI as customer”, which was published in the Journal of Service Management, Huang and Rust present the idea that AI, in addition to being used to … Continue reading What if AI was your customer? Some thoughts on LLMs as medical patients

April 2023 round-up

This month saw progress on various research projects. I got selected for an innovation sandpit*, which I am really excited about (except for the guilt about being away from home while child 2 has GCSE exams); and took the first steps on a project related to improving attitudes to learning among an at-risk population. The … Continue reading April 2023 round-up

What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

Last Thursday (20th April 2023), Twitter began removing the blue ticks from formerly verified users who had failed to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue service. The blue tick was once a symbol of “authenticity”, confirming that the holder of that account was indeed the person or institution referred to in the name or description of the account. Moreover, … Continue reading What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

A brief history of TripAdvisor’s evolution – or how social media-users are key, yet unpaid, enablers of the business model of social media platforms

Last week, Child 1 and I watched the Lehman Brothers trilogy, a play that traces the story of the three Lehman brothers, and their descendants, who created the (in)famous Bank of the same name. Their business empire didn’t start as a Bank, though. Rather, it started as a textiles’ trader which went on to become … Continue reading A brief history of TripAdvisor’s evolution – or how social media-users are key, yet unpaid, enablers of the business model of social media platforms

Quality and ethical concerns over the use of ChatGPT to analyse interview data in research

A few weeks ago, I was asked to review a paper that had used ChatGPT to code product reviews. The authors had entered the reviews onto ChatGPT and instructed it to summarise the key reasons for complaints about the product. To assess the quality of ChatGPT's classification, the authors extracted a number of the complaints, … Continue reading Quality and ethical concerns over the use of ChatGPT to analyse interview data in research

March 2023 round-up

The month started with a presentation about the online health information project at the Multiple Sclerosis patients’ day, to gather feedback about the idea from the very people that live with the condition. Later in the month, we did another two presentations for neurologists, again to gather feedback. I found these sessions really helpful to … Continue reading March 2023 round-up