Data

Becoming a Data Startup – Part 1

By Robert Stein

Have you ever wished you could visualize and analyze some of your museum’s data, but weren’t quite sure how to start? Maybe you’re a museum person who is comfortable with technology, but not quite a coder. Perhaps you don’t think of …
Futurist Friday: The Science of Prediction

By Elizabeth Merritt

Hey museum futurists, this is just a quick note to point you towards a great long read: the February issue of Science magazine, which is devoted to prediction.The issue kicks off with a brief essay by Barbara Jasny and Richard Stone on how …
Taking A Fresh Look At Provenance

By Tracey Berg-Fulton

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2016 issue of Museum magazine. Pursuing a future in which provenance research and data are efficient, accessible, and equitable. Museums know that provenance, including provenance …
The “Open” Economy: Filling The Data Pipeline

By Elizabeth Merritt

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2015 edition of Museum magazine. A sample of TrendsWatch 2015. “‘Open’ is already on track to supplant ‘participatory’ as buzzword of the year, with good reason. The proliferation of …
Futurist Friday: A Graphic Look at Big Data and Privacy

By Elizabeth Merritt

Sometimes, in this job, I get dang tired of reading. That’s one reason I so often feature videos in Friday’s periodic glimpse of the future. Next best thing to video? Pictures. So I was tickled to stumble across “Terms of …
Monday Musing: Data Epiphanies

By Elizabeth Merritt

Today’s musing is sparked by an article in Forbes about a taxi company in Stockholm that devised a brilliant way to link the data generated by all its rides with other geospatial data to create “Taxi Trails”: an app that …
Keeping up with the 2014 Trends: Big Data

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is the second midyear update on the CFM report TrendsWatch 2014. Last week I week I reviewed recent developments related to “For-profit For Good”—the rise of social entrepreneurs. This week I take a look at the last six months of news …
Futurist Friday: IBM Watson Applies for Membership in the Oxford Union

By Elizabeth Merritt

OK, I made that headline up. Oxford isn’t really in the position of having to decide whether to accept a computer program as a member of its prestigious debating society. (For one thing, Watson isn’t enrolled in the University. …
The Biometrics of Cultural Engagement

By Elizabeth Merritt

I’m excavating the stratigraphic accumulation of emails, reports, requests and assignments while I was at the Alliance annual meeting last week. Mindful of those who could not join us in Seattle, I’ll share highlights and links via …
Monday Musing: who’s minding the kids?

By Elizabeth Merritt

This week’s Musing is about an article features in Dispatches from the future of Museums last week: “Gates’ $100M Philanthropic Venture inBloom Dies after Parents Say “No Way” (Nonprofit Quarterly). It’s about the demise …