On Our Radar – from data-driven politics and journalism to crowdfunding Ebola solutions

Data

Death by Data (via the New York Times)

Is an over-reliance on data killing political creativity?

Five recommendations for data science in journalism (via journalism.co.uk)

How can data science apply to journalism? Abigail Edge explains.

Digital and the Arts

Download latest app before the symphony (via the Washington Post)

Digital and mobile tearing down more walls in hallowed Arts venues.

Digital Lessons from the Museum and Art World (via the New York Times)

More examples of the great creative digital work being driven by museums.

Crime

Can technology improve policing? (via govtech.com)

 New survey from Accenture states the public are comfortable engaging with law enforcement agencies through digital means.

Crowdfunded research

A tale of three campaigns – highs and lows in crowdfunding Ebola research (via fundedscience.com)

The race to fund innovative Ebola programmes converges lives and dies on crowdfunding sites.

Collaborative innovation

The rise of a fourth sector skills set (via Stanford Social Innovation Review)

Gib Bulloch from Accenture Development Partnerships argues for more cross-sector convergence to solve the world’s problems.

On Our Radar – from the socialist beginnings of big data to future of our clothes

Trends

Google’s dominance in search is reaching its peak (via Quartz)

Could Google’s dominance of how we find stuff out on the internet be on the wane?

Big Data

The socialist origins of big data (via The New Yorker)

Tech naysayer par excellence Evgeny Morozov frames big data as an old school planning tool only fit for old school socialists.

Ignore estate agents and use data to find out what your neighborhood is really like (via Time Out)

Data makes it to the pages of Time out, it must be cool.

Perceptions are not reality: Things the world gets wrong (via Ipsos Mori)

Ipsos Mori’s annual round up of the gap between what we think we know and what the data actually tells us. 

Sharing economy

The Sharing Economy’s ‘First Strike’: Uber Drivers Turn Off the App  (via @cityofsound) 

What happens when the disrupters get disrupted?  

Apps

How not to launch app   (via The Irish Times)

The Samaritans’ new app that flags potentially worrying tweets from friends generates lots of coverage and even more of a backlash. 

Funding 

How to defuse a (debt) timebomb (via The Spectator blog)

A sobering reminder that austerity isn’t going away anytime soon, no matter who wins the election next year.

Wearables

What could your clothes tell you about the world? (via The BBC)

In a throwback to the mid 2000’s we’d like to recommend a podcast.  This one’s about wearable technology from Radio 4 second best business programme, The Bottom Line.

On Our Radar – from drones fighting malaria to mobiles fighting Ebola

Data from the skies

Google’s New Skybox For Good Program Gives Real-Time Satellite Imagery To Nonprofits (via TechCrunch)

Another example of businesses releasing data to fuel social impact. Will be interesting to see how this is taken up.

How Drones Are Fighting Infectious Disease (via LiveScience)

Flying robots map out areas of Borneo affected by malaria. Will this prove more  effective and useful than satellite imagery?

Data for good

Can We Use Big Data to Make Society Better?  (via Spiegel Online)  

American computer scientist and MIT professor Alex Pentland suggests that we can.

Digital government

On policy and delivery (via www.mikebracken.com)

Fantastic Institute for Government speech by Mike Bracken on digital transformation in government. Every sector can learn from this one!

Ebola tech

Ebola and big data: Call for help (via The Economist)

Reporting on the battle to release mobile phone companies’ Call Data Records to researchers, to stem the spread of disease.

Ebola tracking system for Sierra Leone offered by IBM (via BBC News)

New system allows citizens to report Ebola-related issues and government. Is anyone attempting to co-ordinate the tech-for-good response to Ebola?

Arts crowdfunding

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ crowd-funding campaign raises $61,225 for its exhibitions (via TimesDispatch.com)

Good to see another arts organisation running a successful crowdfunding campaign. Hope more will follow.

Apps

3 keys for brands to sustain the mobile app strategy (via Mobile Commerce Daily)

Focus on the needs of the user. Build sustained engagement. Get ready for the next thing. Useful tips for app-for-good development, too.

Philanthropy

Top 10 Innovations in Philanthropy (via Pioneers Post)

Great NPC research overview of new thinking and approaches.

On Our Radar – from CSR in the tech sector to new models of funding for public radio

Online Fundraising

Bank of America to Donate to Red for Every Mile Ran by Nike+ App Users (via mobilemediaxchange.com)

A Charity Miles inspired partnership between the Aids Charity Red and the Bank of America, who have teamed up with Nike+ Running app to launch the ‘Turn Your Miles Red‘ campaign. Every mile users run triggers a donation of 40 cents (25 pence).

Big Data

What does Corporate social responsibility mean for the technology sector (via SSIR)

Great article, highlighting how the technology sector’s greatest assets can be used in the social sector.

View from nowhere (via thenewenquiry.com)

A thought provoking push back on Big Data being hailed as a “revolution in knowledge,” questioning what needs to happen for Big Data to really enhance what we know about the social world.

Internet of Things

The Epic Struggle of the Internet of Things (via amazon.co.uk)

We’re breaking our links rule in week two, to bring you a riveting read (only £2.50!) on the Internet of Things, the logic of it and its implications - the good, the bad and the dark side of things…

Mobile for social good

Mobile Phones For Social Good: The Case Of Africa (via sustainablebrands.com)

A good, concise overview of the transformations brought about by the mobile phone in Africa. It’s also a refreshing reminder that innovation does not always meaning something new, but an application of something that already exists to a new problem or a new context.

Marketing

Adverting and Marketing here to stay or things of the past? Both and neither (via Man vs. Brain)

We liked this slightly ‘out there’ take on the need to challenge our basic assumptions around advertising and marketing. The subscription of everything is coming…

Breaking up the pledge drive: Boston’s WBUR wants to build a new model for public media funding (via niemanlab.org)

See above, but looking forward to tracking the investigations into digital audience engagement and historical giving patterns.

New Tech

“Places” Lets You Listen to Social Media Near You (via smallbiztrends.com)

This smart aggregation of social networks platform could be a useful curation tool for small businesses and place-based organisations.

7-Eleven taps beacons to chase runners into stores (via mobileweekly.com)

There are lots of companies trying to transform their customers’ experience using Beacon technology. This one caught our eye, which helps runners navigate to ‘hydration points’. How could place-based social sector organisations use this technology?

On Our Radar – from Big Data Alzheimer's discovery to Parisian crowdfunding

Big data 

Mining big data yields Alzheimer's discovery (medicalxpress.com)

Another example of the potential of big data in the health sector through the overlay of different data sets.

New tech

Comedy club uses facial recognition to charge by the laugh (BBC News)

We love the ambition of this. And great to see that it’s led to increased revenues already. 

Is the new technology at Macy’s our first glimpse of the future of retail? (Washington Post)

We're wondering how place-paced arts, culture and heritage charities might make best use of the iBeacon technologies being rolled out in the retail sector.

Crowdfunding

More Paris Institutions Turn to Crowd-Funding (Artsbeat)

Great to see an arts organisation putting so much energy into crowd funding. The Louvre has been on this for a while. 

7 spectacular crowd funding fails (gizmodo.com)

On the other hand, a useful reminder of the potential pitfalls of investing in crowdfunding ideas. An important distinction to be made between start-ups and established organisations.  

Online fundraising

Charities 'Are Missing Out On Several Billion Dollars' Due To Online Fundraising Failures (Huffington Post)

Some new research from Dunham and Company and Next After. Contains some useful specific pointers for improvement rather than just saying ‘charities should do better’.

Digital content

So you want to reuse digital heritage content in a creative context? Good luck with that (LSE Blogs)

A really thoughtful overview from Melissa Terras on the potential and pitfalls of using digital heritage content.

Newly-digitised footage from Reuters (ITN Source)

Quite excited to hear of the launch of this, and looking forward to seeing what gets released month by month. A really interesting window on various worlds past. Thanks to Chris Barwick for sharing.