Ben WaberFriday with few meetings and a blistering morning writing pace meant lots of time in the afternoon for a slow walk with talks for my boot-edition #AcademicRunPlaylist! (1/11)
First was a panel examining the rapidly growing in influence digital creative economy at the #AfricaTechSummit with Chimano, Bilha Ngaruiya, Edwin Bruno, and Peng Chen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7u336OarQ8 (2/11) #Africa #creators
Digital Creative Economy - Panel session at Africa Tech Summit Nairobi
Next was an excellent talk by Heather Haveman on work-life balance at Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). While I prefer the term "work-life integration" myself, this was a fascinating dive into #Glassdoor data with surprising results - while women discuss it more in postings, there's no gender differences in work-life balance complaints. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZCqRcH3TP4 (3/11) #HR #PeopleAnalytics
Digit Debates - Heather Haveman
Next was an #AfricaTechSummit panel on the state of #VC investment in #Africa with Mike Mompi, Peter Orth, Babacar Seck, Andreata Muforo, and Eva Warigia. African #startups are already resource constrained, so while the discussion made me concerned in the short term, focusing on startups that are actually delivering likely will lead to longer term growth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ50OKPugrc (4/11)
Tech Funding in 2023 - The Year of Valuations, M&A and Exits - Panel Session at Africa Tech Summit
Next was a detailed talk by Martin Peitz on biased #recommendations and how regulatory policies could correct for intermediaries that aren't aligned with consumers at the Toulouse School of #Economics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1RHDDu2GUA (5/11)
Martin Peitz (University of Mannheim) Inflated Recommendations
Next was a fantastic talk by Tarek Hassan on the diffusion of disruptive technologies at the #StiglerCenter. Using data from #patents, job posting, earnings calls, and #Wikipedia, Hassan demonstrates that only a few geographies generate essentially all impactful innovations, and that the diffusion of this tech follows predictably. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4evZ13DCls&t=6s (6/11) #innovation #economics
Economic Analysis Using Text with Professor Tarek Hassan. The Diffusion of Disruptive Technologies.
Next was an #AfricaTechSummit panel on the future of #mobile in #Africa with Jaco Nel, Stephen Abeka, Shikoh Gitau, Shiela Yabo, and Andrew McHenry. Mobile #startups are one of the most interesting areas of African #tech, with a nice overview provided here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYLBtlRL1D0 (7/11)
Future of mobile - Digital Consumer Insights - Panel session at Africa Tech Summit
Next was a number of startup pitches at the #AfricaTechSummit, with standouts on sourcing and paying African tech talent by Jimmy Braimah (albeit with problematic skill tests), solving food insecurity with Christopher Chileshe, an affordable all in one #HR tech platform by Peter Muchemi Muriithi, and a compelling HR enabled #fintech that can serve loans through an HR system by Davis Nteziryayo. Playlist here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5FQGISvWBK1EzURy8B5LyEgg89usjmiM (8/11) #Africa #startups
Next was a fascinating talk by Vasilis Syrgkanis on incentivizing exploration with #algorithms. Syrgkanis presents an elegant approach that can help surface new options that would otherwise be swamped by herding, highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwmuJ5B5hg (9/11)
Vasilis Syrgkanis - Incentivizing Compliance with Algorithmic Instruments
Next was an incredible talk by Vitaly Feldman on what #NeuralNetworks memorize and why at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. It's been known for a while that NNs memorize, but this is the first talk I've shown that proves what and why - rare examples that, if not memorized, wouldn't be able to be properly categorized. Obvious implications for the lawsuits against generative #AI companies, highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_BUN5tPiuA (10/11) #copyright #GenerativeAI
Chasing the Long Tail: What Neural Networks Memorize and Why
Last was an engaging conversation with Jaime Snyder on visualizing our lives through #data on the Radical AI Podcast. Not only does visualizing data embody choices of the designer, it also influences what is and isn't valued. Some things simply can't be easily visualized, and this and more is examined in this wide-ranging discussion https://podcasts.google.com/u/1/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL3JhZGljYWxhaS9mZWVkLnhtbA/episode/cmFkaWNhbGFpLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2U5OWNhNmM1LTUwMWQtMzIwYy1iYTM5LWI5N2JhMzAwZTBlMA?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiorej2hfb9AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ (11/11) #visualization
The Radical AI Podcast - Visualizing Our Lives Through Data with Jaime Snyder
How do we see ourselves in data? What is self-tracking and how can we design for visualizing the data of our bodies and mental health? How do we make visualized data more accessible? In this episode, we interview Jaime Snyder about the data visualization of COVID, mental health, and more. Jaime Snyder is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington in Seattle. She leads the Visualization Studies Research Studio and is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UW Department of Human-Centered Design and Engineering. Snyder’s research draws on her background as an artist and information science scholar to explore the creation and use of visual representations of information, data, and knowledge in collaborative and coordinated contexts. Full show notes for this episode can be found at Radicalai.org.