The100: Fetishized, confabulated, homeboy research

Fetishizing Research

Personally I tend to switch off when I see the oft repeated and much misused Henry Ford quote about faster horses. If the drunk using a lamp post analogy is thrown in, I’ve left the building. But as Martin Weigel is such a genius, I’ve forgiven him. Here’s the gentleman (with a slide deck) on the use, abuse and fetishizing of research.

Confabulating Research

“Search is a powerful indicator of behaviour because of the incentives involved; search terms must accurately reflect your needs otherwise you’ll get the wrong results.”

Data’s great. But we have to use it with care. In that article, StreetBump is a sobering example, as is the make-up of Lady Ga Ga’s audience…reminiscent of Freakonomics perhaps.

Homeboy Research

There’s literally no “emptiness” in Hip Hop. The lyrics anyway.

This piece looks at Hip Hop lyrics and is especially cool and fabulously constructed from a presentation point of view. There’s a NSFW version of most used words list, and you can put money on never setting this line in a hip hop song yo:

I cried with a broken heart as I sailed across the sea to a mountain.

This is pretty smart too – a little nerdy perhaps (bubble sorting) but still ace.

Is everyone asking for car crashes?

Talking of clever people, Russell Davies writes fantastically (as always) about Fake News.

“The internet rewards attention with cash because of advertising. We built that model. We didn’t build a model that rewards high quality content or trust-worthy media owners or decent editorial environments”

His points on terms and conditions at the end resonated with us – you’ve seen ours of course (high-fiving myself).

Disrupting Disruption

Whether or not startups are actually disrupting big brands is a narrative that is familiar (especially in FMCG/CPG) but is it all BS? This article has a go at analysing the arguments.

Remote control

As flexible working grows more and more prevalent (thankfully in my book) this gives some good tips on how to get it right when the slippers are on.

And if you’re not feeling it right now, enjoy this beautiful photo essay on mountain shepherds, or browse the stunning photography on Tom Jenkins new website, or watch a mashup of all the best cinematography winners at the Oscars. Love a good looking video.

Did you know: KFC follow 11 people on twitter. The 5 Spice Girls and 6 people called Herb. 11 Herbs & Spices. Love it.

Now, did I check everything before I pressed publ