When defending Twitter, I usually use Evgeny Morozov as an example of how it can save rather than waste time. “Yes, much of Twitter involves people describing their thoughts on dog outfits, Jedward and their own navels”, I say, “But why follow them? Instead, follow people who are interested in the same things as you. [...]
Posts under ‘Dave Bevan’
Did Florence Nightingale invent the pie chart?
As a tour guide on London’s open-top buses, I used to look forward to passing the Florence Nightingale Museum. Just after Westminster Bridge, and before Waterloo station, it gave me the chance to waffle about the Crimean War, a historical interest in healthcare that culminated in the National Health Service and, of course, the fact that [...]
Some thoughts on Google, privacy and the ‘cloud’
Having more data available is a good thing, for companies in general and, more specifically, for the public sector and those wishing to provide solutions to society’s problems. On the whole, therefore, I think that Google is a force for the good. At the same time, I feel utterly uneasy with the way in which [...]
That about sums it up…
Some simple wisdom from Indexed, a lovely little site full of gems like this:
Now, if we can just design a research project that could compare this hypothesis to some real-life cases…
About the author
Dave Bevan is an Interim Analyst working mainly in the Education Team at FreshMinds Research. He previously worked for the G77 (group of [...]
Rod Hull and what there is to gain from the ‘grainy’ approach
This Matt Yglesias post (and especially its comments) reminded me of one of my first projects for FreshMinds Research. For obvious reasons, I can’t go into the precise details, but I’ll tell you an adapted version to give you some idea…
Presented with a huge data set by TV Nostalgia College, we were asked to find [...]
So long and thanks for all the bottom-trawling
I went to see ‘The End of the Line’ at the RSA recently - a screening in advance of the film being shown on More4 as part of the True Stories series (though it seems the listing is not yet publicly available).
At first, I bridled a bit at the inevitable Celebrity Serious Voice Narration (nature [...]
The Marmite effect: wrapping up
We finish our ‘Marmite brand’ mini-series by looking in further depth at those brands that polarise opinion within the leisure sector. Leisure brands, it turns out, are hated by very few people, which is understandable, as it would be hard to rail against say, Cluedo (perhaps that 3% of unhappy respondents had been forced to sit [...]
The Marmite effect in the media: key to survival, but at what cost?
When FreshMinds conducted research into the most polarising brands, the media sector came second only to food and drink. The reasons are intuitive enough: to have a strong opinion, you need to be familiar with the products at hand, and the big media brands are all around us, even if we don’t watch, read or [...]
Why you should always double-check your sources…
…because otherwise you might make a teeny-tiny mistake like this.
About the author
Dave Bevan is an Interim Analyst working mainly in the Education Team at FreshMinds Research. He previously worked for the G77 (group of developing countries) at the Rome Chapter of the United Nations, and before that was a dessert chef, a tour guide on [...]
Strange maps: say goodbye to your lunchbreak
Three websites to bring your attention to this week. The first is the excellent Understanding Uncertainty, in particular the post on 2,845 ways to represent risk (more on that later this week). The second is Ask E.T. which, rather than letting you tap into extraterrestrial advice, is a forum in which the great Edward Tufte answers your [...]
