Big Data – American Alliance of Museums

The Future of the Museum Store

By Elizabeth Merritt

This post was originally published in 2014 and is republished with updates. Read more about how to get involved in Museum Store Sunday taking place November 26, 2023! I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the Museum Store Association …
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 …
The “Open” Economy: filling the data pipeline

By Elizabeth Merritt

“‘Open’ is already on track to supplant ‘participatory’ as buzzword of the year, with good reason. The proliferation of groups supporting and encouraging openness in the cultural/creative sector is impressive. Wikimedia, Creative Commons, …
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 …
A Geyser of Information: Tapping the big data oil boom

By Elizabeth Merritt

While the human race is rapidly depleting or degrading natural resources—oil, water, minerals, biodiversity—one resource is growing at an exponential pace. Every two days people create as much information as we did from the dawn of …