Ideas for using data well to improve diversity
It is not enough to collect the data; we have to use it well and there are some good tips here from two behavioural scientists. The article is based on a white paper from the Harvard Kennedy School that includes case studies from the UK.
How to get out of your Christmas party on zoom
Being accessible virtually has generated an expectation we’ll turn up for everything, after all what else will you be doing? A great article with suggestions for alternative approaches to the Zoom Christmas work gathering.
All I Want for Christmas
I love advent calendars and I am thoroughly enjoying this one from the Royal Exchange. It reminds me of visiting my friends in Manchester in less socially distanced times.
A Simple Way to Stay Grounded in Stressful Moments
It’s been a year like not other and many of us have had to face stresses and strains unlike anything we’ve encountered before. Leah Weiss shares some useful thoughts on links between mindfulness and being embodied.
This is how anchoring works: We bring our attention into our bodies, noticing — rather than avoiding — the tension, circulation, pain, pleasure, or just neutral physical experience of, say, our right shoulder or the arch of our left foot. This practice helps us snap back to reality.
How the Future of Deep Learning could Resemble the Human Brain
This piece reflects my personal interest in machine learning, as an artist is poses important questions for me about creativity and imagination. I’m neither utopian or apocalyptic about the future of technology but I do think that we should be much more aware of the way it is impacting our social and cultural practices and is integral to all aspects of our lives now.
Just as our brains evolve early in our lives, AI should evolve as we increasingly apply it in real-world scenarios at scale. By replicating the intricacies of our own cognition, we can improve AI’s ability to quickly and effectively make decisions and ensure that the technology meets its full potential.
Watershed recognised on UK Social Enterprise Roll of Honour
Belated congratulations to Clare and all the team at Watershed for recognition on the Social Enterprise Futures Roll of Honour.
The Roll of Honour acknowledges those individuals and businesses which, over the course of an extremely challenging year, have demonstrated the strength, passion and resilience which is so characteristic of the social enterprise sector.
Ceramicist Gerald Mak tells touching tales in carved clay
Beautiful work from Gerald Mak exploring hand gestures and touch as part of communication. The absence of touch between us has been such a striking feature of 2020.
‘I began this series before the coronavirus hit, but now it’s taken on another layer of meaning. I started looking into hand gestures as a form of communication in relation to the political unrest that’s happening back home in Hong Kong,’