Perfect your data visualization

January 31, 2018

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“Thanks so much for imparting your knowledge and wisdom – I found the day really useful and it will definitely influence the way I approach my infographics.” Elaine Vallance, Strathclyde University

“Thanks for the very informative course yesterday. The phrase ‘no title, no infographic’ is now printed and blue tacked to the cupboard behind my desk.” Nic Benton, ICMM

“A big big thank you for the workshop yesterday –I’m so thrilled I went along, and I’ve already started thinking about how to do what I do better.” Leonie Le Borgne, Action Against Hunger

‘Thanks for the great training. It was really good. I am sure I will now be able to present my plans.’” Christine Bryan, European Central Bank

Learn how to create data visualizations with authority, authenticity and impact at this rigorous masterclass with data visualiztion expert  Andy Pemberton

Date: Thursday April 5 2018

Times: Full-day course, 9.30am-4.30pm

Location: University College London, London

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Movie theatres are getting hammered by Netflix

January 31, 2018

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The same economics problem that led to the collapse of the newspaper industry, and that’s currently haunting cable, is also happening to the theater industry: Viewership (in this case, admissions) is down, but the average price of movie tickets continues to climb.

  • Theater admissions fell 6% in the U.S. last year to 1.24 billion, the lowest admissions rate since 1995, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.
  • Stock prices for nearly every theater chain are down, with the exception of Regal. (See above.)

 

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Facebook goes “all in” on local news

January 30, 2018

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In a new post Monday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes that the company is making a series of updates to show more high quality, trusted content, including exposing users to more local news.

Why it matters: One of Zuckerberg’s stated goals for 2018 is to make sure Facebook stays true to its mission of helping connect people to stay civically engaged, and this move follows a series of blog posts discussing the role Facebook plays in democracy and civic engagement.

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  • “Research suggests that reading local news is directly correlated with civic engagement,” Zuckerberg writes. “People who know what’s happening around them are more likely to get involved and help make a difference.”

This news comes amid recent changes to the News Feed that aim to prioritize more “trustworthy, informative, and local” news from “trusted sources.”

  • Last week Facebook announced it will use data from user surveys about which news sources they find trustworthy to inform their News Feed algorithm.
  • The company has previously pushed to give local news publishers more resources, like free accessto the social measurement tool, CrowdTangle.
  • A Parsely study earlier this year found that Facebook overwhelmingly drives lifestyle and entertainment news traffic, while Google largely drives business, tech and sports news traffic.
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Thirty startups have banded together for an “initial coin offering” that aims to fetch $35 million

January 30, 2018

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Thirty startups have banded together for an “initial coin offering” that aims to fetch $35 million.

Why it matters: 22x Fund, as it’s called, is akin to a startup index fund, enabling investors to buy into a pool of equity from all the companies.

The details: Each startup is contributing up to 10% of its equity in the form of common shares, depending on the total amount raised. Investors can sell the tokens after one year, and they last nine years.

More benefits: “I saw it as a better deal for my company… better valuation, helps me retain control,” explains OpenUp founder and CEO Ashwini Anburajan, who helped spearhead 22x Fund. She adds that it’s also a better deal for investors: their IRR increases because there’s no lag—the capital is almost immediately deployed into the startups.

Posted in: Strategy | Leave a Comment

UK government: the economic impact of Brexit will be wholly negative

January 30, 2018

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An analysis from the U.K. government anticipates entirely negative economic impacts from Brexit regardless of the terms of the exit deal, Buzzfeed News, which got its hands on the analysis, reports.

  • Top-line figures: Growth would fall by 8% over 15 years under a “no-deal Brexit,” 2% under a “soft Brexit” and 5% under a middle course. Nearly every economic sector would be hurt, with the exception of agriculture, along with every geographic region.

The bottom line: The British government is going to spend the next year or so in intense negotiations over a process its own analysis suggests will bring entirely negative economic consequences.

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Get 10% off Data Visualization for data scientists course

January 30, 2018

Catalyst Millenial CSR Infographic v2 (1)-page-001

“Thanks so much for imparting your knowledge and wisdom – I found the day really useful and it will definitely influence the way I approach my infographics.” Elaine Vallance, Strathclyde University

“Thanks for the very informative course yesterday. The phrase ‘no title, no infographic’ is now printed and blue tacked to the cupboard behind my desk.” Nic Benton, ICMM

“A big big thank you for the workshop yesterday –I’m so thrilled I went along, and I’ve already started thinking about how to do what I do better.” Leonie Le Borgne, Action Against Hunger

‘Thanks for the great training. It was really good. I am sure I will now be able to present my plans.’” Christine Bryan, European Central Bank

Learn how to create data visualizations with authority, authenticity and impact at this rigorous masterclass with data visualiztion expert  Andy Pemberton

Date: Thursday April 5 2018

Times: Full-day course, 9.30am-4.30pm

Location: University College London, London

Posted in: Infographic of the day | Leave a Comment

The biggest story in digital has just been broken by the NY Times: here’s a useful summary

January 29, 2018

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“The Follower Factory,” is an N.Y. Times team exposé, about how cheap and easy it is to become an “online influencer” by buying followers:

  • “These accounts are counterfeit coins in the booming economy of online influence, reaching into virtually any industry where a mass audience — or the illusion of it — can be monetized.”
  • “By some calculations, as many as 48 million of Twitter’s reported active users — nearly 15 percent — are automated accounts designed to simulate real people, though the company claims that number is far lower.”
  • A Florida-based company, Devumi, has collected millions of dollars [by selling] Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses.”
  • “Drawing on an estimated stock of at least 3.5 million automated accounts, each sold many times over, the company has provided customers with more than 200 million Twitter followers.”
  • “Devumi has more than 200,000 customers, including reality television stars, professional athletes, comedians, TED speakers, pastors and models.”
  • “For just pennies each — sometimes even less — Devumi offers Twitter followers, views on YouTube, plays on SoundCloud, the music-hosting site, and endorsements on LinkedIn, the professional-networking site.”
  • “In November, Facebook disclosed to investors that it had at least twice as many fake users as it previously estimated, indicating that up to 60 million automated accounts may roam the world’s largest social media platform.”

This problem is getting worse.

  • A new app has flooded the web with AI-generated fake celebrity porn.
  • In a potential oppo nightmare for 2020, machine-learning algorithms can generate convincing audio and video of fake events.
  • The Economist sees a “new battlefield between falsehood and veracity”: “[I]mages and sound recordings retain for many an inherent trustworthiness.”
  • Twitter says in a new submission to Congress that “Russian-linked Twitter bots shared Donald Trump’s tweets almost half a million times during the final months of the 2016 election,” per Bloomberg.
  • All this helps explain why trust in social media and search engines plunged in the new Edelman Trust Barometer. The survey reflects “a global reckoning around fake news and misinformation.”

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Data visualization for data scientists

January 25, 2018

Learn how to create data visualizations with authority, authenticity and impact at this rigorous masterclass with data visualiztion expert  Andy Pemberton

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Date: Thursday April 5 2018
Times: Full-day course, 9.30am-4.30pm

Details

Date: April 5, 2018
Times: Full-day course, 10am-4pm
Location: Student Central building, Student Central, University of London, Malet St, London WC1E 7HY
Price: £199 per person
Event capacity: 20

Complimentary lunch and refreshments included.

 

You may also be interested in…

  • Writing for business: How to write copy with real impact

Information on Furthr’s Masterclasses

If you have any questions about our programme, contact Andy@furthr.co.uk

Returns policy: Tickets may be refunded if you contact us at least 14 days before the course start date.

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Global crude oil demand will peak by 2030 because of electric cars says Bank of America

January 23, 2018

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Global crude oil demand will peak by 2030 thanks to very fast electric vehicle adoption beginning in the early 2020s, says a new research note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

Bank of America see Electric Vehicles reaching 40% of new car sales by 2030 and 95% of new sales by mid-century curtailing the global thirst for oil.

Why it matters: The report breaks with several major forecasting bodies and analysts, who predict a much later peak. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, and OPEC do not even see a peak by 2040.

The timing of the global demand apex — and the rate of decline thereafter — has major ramifications for the finances of oil-producing economies and, more broadly, the earth’s climate.

 

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New Amazon cashier-less store: “What a 7-Eleven might look like if it got a high-end makeover”

January 22, 2018

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Amid rumours Amazon have chosen Washington DC as the location for their second HQ, Jeff Bezos opened the first cashier-less Amazon store in Seattle.

The store “resembles what a 7-Eleven might look like if it got a high-end makeover” says Recode, which was among the outlets that got a tour of the store. Here is a pic of Jeff Bezos back in 1999. How things change.

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