warm data
The issue with even this “trend” is that so much of cultural critique today remains observational.
Problematic considering the tiny narrative bubbles we’re each in.
Without layering any quantitative analysis into our stories, fads remain just reactions to reactions. Emptiness.
It teaches them that data is created, not found; and that creating it well demands humanity, rather than objectivity
Melanie Feinberg • The Myth of Objective Data
A founding motivation for the pair was a belief that the discussion of climate change needed to be participatory, not a one-way lecture. "One of the things that frustrated me so much while working for major environmental groups is this concept that there are anointed people who 'know' and there are people who are 'not knowing'," says Quan
... See moreRichard Fisher • Why We Need New Words for Life in the Anthropocene
All information is grounds for knowledge, whether empirical or aphoristic, no matter its truth-value. We should embrace the scientific-poetic synthesis and informed naivety of a magical realism. Error breeds sense.
Luke Turner • Metamodernist // Manifesto
The power in softness
Exploring the importance of soft data alongside hard data, embracing complexity and using personal data to understand and reclaim oneself, with a focus on emotions and human experiences.
LinkNew research suggests that AI is reducing complexity, or at least our experience of it. A recent study, The Platonic Representation Hypothesis , shows that as AI models become more powerful, they form increasingly similar statistical representations of the world. The result is that we are effectively simplifying our understanding of the world and t... See more
🏡 I Don’t Resonate With You
Can even the most unfathomable statistic feel real if it's not accompanied by a singular human's story? We need both stories and stats. The hyper-personal and the sense of scale.
Ann Friedman • The Stats vs. The Story
"Palestinians are often pinioned between two opposing but equally harmful tendencies: to turn them into abstractions on a political stage, or to turn away from them because what they’re enduring is too horrendous to truly grapple with
Ann Friedman • The Stats vs. The Story
The deep knowledge about a place is most likely held by farmers and engaged locals. But it is not likely to be in a form demanded by policymakers to substantiate calls for spending. It’s not just about quantifying, it’s about qualitative data of the kind that amounts to a form of collective intelligence.”