Mark Hanna • Aug 20, 2018 •
Official information is being kept secret for longer than it should be. For the past few months, I have been gathering and analysing data from 12 government agencies, looking at how they handle requests made under the Official Information Act. My findings reflect what many have observed more anecdotally: responses to requests for information are often sent at the very … Read More
Donal Curtin • Apr 25, 2018 •
You want to buy a widget. Bugsy’s has the model you want, it’s $6. Malone’s also sells it, for $5. You may not know Malone’s got it cheaper, so you end up paying a dollar too much at Bugsy’s. But suppose Bugsy’s and Malone’s are required by the Prevent-A-Widget-Ripoff Authority to post their prices online? With a moment’s search you … Read More
Ken Perrott • Apr 24, 2018 •
Hala Jaber, highly Respected Middle East correspondent and author of The Flying Carpet of Small Miracles: A Woman’s Fight to Save Two Orphans.” Image Credit: Goodreads. Several things have come together in the last few months – centred around news about the war in Syria, chemical weapons, the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury and the … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 20, 2018 •
Christoph Adami, Michigan State University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Mathematical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking was best known for his work exploring the relationship between black holes and quantum physics. A black hole is the remnant of a dying supermassive star that’s fallen into itself; these remnants contract … Read More
Mark Hanna • Oct 31, 2017 •
You have the right to ask the government for information. Because of a law called the Official Information Act (OIA), they’re obliged to give it to you unless there is a good reason not to. You’ve likely seen the OIA mentioned in the news. Phrases like “Documents released to [news outlet] under the Official Information Act” can often be found … Read More
Sarb Johal • May 16, 2017 •
“Right now we have a health hazard to democratic functioning.” Those are the words of Professor Sam Wineberg of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University in the United States, my guest on this edition of The Psychology Report. You can listen to the original podcast here, as well as reading our conversation below. Professor … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 08, 2017 •
Below are a few links to resources that people might find useful to share – or read if you want a quick introduction to vaccines for kids. Short takes For really short takes, these brochures—all in PDF format—might be useful. They make key points in few words: Immunization: Get the facts – a Canadian brochure covering 5 key concerns … Read More
Aaron Schiff • Nov 04, 2015 •
Data visualisation typically focuses on the data itself, but in some cases the metadata is interesting in its own right. Lately I’ve been thinking a bit about how to visualise the structure of metadata. Ultimately this could be combined with a data visualisation to make something that coherently shows both the data and its structure. A couple of interesting examples … Read More
Bill Kaye-Blake • Feb 11, 2014 •
Paul Walker over at antidismal mentioned that he has a new article in the Journal of Economic Surveys on theories of the firm. There’s a pre-publication version on his University of Canterbury website. It’s highly recommended reading if you have any interest in why firms exist and what they do. Titled ‘Contracts, entrepreneurs, market creation and judgement: […] … Read More
Robert Hickson • Mar 23, 2012 •
Writing on the Atlantic’s website, Alan Jacobs notes the error in assuming today’s leisure activities will be tomorrow’s jobs. In particular he argues that it is a fallacy that most jobs will involve searching and assimilating data (I could also add that machines may replace people in collating and analysing data). Alan challenges the thesis of Malcolm Gladwell’s … Read More