Author: mattkirbylondon
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Audience surveys revisited: from Sadler’s Wells to Datarelle
Last year, I wrote about a project I’d developed at Sadler’s Wells to improve how we collected and analysed audience survey data. The project started because I was frustrated with some of the limitations of the audience surveying platforms available to cultural organisations. We were asking audiences questions we already knew the answers to, spending…
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What happens when anyone can build the software?
AI-assisted projects like ArtCraft may not replace Microsoft or Adobe, but they could change the economics of competition. As software becomes easier to reproduce, the value of the surrounding ecosystem becomes increasingly important. The question is whether customers stay because that ecosystem delivers genuine value, or because leaving is simply too difficult.
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Forget Skynet: AI Risk Is About Control, Not Consciousness
AI doesn’t need to become conscious, malicious or “go rogue” to create real risks. The practical challenge is controlling what increasingly capable systems can access and do.
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The machine is faster. I’m not sure I am
AI can make knowledge work faster, but not necessarily easier. It often shifts the burden from producing first drafts to judging, refining, and taking responsibility for the output. If the machine is faster, does the human have to be faster too?
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Some thoughts on the Hodge Review
Here are my immediate thoughts/hot-takes on the Hodge review of Arts Council England. First, some quick ones: Yes, keep ACE arms-length – whatever your political stance artists should be free to create without political interference. Replacing Let’s Create sounds sensible – a less top-down approach should allow artists and organisations greater flexibility and freedom. Proposed…
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Not the f*** off bot
Often AI powered chatbots frustrate customers – Oura’s chatbot is actually useful.
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Transforming Collaboration During COVID-19
A blast from the past this one! During 2019 we stated rolling out Office 365 – putting Teams front-and-center. By the start of 2020 the roll-out was largely complete – but training wasn’t fully ramped up and staff were still getting to grips with things. Then COIVD hit, and office staff all suddenly had to…
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Automate Contract Generation with SharePoint and Adobe Sign
I have previously written a couple of blog posts (1, 2) about elements of this system – but haven’t done an overview – so here it is! We issue data sharing contracts with third parties – sometimes several a month. The basics of these contracts are exactly the same with only a few details needing…
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Improving Audience Surveys for Cultural Organisations
In the UK, many cultural organisations receive funding from Arts Council England (ACE). To help justify this funding ACE would like to know a bit about the audiences that these cultural organisations attract. And this data is also useful for the organisation itself – it can help the organisation understand their audiences and show how…
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“What idiot did this?”
How often have you looked at a setup and said one of these? “Well, that’s stupid” “That’s not how it’s done” “I wouldn’t have set it up that way” And how often have you found yourself in a situation where you are setting something up and thought: “Well, if we had more budget we’d do…
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