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
It’s not because a dataset is big that it will be good. And it is not because we used a sophisticated algorithm that the decision will be fine
These are the notes from a talk that I delivered, recently, about the importance of data quality, and how to assess it. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/1ect9VUVbgOPt7 In my talk, I started by noting the critical role of data as a source of insight and, subsequently, as an enabler of service automation. Then, went on to note that data … Continue reading It’s not because a dataset is big that it will be good. And it is not because we used a sophisticated algorithm that the decision will be fine
Moving fast, without breaking things – leveraging big data in incumbent organisations
Back in July 2020, I examined c’s PhD thesis, looking at how incumbent firms can leverage big data. This PhD was really pleasant to read and easy to examine. So, it was with some pleasure that, last week, I came across the paper “Leveraging big data for strategic marketing: A dynamic capabilities model for incumbent … Continue reading Moving fast, without breaking things – leveraging big data in incumbent organisations
The exasperating lack of progress on women’s and girls’ digital rights
Last week, we marked yet another International Women’s Day (Yes, there’s an International Men’s day, too. Don’t worry. It’s November 19th). This is supposed to be a day when we celebrate progress in women’s rights such as gender equality or reproductive rights, and ending abuse against women. The UN chose as its theme for this … Continue reading The exasperating lack of progress on women’s and girls’ digital rights
February 2023 round-up
February was a full-on teaching month. And book writing month. And pass the Calpol and tissues month. I am soooo glad that I chose “cheerful” as my word for the year! It sure came in handy this month, reminding me to embrace the whimsical. For instance, it inspired to me go out, to look for … Continue reading February 2023 round-up
Assessing the risk of misuse of language models for disinformation campaigns
The report “Generative Language Models and Automated Influence Operations: Emerging Threats and Potential Mitigations” discusses how large language models like the one underpinning ChatGPT might be used for disinformation campaigns. It was authored by Josh A. Goldstein, Girish Sastry, Micah Musser, Renee DiResta, Matthew Gentzel and Katerina Sedova, and is available in the arXiv repository. … Continue reading Assessing the risk of misuse of language models for disinformation campaigns
Day in the Life of an Academic #14: Teaching day
Someone asked me the other day what the job of an academic looks like. We talked about the multiple sides of academic life, and the need to balance them; about how we are never truly off, even if people outside of academy (my mother included!) seem to think that we are permanently on holidays; and … Continue reading Day in the Life of an Academic #14: Teaching day
Ana Canhoto 