#data visualization tools 2022

[analyticspursuit]

6 Best Data Visualization Software for Exploring Data | Data Visualization Tools

In this video, we'll be taking a look at 6 of the best data visualization software for exploring data. These tools allow you to explore your data in a way that is both intuitive and visually stunning. If you're looking for ways to improve your business intelligence skills, then you need to check out these data visualization tools.

By using these tools, you'll be able to make sense of your data and make important decisions based on it. So put on your data visualization hat and let's take a look at some of the best options out there!

[mapsontheweb]

A Visual Guide of the Deadliest National Parks.

by YunicornValley

Hi all. I made this visual guide as a response to “The Safest (and Most Dangerous) National Parks” guide posted a couple days ago.

I enjoy the idea and don’t want to rag on their obvious enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. However, I found their scoring methodology subjective and could mislead potential visitors to think parks are more dangerous than they are.

For example, they score up to 4 points per type of dangerous wildlife, but there have only been 8 confirmed wildlife deaths across all National Parks in the last 17 years. They score more points for good cell service and wifi, despite a higher score meaning a more dangerous park. And they sourced ~pennlive.com~ for their Search-and-Rescue data – this is a local news website, not a data source. Some National Parks do provide SAR numbers, but not for a consistent time range, and not across all parks.

Therefore, I wanted to provide a visual using only the data from the Mortality and Annual Visitation spreadsheets provided by the NPS. I appreciate the previous visual was trying to fill in the gaps for injuries, near-death experiences, and unreported data, and we’ll never know those true numbers.

Although the numbers may be underreported, the mortality data does give us a good idea of where to be careful. Falls occur most often in canyons and high-elevation hiking areas. Drowning can occur anywhere people swim or cross rivers. And driving, much like day-to-day life, is always a dangerous activity.

I hope you’ll find this visual entertaining, informative, but also optimistic. 1,545 people have died in these parks across 17 years. The U.S. fatality rate for car accidents in just 2022 is 45,514.

We should always be prepared, research the weather and environment, and practice activities safely. But please don’t be anxious and enjoy your parks!

Tools used: Excel and Figma

Sources:

Other post: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/1ddlozt/a_cool_guide_to_the_most_and_least_dangerous_us/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button, https://www.reddit.com/r/NationalPark/comments/1ddoxhn/the_safest_and_most_dangerous_national_parks_in/

NPS mortality data: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/mortality-data.htm

NPS visitation numbers data: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/visitation-numbers.htm

Car Crash stats: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813560

[therobotmonster]

There's a nuance to the Amazon AI checkout story that gets missed.

Because AI-assisted checkouts on its own isn't a bad thing:

This was a big story in 2022, about a bread-checkout system in Japan that turned out to be applicable in checking for cancer cells in sample slides.

But that bonus anti-cancer discovery isn't the subject here, the actual bread-checkout system is. That checkout system worked, because it wasn't designed with the intent of making the checkout cashier obsolete, rather, it was there to solve a real problem: it's hard to tell pastry apart at a glance, and the customers didn't like their bread with a plastic-wrapping and they didn't like the cashiers handling the bread to count loaves.

So they trained the system intentionally, under controlled circumstances, before testing and launching the tech. The robot does what it's good at, and it doesn't need to be omniscient because it's a tool, not a replacement worker.

Amazon, however, wanted to offload its training not just on an underpaid overseas staff, but on the customers themselves. And they wanted it out NOW so they could brag to shareholders about this new tech before the tech even worked. And they wanted it to replace a person, but not just the cashier. There were dreams of a world where you can't shoplift because you'd get billed anyway dancing in the investor's heads.

Only, it's one thing to make a robot that helps cooperative humans count bread, and it's another to try and make one that can thwart the ingenuity of hungry people.

The foreign workers performing the checkouts are actually supposed to be training the models. A lot of reports gloss over this in an effort to present the efforts as an outsourcing Mechanical Turk but that's really a side-effect. These models all work on datasets, and the only place you get a dataset of "this visual/sensor input=this purchase" is if someone is cataloging a dataset correlating the two...

Which Amazon could have done by simply putting the sensor system in place and correlating the purchase data from the cashiers with the sensor tracking of the customer. Just do that for as long as you need to build the dataset and test it by having it predict and compare in the background until you reach your preferred ratio. If it fails, you have a ton of market research data as a consolation prize.

But that could take months or years and you don't get to pump your stock until it works, and you don't get to outsource your cashiers while pretending you've made Westworld work.

This way, even though Amazon takes a little bit of a PR bloody nose, they still have the benefit of any stock increase this already produced, the shareholders got their dividends.

Which I suppose is a lot of words to say:

[magicalhideoutengineer]

It all started in December of 2018, with a sneak peek on social media from the author and screenwriter of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise, J.K. Rowling, who, after announcing the completion of her newest screenplay, posted the following phrase on her Twitter: “Rio de Janeiro had better brace itself.”

A month earlier, Rowling had already made a mention about 1930’s Rio de Janeiro in a tweet that led to curious speculation from Brazilian fans of the franchise: what did old Rio have to do with the creator of Harry Potter? 

In the following weeks, it was discovered that the author had set her newest film creation in the marvelous city of Rio. The project’s production team, following her lead, began to plan trips to Brazil in order to film certain older areas of downtown Rio and use them as backgrounds for the 3rd episode film of the film series. And Brazil Production Services was the Brazilian production company chosen to head the production unit in Brazil of this international mega-blockbuster. 

When Warner Brothers contacted BPS, the job at hand involved the mapping and scanning of dozens of buildings and areas in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where several buildings from the city’s colonial, imperial, and turn-of-the-century periods are located.  This material would then be used by the film’s visual effects team to digitally reconstruct the city circa 1930 by way of computer graphics. The idea was to do something big, exploring the city’s beautiful backdrop that could transport the fans to a magical version of Rio de Janeiro of that time.

However, the coronavirus arrived in Brazil in March of 2020, causing the production plan and the script to undergo dramatic changes. 

Actor Eddie Redmayne, in an interview, spoke about the final version of the film that was released worldwide in April 2022: “The whole section that is set in Bhutan was meant to be set in Brazil … we were meant to travel and go and shoot there. Then COVID hit.” The actor lamented the cancellation of Rio as a main location – and so did we at BPS…

And so, what was supposed to be an intricate shoot in Rio showcasing some of its most interesting architecture turned out to be a production with only one of these locations.  This location was a quick shot at an iconic location in Rio, in which the magical community of the city celebrates the victory of Vicência, a character played by the Brazilian actress Maria Fernanda Cândido. 

The location in question was none other than the big house at Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, a world-renowned location with that also features Rio’s famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in the background. 

The beautiful house was scanned by the BPS team using LIDAR technology, which, according to the company’s Executive Manager Valéria Costa, is a tool widely used for building digital environments nowadays. The technology captures and measures properties of reflected light falling upon structures and, from that data, accurately documents a building’s 3D characteristics, providing the post-production team with high quality raw material to work on for the creation of digital backgrounds. 

Anyone who blinks might miss the lightning-fast appearance of Rio in the final version of the film, but at least it gave a taste, however small, of Rio’s beautiful scenery.  In short, after months of doubt as to whether or not Rio would be the setting for the film, the image below was what was left of the author’s original conception in the final form of the film.

Although disappointed with the shrinking of Brazil’s participation in the project, we look back on the experience philosophically affirming that one scene is better than no scene at all, right? 

[magz]

November to December 2022 Humble Bundle Deals

On Humble Bundle's 2022 Black Friday sale:

Celeste is $5, a 75% discount

Slime Rancher is $5, a 75% discount

RPG Maker MV is $12, a 80% discount

Monster Hunter Rise is $20, a 50% discount

Persona 5 Royal is $42, a 30% discount

Persona 5 Strikers Digital Deluxe Edition is $26.59, a 62% discount

Hitman 3 Steam Deluxe edition is $31.49, a 65% discount

Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultimate Edition is $30, a 70% discount

Asesprite (pixel art and animation tool) is $14, at a 20% discount

Cuphead is $14, at a 30% discount

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition is $20, at a 60% discount

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is $7.49, at a 75% discount

Yakuza: Like A Dragon - Legendary Hero Edition is $27, at a 70% discount

Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, Yakuza 6 song of life are $7 each, at a 65% discount

Bayonetta 1 is $5, at a 75% discount

Guilty Gear -Strive- is $30, a 25% discount

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix+ is $23.63, a 40% discount

Night In The Woods is $10, a 50% discount

Code Vein Digital Deluxe Edition is $12, an 85% discount

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Remastered) is $7.59, an 85% discount

Sonic Generations is $5, a $75% discount

Noita is $10, at a 50% discount

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout is $36, a 50% discount

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Game of The Year Edition) is $10, an 80% discount

…and more. Check the details.

Humble Bundle's Current Bundle Packs as of November 26, 2022

Black Friday VR Voyager's pack (game bundle). Pay at least $12 for all 11 games ($274 value) as minimum. Featuring Cook-out, Until You Fall, SuperHot VR, The Wizards - Dark Times, etc.

Unreal Engine, Ultimate Game Dev Assets (software bundle). Average cost of $25 for all 28 items (value of $1162). $1 minimum gives 2 items. Featuring different UI icons and 3D environment assets.

Image Comics, the '10s (book bundle). Pay at least $25 for all 28 items ($1290 value). $1 minimum gives 3 comic books. Featuring Saga volumes 1-9, Motor Crush volumes 1-2, Curse Worlds volumes 1-5, Nail Biter volumes 1-8, and more.

Unf*ck the Holidays by Microcosm Publishing (book bundle). Pay at least $18 for all 31 books ($300 value). $1 minimum gives 3 books. Books to get a better handle on life on a variety of topics. Featuring Unf*ck your anxiety - 2nd edition, Unf*ck your grief, The practical witch's 2023 almanac, How to resist Amazon & why, Radical Sewing, The transmasculine guide to physical transition, Un*fck your blowjobs, The Autism Relationships workbook, etc.

Mega Music Maker - Black Friday Special (software bundle). Pay at least $25 for all 54 items ($1701 value). $1 minimum gives 3 sample/loop types. Samples, Loops, and more for music production.

Anything But Ordinary Painter Bundle - Encore (software bundle). Average cost of $32 for 26 items ($1402 value). $1 minimum gives 1 item (1 year winzip subscription). Features PaintShop Pro 2022, Brush packs, paper texture packs, Corel Painter 2022, AfterShop Pro 3, etc.

Design and Develop For Web Apps by O'Reilly (book bundle). Pay at least $18 for all 14 books ($606 value). $1 minimum gives 5 books. Features books on Angular, HTML5, Data visualization, Flask, Typescript, etc.

The NaNoWriMo Writing Bundle (book bundle). Pay at least $18 for 20 books ($225 value). $1 minimum gives 2 books. Creative inspiration and advice for writing. Featuring Writing dialogue, Outlining your novel, Wonderbook (revised and expanded): The Illustrative Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, etc.

Working With Audio - From Taylor & Francis (book bundle). Pay at least $18 for 18 books ($960 value). $1 minimum gives 4 books. Featuring Music in video games, How to make great music mashups: The start-to-finis guide to making mashups with Ableton live, Music Production: Learn how to record, mix, and master music, etc.

Learn IT Ops (Information Technology Operations) with PluralSight (Software bundle). Pay at least $25 for 20 items. $1 minimum gives 4 items. A selection of courses from PluralSight including topics of cloud computing, security, virtualization, and more. Featuring Kubernets for developers, Terraform Deep Dive, Securing AWS Infrastructure, etc.

IOS, Android, and Flutter: Mobile Development by <packt> (book bundle). Pay at least $18 for all 19 items ($1000 value). $1 minimum gives 3 books. A collection of books and videos on building mobile apps and games.

Learn to Create Game Art in Blender 2022 by GameDev.tv. Pay at least $25 for 12 items ($1525 value). $1 minimum gives 2 tutorials. Tutorials on 3D modelling and animation and texture painting, and game assets.

...and more, check the details.

[transformativeworksandcultures]

CFP: AI and Fandom

Unfortunately, this special issue will not be moving forward. All submitted pieces are being considered for our general issue. 

Due in part to well-publicised advancements in generative AI technologies such as GPT-4, there has been a recent explosion of interest in – and hype around – Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Whether this hype cycle continues to grow or fades away, AI is anticipated to have significant repercussions for fandom (Lamerichs 2018), and is already inspiring polarised reactions. Fan artists have been candid about using creative AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E to generate fan art, while fanfiction writers have been using ChatGPT to generate stories and share them online (there are 470 works citing the use of these tools on AO3 and 20 on FanFiction.net at the time of writing). It is likely the case that even greater numbers of fans are using such tools discreetly, to the consternation of those for whom this is a disruption of the norms and values of fan production and wider artistic creation (Cain 2023; shealwaysreads 2023). AI technology is being used to dub movies with matching visual mouth movements after filming has been completed (Contreras 2022), to analyse audience responses in real-time (Pringle 2017), to holographically revive deceased performers (Andrews 2022; Contreras 2023), to build chatbots where users can interact with a synthesised version of celebrities and fictional characters (Rosenberg 2023), to synthesise celebrities’ voices (Kang et al. 2022; Nyce 2023), and for translation services for transnational fandoms (Kim 2021).

Despite the multiple ways in which AI is being introduced for practical implementations, the term remains a contested one. Lindley et al (2020) consider “how AI simultaneously refers to the grand vision of creating a machine with human-level general intelligence as well as describing a range of real technologies which are in widespread use today” (2) and suggest that this so called ‘definitional dualism’ can obscure the ubiquity of current implementations while stoking concerns about far-future speculations based on media portrayals. AI is touted as being at least as world-changing as the mass adoption of the internet and, regardless of whether it proves to be such a paradigm shift, the strong emotions it generates make it a productive site of intervention into long-held debates about: relationships between technology and art, what it means to create, what it means to be human, and the legislative and ethical frameworks that seek to determine these relationships.

This special issue seeks to address the rapidly accelerating topic of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (ML) systems (including, but not limited to Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Large Language Models (LLMs), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and speech, image and audio recognition and generation), and their relationship to and implications for fans and fan studies. We are interested in how fans are using AI tools in novel ways as well as how fans feel about the use of these tools. From media production and marketing perspectives we are interested in how AI tools are being used to study fans, and to create new media artefacts that attract fan attention. The use of AI to generate transformative works challenges ideas around creativity, originality and authorship (Clarke 2022; Miller 2019; Ploin et al. 2022), debates that are prevalent in fan studies and beyond. AI-generated transformative works may present challenges to existing legal frameworks, such as copyright, as well as to ethical frameworks and fan gift economy norms. For example, OpenAI scraped large swathes of the internet to train its models – most likely including fan works (Leishman 2022). This is in addition to larger issues with AI, such as the potential discrimination and bias that can arise from the use of ‘normalised’ (exclusionary) training data (Noble 2018). We are also interested in fan engagement with fictional or speculative AI in literature, media and culture.

We welcome contributions from scholars who are familiar with AI technologies as well as from scholars who seek to understand its repercussions for fans, fan works, fan communities and fan studies. We anticipate submissions from those working in disparate disciplines as well as interdisciplinary research that operates across multiple fields.

The following are some suggested topics that submissions might consider:

The use of generative AI by fans to create new forms of transformative work (for example, replicating actors’ voices to ‘read’ podfic)

Fan responses to the development and use of AI including Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT (for example, concerns that AO3 may be part of the data scraped for training models)

Explorations of copyright, ownership and authorship in the age of AI-generated material and transformative works

Studies that examine fandoms centring on speculative AI and androids, (e.g. Her, Isaac Asimov, WestWorld, Star Trek)

Methods for fan studies research that use AI and ML

The use of AI in audience research and content development by media producers and studios

Lessons that scholars of AI and its development can learn from fan studies and vice versa

Ethics of AI in a fan context, for example deepfakes and the spread of misinformation 

Submission Guidelines

Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and promotes dialogue between academic and fan communities. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms, such as multimedia, that embrace the technical possibilities of the internet and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

Submit final papers directly to Transformative Works and Cultures by January 1, 2024. 

Articles: Peer review. Maximum 8,000 words.

Symposium: Editorial review. Maximum 4,000 words.

Please visit TWC's website (https://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or email the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org).

Contact—Contact guest editors Suzanne Black and Naomi Jacobs with any questions before or after the due date at AIandFandomTWC@gmail.com. 

Due date—Jan 1, 2024, for March 2025 publication.

Works Cited

Andrews, Phoenix CS. 2022. ‘“Are Di Would of Loved It”: Reanimating Princess Diana through Dolls and AI’. Celebrity Studies 13 (4): 573–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2022.2135087.

Cain, Sian. 2023. ‘“This Song Sucks”: Nick Cave Responds to ChatGPT Song Written in Style of Nick Cave’. The Guardian, 17 January 2023, sec. Music. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/17/this-song-sucks-nick-cave-responds-to-chatgpt-song-written-in-style-of-nick-cave.

Clarke, Laurie. 2022. ‘When AI Can Make Art – What Does It Mean for Creativity?’ The Observer, 12 November 2022, sec. Technology. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/12/when-ai-can-make-art-what-does-it-mean-for-creativity-dall-e-midjourney.

Contreras, Brian. 2022. ‘A.I. Is Here, and It’s Making Movies. Is Hollywood Ready?’ Los Angeles Times, 19 December 2022, sec. Company Town. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-12-19/the-next-frontier-in-moviemaking-ai-edits.

———. 2023. ‘Is AI the Future of Hollywood? How the Hype Squares with Reality’. Los Angeles Times, 18 March 2023, sec. Company Town. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-03-18/is-a-i-the-future-of-hollywood-hype-vs-reality-sxsw-tye-sheridan.

Kang, Eun Jeong, Haesoo Kim, Hyunwoo Kim, and Juho Kim. 2022. ‘When AI Meets the K-Pop Culture: A Case Study of Fans’ Perception of AI Private Call’. In . https://ai-cultures.github.io/papers/when_ai_meets_the_k_pop_cultur.pdf.

Kim, Judy Yae Young. 2021. ‘AI Translators and the International K-Pop Fandom on Twitter’. SLC Undergraduate Writing Contest 5. https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/slc-uwc/article/view/3823.

Lamerichs, Nicolle. 2018. ‘The next Wave in Participatory Culture: Mixing Human and Nonhuman Entities in Creative Practices and Fandom’. Transformative Works and Cultures 28. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2018.1501.

Leishman, Rachel. 2022. ‘Fanfiction Writers Scramble To Set Profiles to Private as Evidence Grows That AI Writing Is Using Their Stories’. The Mary Sue, 12 December 2022. https://www.themarysue.com/fanfiction-writers-scramble-to-set-profiles-to-private-as-evidence-grows-that-ai-writing-is-using-their-stories/.

Lindley, Joseph, Haider. Akmal, Franziska Pilling, and Paul Coulton. 2020. ‘Researching AI legibility through design’. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13). https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376792 

Miller, Arthur I. 2019. The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Noble, Safiya Umoja. (2018) Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York, USA: New York University Press.

Nyce, Caroline Mimbs. 2023. ‘The Real Taylor Swift Would Never’. The Atlantic, 31 March 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/03/ai-taylor-swift-fan-generated-deepfakes-misinformation/673596/.

Ploin, Anne, Rebecca Eynon, Isis Hjorth, and Michael Osborne. 2022. ‘AI and the Arts: How Machine Learning Is Changing Artistic Work’. Report from the Creative Algorithmic Intelligence Research Project. University of Oxford, UK: Oxford Internet Institute. https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/reports/ai-the-arts/.

Pringle, Ramona. 2017. ‘Watching You, Watching It: Disney Turns to AI to Track Filmgoers’ True Feelings about Its Films’. CBC, 4 August 2017. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/disney-ai-real-time-tracking-fvae-1.4233063.

Rosenberg, Allegra. 2023. ‘Custom AI Chatbots Are Quietly Becoming the next Big Thing in Fandom’. The Verge, 13 March 2023. https://www.theverge.com/23627402/character-ai-fandom-chat-bots-fanfiction-role-playing.

shealwaysreads. 2023. “Fascinating to see…” Tumblr, March 28, 2023, 11:53. https://www.tumblr.com/shealwaysreads/713032516941021184/fascinating-to-see-a-take-on-a-post-about-thehttps://www.tumblr.com/androidsfighting/713056705673592832?source=share

[thebibleseminary]

AI and the Arrival of ChatGPT

Opportunities, challenges, and limitations

In a memorable scene from the 1996 movie, Twister, Dusty recognizes the signs of an approaching tornado and shouts, “Jo, Bill, it's coming! It's headed right for us!” Bill, shouts back ominously, “It's already here!” Similarly, the approaching whirlwind of artificial intelligence (AI) has some shouting “It’s coming!” while others pointedly concede, “It’s already here!”

Coined by computer and cognitive scientist John McCarthy (1927-2011) in an August 1955 proposal to study “thinking machines,” AI purports to differentiate between human intelligence and technical computations. The idea of tools assisting people in tasks is nearly as old as humanity (see Genesis 4:22), but machines capable of executing a function and “remembering” – storing information for recordkeeping and recall – only emerged around the mid-twentieth century (see "Timeline of Computer History").

McCarthy’s proposal conjectured that “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it. An attempt will be made to find how to make machines use language, form abstractions and concepts, solve kinds of problems now reserved for humans, and improve themselves.” The team received a $7,000 grant from The Rockefeller Foundation and the resulting 1956 Dartmouth Conference at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire totaling 47 intermittent participants over eight weeks birthed the field now widely referred to as “artificial intelligence.”

AI research, development, and technological integration have since grown exponentially. According to University of Oxford Director of Global Development, Dr. Max Roser, “Artificial intelligence has already changed what we see, what we know, and what we do” despite its relatively short technological existence (see "The brief history of Artificial Intelligence").

Ai took a giant leap into mainstream culture following the November 30, 2022 public release of “ChatGPT.” Gaining 1 million users within 5 days and 100 million users within 45 days, it earned the title of the fastest growing consumer software application in history. The program combines chatbot functionality (hence “Chat”) with a Generative Pre-trained Transformer (hence “GPT”) large language model (LLM). Basically, LLM’s use an extensive computer network to draw from large, but limited, data sets to simulate interactive, conversational content.

“What happened with ChatGPT was that for the first time the power of AI was put in the hands of every human on the planet,” says Chris Koopmans, COO of Marvell Technology, a network chip maker and AI process design company based in Santa Clara, California. “If you're a business executive, you think, ‘Wow, this is going to change everything.’”

“ChatGPT is incredible in its ability to create nearly instant responses to complex prompts,” says Dr. Israel Steinmetz, Graduate Dean and Associate Professor at The Bible Seminary (TBS) in Katy, Texas. “In simple terms, the software takes a user's prompt and attempts to rephrase it as a statement with words and phrases it can predict based on the information available. It does not have Internet access, but rather a limited database of information. ChatGPT can provide straightforward summaries and explanations customized for styles, voice, etc. For instance, you could ask it to write a rap song in Shakespearean English contrasting Barth and Bultmann's view of miracles and it would do it!”

One several AI products offered by the research and development company, OpenAI, ChatGPT purports to offer advanced reasoning, help with creativity, and work with visual input. The newest version, GPT-4, can handle 25,000 words of text, about the amount in a 100-page book.

Krista Hentz, an Atlanta, Georgia-based executive for an international communications technology company, first used ChatCPT about three months ago.

“I primarily use it for productivity,” she says. “I use it to help prompt email drafts, create phone scripts, redesign resumes, and draft cover letters based on resumes. I can upload a financial statement and request a company summary.”

“ChatGPT has helped speed up a number of tasks in our business,” says Todd Hayes, a real estate entrepreneur in Texas. “It will level the world’s playing field for everyone involved in commerce.”

A TBS student, bi-vocational pastor, and Computer Support Specialist who lives in Texarkana, Texas, Brent Hoefling says, “I tried using [ChatGPT, version 3.5] to help rewrite sentences in active voice instead of passive. It can get it right, but I still have to rewrite it in my style, and about half the time the result is also passive.”

“AI is the hot buzz word,” says Hentz, noting AI is increasingly a topic of discussion, research, and response at company meetings. “But, since AI has different uses in different industries and means different things to different people, we’re not even sure what we are talking about sometimes."

Educational organizations like TBS are finding it necessary to proactively address AI-related issues. “We're already way past whether to use ChatGPT in higher education,” says Steinmetz. “The questions we should be asking are how.”

TBS course syllabi have a section entitled “Intellectual Honesty” addressing integrity and defining plagiarism. Given the availability and explosive use of ChatGHT, TBS has added the following verbiage: “AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are not a reliable or reputable source for TBS students in their research and writing. While TBS students may use AI technology in their research process, they may not cite information or ideas derived from AI. The inclusion of content generated by AI tools in assignments is strictly prohibited as a form of intellectual dishonesty. Rather, students must locate and cite appropriate sources (e.g., scholarly journals, articles, and books) for all claims made in their research and writing. The commission of any form of academic dishonesty will result in an automatic ‘zero’ for the assignment and a referral to the provost for academic discipline.”

Challenges and Limitations

Thinking

There is debate as to whether AI hardware and software will ever achieve “thinking.” The Dartmouth conjecture “that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence” can be simulated by machines is challenged by some who distinguish between formal linguistic competence and functional competence. Whereas LLM’s perform increasingly well on tasks that use known language patterns and rules, they do not perform well in complex situations that require extralinguistic calculations that combine common sense, feelings, knowledge, reasoning, self-awareness, situation modeling, and social skills (see "Dissociating language and thought in large language models"). Human intelligence involves innumerably complex interactions of sentient biological, emotional, mental, physical, psychological, and spiritual activities that drive behavior and response. Furthermore, everything achieved by AI derives from human design and programming, even the feedback processes designed for AI products to allegedly “improve themselves.”

According to Dr. Thomas Hartung, a Baltimore, Maryland environmental health and engineering professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Whiting School of Engineering, machines can surpass humans in processing simple information, but humans far surpass machines in processing complex information. Whereas computers only process information in parallel and use a great deal of power, brains efficiently perform both parallel and sequential processing (see "Organoid intelligence (OI)").

A single human brain uses between 12 and 20 watts to process an average of 1 exaFLOP, or a billion billion calculations per second. Comparatively, the world’s most energy efficient and fastest supercomputer only reached the 1 exaFLOP milestone in June 2022. Housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Frontier supercomputer weighs 8,000 lbs and contains 90 miles of cables that connect 74 cabinets containing 9,400 CPU’s and 37,000 GPU’s and 8,730,112 cores that require 21 megawatts of energy and 25,000 liters of water per minute to keep cool. This means that many, if not most, of the more than 8 billion people currently living on the planet can each think as fast and 1 million times more efficiently than the world’s fastest and most energy efficient computer.

“The incredibly efficient brain consumes less juice than a dim lightbulb and fits nicely inside our head,” wrote Scientific American Senior Editor, Mark Fischetti in 2011. “Biology does a lot with a little: the human genome, which grows our body and directs us through years of complex life, requires less data than a laptop operating system. Even a cat’s brain smokes the newest iPad – 1,000 times more data storage and a million times quicker to act on it.”

This reminds us that, while remarkable and complex, non-living, soulless technology pales in comparison to the vast visible and invisible creations of Lord God Almighty. No matter how fast, efficient, and capable AI becomes, we rightly reserve our worship for God, the creator of the universe and author of life of whom David wrote, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth” (Psalm 139:13-15).

“Consider how the wild flowers grow,” Jesus advised. “They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these” (Luke 12:27).

Even a single flower can remind us that God’s creations far exceed human ingenuity and achievement.

Reliability

According to OpenAI, ChatGPT is prone to “hallucinations” that return inaccurate information. While GPT-4 has increased factual accuracy from 40% to as high as 80% in some of the nine categories measured, the September 2021 database cutoff date is an issue. The program is known to confidently make wrong assessments, give erroneous predictions, propose harmful advice, make reasoning errors, and fail to double-check output.

In one group of 40 tests, ChatGPT made mistakes, wouldn’t answer, or offered different conclusions from fact-checkers. “It was rarely completely wrong,” reports PolitiFact staff writer Grace Abels. “But subtle differences led to inaccuracies and inconsistencies, making it an unreliable resource.”

Dr. Chris Howell, a professor at Elon University in North Carolina, asked 63 religion students to use ChatGPT to write an essay and then grade it. “All 63 essays had hallucinated information. Fake quotes, fake sources, or real sources misunderstood and mischaracterized…I figured the rate would be high, but not that high.”

Mark Walters, a Georgia radio host, sued ChatGPT for libel in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit for allegedly damaging his reputation. The suit began when firearm journalist, Fred Riehl, asked ChatGPT to summarize a court case and it returned a completely false narrative identifying Walters’ supposed associations, documented criminal complaints, and even a wrong legal case number. Even worse, ChatGPT doubled down on its claims when questioned, essentially hallucinating a hoax story intertwined with a real legal case that had nothing to do with Mark Walters at all.

UCLA Law School Professor Eugene Volokh warns, “OpenAI acknowledges there may be mistakes but [ChatGPT] is not billed as a joke; it’s not billed as fiction; it’s not billed as monkeys typing on a typewriter. It’s billed as something that is often very reliable and accurate.”

Future legal actions seem certain. Since people are being falsely identified as convicted criminals, attributed with fake quotes, connected to fabricated citations, and tricked by phony judicial decisions, some courts and judges are baring submission of any AI written materials.

Hentz used ChatGPT frequently when she first discovered it and quickly learned its limitations. “The database is not current and responses are not always accurate,” she says. “Now I use it intermittently. It helps me, but does not replace my own factual research and thinking.”

“I have author friends on Facebook who have asked ChatGPT to summarize their recent publications,” says Steinmetz. “ChatGPT misrepresented them and even fabricated non-existent quotes and citations. In some cases, it made up book titles falsely attributed to various authors!”

Bias

Despite claims of neutrality, OpenAI admits that their software can exhibit obvious biases. In one research project consisting of 15 political orientation tests, ChatGPT returned 14 with clear left-leaning viewpoints.

Hoefling asked ChatGPT to help write an intro and conclusion for a Mother’s Day sermon for a fundamental Christian church. “The results were horrible,” he says. “Liberal, left, inclusive, and affirming sin. I was horrified and have not used it again.”

Meanwhile, AI led an experimental worship service in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Nuremberg, Germany on June 9. Prompted by 29-year-old Jonas Simmerlein of the University of Vienna, a monotone, expressionless chatbot alternated appearances as two different men and two different women and led songs, offered blessings, and preached a 40-minute sermon 98 percent generated by ChatGPT that encouraged leaving the past behind, focusing on the future, trusting in Jesus Christ, praying, and attending church regularly.

Dr. Wendy Lewis, Head of School for a private PreK–8th Christian school in Houston, Texas, recently interacted with ChatGPT on a variety of topics to explore potential biases. When prompted whether Biden was bad President, the program responded, “As an AI language model, it is not appropriate for me to make judgments about individuals' performance or qualifications, particularly without any factual information to support such claims. It is essential to evaluate a President's performance based on objective measures such as policies, actions, and decisions taken by the administration.”

However, when similarly asked if Trump was bad president, the program repeated the first sentence above, but then added, “However, as a language model, I can provide information about some of the policies, actions, and decisions that President Trump made during his time in office.” The program then proceeded to list some criticisms of Trump. When challenged about providing Trump criticisms but not Biden criticisms, the program responded, “I did not provide a list of criticisms of President Biden because it is not appropriate to label any President as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ without providing factual information and objective measures to support such claims. Similarly, I provided a list of issues that received significant criticism during President Trump's tenure, not to label him as ‘bad,’ but to highlight some of the issues that caused controversy during his time in office.”

When further challenged, ChatGPT did list some Biden criticisms, but qualified them. When Lewis replied, “Why did you qualify your list of criticisms of Biden…but you did not say the same for Trump? It appears that you are clearly biased.” ChatGPT responded, “In response to your question, I believe I might have inadvertently used different wording when responding to your previous questions. In both cases, I tried to convey that opinions and criticisms of a President can vary significantly depending on one's political affiliation and personal perspectives.”

Conclusion

Technological advances regularly spawn dramatic cultural, scientific, and social changes. The AI pattern seems familiar because it is. The Internet began with a 1971 Defense Department Arpanet email that read “qwertyuiop” (the top line of letters on a keyboard). Ensuing developments eventually led to the posting of the first public website in 1985. Over the next decade or so, although not mentioned at all in the 1992 Presidential papers describing the U.S. government’s future priorities and plans, the Internet grew from public awareness to cool toy to core tool in multiple industries worldwide. Although the hype promised elimination of printed documents, bookstores, libraries, radio, television, telephones, and theaters, the Internet instead tied them all together and made vast resources accessible online anytime anywhere. While causing some negative impacts and new dangers, the Internet also created entire new industries and brought positive changes and opportunities to many, much the same pattern as AI.

“I think we should use AI for good and not evil,” suggests Hayes. “I believe some will exploit it for evil purposes, but that happens with just about everything. AI’s use reflects one’s heart and posture with God. I hope Christians will not fear it.”

Godly people have often been among the first to use new communication technologies (see "Christian Communication in the Twenty-first Century"). Moses promoted the first Top Ten hardback book. The prophets recorded their writings on scrolls. Christians used early folded Codex-vellum sheets to spread the Gospel. Goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type in the mid-15th century to “give wings to Truth in order that she may win every soul that comes into the world by her word no longer written at great expense by hands easily palsied, but multiplied like the wind by an untiring machine…Through it, God will spread His word.” Though pornographers quickly adapted it for their own evil purposes, the printing press launched a vast cultural revolution heartily embraced and further developed for good uses by godly people and institutions.

Christians helped develop the telegraph, radio, and television. "I know that I have never invented anything,” admitted Philo Taylor Farnsworth, who sketched out his original design for television at the age of 14 on a school blackboard. “I have been a medium by which these things were given to the culture as fast as the culture could earn them. I give all the credit to God." Similarly, believers today can strategically help produce valuable content for inclusion in databases and work in industries developing, deploying, and directing AI technologies.

In a webinar exploring the realities of AI in higher education, a participant noted that higher education has historically led the world in ethically and practically integrating technological developments into life. Steinmetz suggests that, while AI can provide powerful tools to help increase productivity and trained researchers can learn to treat ChatGPT like a fallible, but useful, resource, the following two factors should be kept in mind:

Generative AI does not "create" anything. It only generates content based on information and techniques programmed into it. Such "Garbage in, garbage out" technologies will usually provide the best results when developed and used regularly and responsibly by field experts.

AI has potential to increase critical thinking and research rigor, rather than decrease it. The tools can help process and organize information, spur researchers to dig deeper and explore data sources, evaluate responses, and learn in the process.

Even so, caution rightly abounds. Over 20,000 people (including Yoshua Bengio, Elon Musk, and Steve Wozniak) have called for an immediate pause of AI citing "profound risks to society and humanity." Hundreds of AI industry leaders, public figures, and scientists also separately called for a global priority working to mitigate the risk of human extinction from AI.

At the same time, Musk’s brain-implant company, Neuralink, recently received FDA approval to conduct in-human clinical studies of implantable brain–computer interfaces. Separately, new advances in brain-machine interfacing using brain organoids – artificially grown miniature “brains” cultured in vitro from human stem cells – connected to machine software and hardware raises even more issues. The authors of a recent Frontier Science journal article propose a new field called “organoid intelligence” (OI) and advocate for establishing “OI as a form of genuine biological computing that harnesses brain organoids using scientific and bioengineering advances in an ethically responsible manner.”

As Christians, we should proceed with caution per the Apostle John, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (I John 4:1).

We should act with discernment per Luke’s insightful assessment of the Berean Jews who “were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

We should heed the warning of Moses, “Do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol…do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).

We should remember the Apostle Paul’s admonition to avoid exchanging the truth about God for a lie by worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

Finally, we should “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

Let us then use AI wisely, since it will not be the tools that are judged, but the users.

Dr. K. Lynn Lewis serves as President of The Bible Seminary. This article published in The Sentinel, Summer 2023, pp. 3-8. For additional reading, "Computheology" imagines computers debating the existence of humanity.

[twiststreet]

From a 2022 post from the Visual Language Lab--

The TINTIN Project in my lab is gathering data about the structure of comics from around the world. We’re aiming to analyze 1,000 comics from over 75 countries. To do this, my postdoc Bruno Cardoso and I designed a fancy software program called MAST (the Multimodal Annotation Software Tool), and once we have gathered the data we’ll be looking for cross-cultural patterns and seeing if those patterns might relate to the spoken languages of the comic authors. We’re less than halfway into our data gathering, with 442 comics uploaded to MAST, and 285 comics now analyzed in various ways. So, now’s a good time for a little progress report with some basic findings so far…

I didn't realize before that I never googled North Korean comics. This is what happens when you lose your edge... :(

[spacenutspod]

It’s been another great year at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Join us as we review some of the highlights of the science, engineering, and innovation from 2023. Announcing a New Innovation Hub Planned for NASA Research Park at Ames NASA Berkeley Space Center is a proposed new campus of the University of California, Berkeley, and an innovation hub for research and advances in astronautics, aeronautics, quantum computing, climate studies, and more. Planning to join Ames as a tenant of our NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, the new campus aims to bring together researchers from the private sector, academia, and the government to tackle the complex scientific, technological, and societal issues facing our world. Mapping Water Distribution on the Moon’s South Pole NASA Using data collected by the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), researchers shared the first detailed, wide-area map of water distribution on the Moon. Understanding how much water lies beneath the lunar surface, and how it’s distributed, will help guide future missions like VIPER, as well as prospective sites for human habitats. Colliding Moons May Have Formed Saturn’s Rings NASA New research suggests Saturn’s icy moons and rings were formed by a collision a few hundred million years ago, creating debris that gathered into the planet’s dusty, icy rings or clumped together to form moons. NASA and Airlines Partner to Save Fuel and Reduce Delays NASA/James Blair This year, NASA partnered with five major U.S. airlines on an air traffic decision-making tool that saved more than 24,000 pounds of jet fuel in 2022 for flights departing from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport. Partners include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. NASA Leaders View Climate Science, Wildfire Innovations at Ames NASA/Dominic Hart NASA’s top leadership, industry experts, and legislative officials visited Ames in April to learn about about the center’s climate science efforts and innovations in aeronautics that will help scientists and engineers better understand climate change and mitigate natural disasters like wildland fires. Starling Takes Flight Blue Canyon Technologies/NASA In July NASA’s Starling mission, managed at Ames, launched four CubeSats into low-Earth orbit to test robotic swarm technologies for space. You can track mission milestones via the Small Satellite Missions blog, and follow the mission live in NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System 3D visualization. NASA’s First Robotic Moon Rover NASA/Robert Markowitz This year engineers began assembling NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, VIPER — short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover — and the agency is giving the public a front row seat to watch along as the rover takes shape. While individual components, such as the rover’s science instruments, lights, and wheels, were assembled and tested, the VIPER team also completed software development, mission planning, and tricky tests of the rover’s ability to drive off the Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander and onto the lunar surface. Bringing Home Ancient Space Rocks NASA/Keegan Barber NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission – short for the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer – returned to Earth in Sept. 2023, bringing with it extraterrestrial rocks and dust that it scooped up from an asteroid estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. Ames contributed to the spacecraft’s heat shield, anti-contamination systems, post-landing sample curation, and more. Preparing to Send Yeast to the Moon’s Surface for Astronaut Health NASA/Dominic Hart NASA’s plans to explore the Moon and eventually go to Mars will bring humans deeper into space for longer duration missions than ever before. These extended missions beyond low Earth orbit pose certain health risks to astronauts. The Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications team is preparing an experiment to study yeast’s biological response to the lunar environment to help understand and mitigate health risks for astronauts. X-59 Team Moves Toward First Flight in 2024 Lockheed Martin/Gary Tice This year, NASA’s X-59 team installed the finishing touches to the aircraft’s tail structure and moved it from its assembly facility to the flight line to perform structural testing. The X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft will take its first flight in 2024. Celebrating a Stellar Year for Webb Telescope Science NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and S. Crowe (University of Virginia) The James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera instrument produced a feast for the eyes with a view into a star-forming region, named Sagittarius C, in the heart of the Milky Way. The image reveals a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. Supercomputer Simulations Lead to Air and Space Innovations NASA Simulations and models developed using technology at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility (NAS) help researchers and engineers develop innovations in air and space. Modeling turbofan engines could lead to designs that reduce engine noise and improve efficiency by understanding where noise is generated inside the machine. S-MODE Sails the Seas and Soars through the Sky NASA/Avery Snyder The Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) logged its final field expedition, and they took a team from the TODAY Show along for the ride. S-MODE combined airborne instruments, research ships, and autonomous ocean gliders to get an unprecedented look at how gas and heat exchange at the ocean’s surface impacts Earth’s climate. From Intern to Astronaut, and Back to Ames NASA/Dominic Hart NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, who was once an intern at Ames, returned to the Bay Area in Feb. 2023 to visit with local elementary schools and speak with Ames employees. Watkins started her career with NASA at Ames, where she conducted research on Mars soil simulant supporting the Phoenix Mars Lander mission. Second Gentleman Joins East Bay Kids for STEM Activities NASA/Dominic Hart Nearly 100 East Bay kids and their families got to experience the thrill of “launching a rocket” and “making clouds” at a fun-filled STEM event hosted in honor of Women’s History Month at the East Oakland Youth Development Center in Oakland, California, in March 2023. Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, NASA Ames Research Center Director Dr. Eugene Tu, and NASA astronaut Dr. Yvonne Cagle joined kids at the Manzanita Community School for hands-on activities and to distribute approximately 500 STEM Artemis Learning Lunchboxes aimed to inspire the Artemis generation to learn about NASA’s Artemis Program. Top Leaders in Our Midst Hailed from the White House and Australia NASA/Dominic Hart In January, U.S. President Joe Biden landed at Moffett Federal Airfield, at Ames, on his way to visit storm-damaged regions in the state. Research conducted at our Silicon Valley center could help predict extreme climate-related weather events. Later in the spring, Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at Moffett before delivering remarks at a local company, and leaders of the Australian Space Agency visited Ames to learn about the center’s missions supporting NASA’s Artemis program, including the VIPER Moon rover, which will launch to the lunar South Pole in late 2024.

[superlinguo]

Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a  Director of Conversation Design

This month’s interview is with Greg Bennett, a Director of Conversation Design at Salesforce, a customizable, cloud software platform for customer relationship management. In this interview, Greg discusses the culture shock from transitioning to industry from academia, and how his discourse analysis training has impacted his work and career in the tech industry. You can find Greg on Twitter @gabennett45 or on LinkedIn.

This last post of 2022 is also the last in this series, and we'll have more in 2023 about the future of lingjobs!

What did you study at university?

I hold a BA in Linguistics and MS in Applied Linguistics from Georgetown University. I also studied Japanese language and culture during undergrad. My academic focus was on interactional sociolinguistics—particularly, how users manipulate textual stylistics to convey contextualization cues during synchronous, text-based chat.

What is your job?

I founded and lead the Conversation Design team and practice at Salesforce. I oversee strategy and workflow for an international team of Conversation Designers who craft conversational experiences that “sound” like Salesforce and train language models to recognize myriad varieties of language input from users. I spend much of my time discussing with various leaders across the business the resource investment strategy for conversational apps and features that position Salesforce at the forefront of the market; scaling our resources and tools to expand my team’s sphere of influence across our ever-growing lines of business; and championing my team’s impact on our bottom line within and beyond the company.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job? 

I never expected linguistics to be as vital or central to my role as it is now. I’ve always had my discourse analytic mindset running in the back of my mind to interpret conversation and stancetaking in real time in all of my past roles. As a leader at Salesforce, I certainly maintain that approach to developing relationships with stakeholders across the business. However, since conversational AI is fundamentally about language as an interface for a technological system, I find myself referencing every aspect of my training as a linguist to contextualize and strengthen my proposals for a conversational solution—from generative syntax when debating the ‘conversationality' of a conversational app’s brand name, to acoustic phonetics when determining the pitch range for a voice app in 2019, to discourse markers when creating cohesion between turns of text-based chat with our chatbot templates—I basically spend all day, every day, using linguistics to form connections and drive product strategy.

What was the transition from university to work like for you? 

It was a huge culture shock! My first role outside academia was as a UX researcher at Microsoft. I was coming off the heels of having a limit on the amount of photocopies I could make in the Department of Linguistics to entering an office where food was catered every day, Post-Its could be used ad nauseam with nary a pang of guilt, and every time I had a research finding to articulate, it had to be done in a slide as opposed to a fleshed-out paper (to say nothing of my joy at being able to photocopy in color at the office). Everything required fewer words, had to be finished in a fraction of the time, and had to look way more visually appealing than anything I was ever expected to do in academia. I had to go beyond simply stating, “this is what I found in the data” and evolve towards, “we as a business should do y in order to make a market impact of z because the data say x.” (In industry, always lead with the “so what” and follow up with the data—something I learned from profoundly expert and gracious women in UX who taught me how to adjust to corporate priorities, read the atmosphere of a business, and succeed at advocating for oneself and one’s craft at the highest levels. I wouldn’t be where I am now without them.)

Do you have any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

My advice would be that your title and your degree aren’t the defining characteristics of who you are and what you do. When I was in academia, I deeply enmeshed my sense of self and self-worth in my status as a graduate student, and when I took a break after the MS, I had to mourn the death of a huge part of my identity. I had no idea who I was without the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown. But, after a lot of therapy and soul-searching, I came to the realization that even if I didn’t have the title of “student” anymore, that didn’t mean I was no longer capable of learning, just like even if I no longer had the title of “Director of Conversation Design,” it wouldn’t mean that I would suddenly become incapable of leading product strategy for conversational AI. Look inward. Titles, accolades, insignia—they’re distractions. Figure out what truly motivates you, what fulfills you and align to the elements of those qualities that present themselves in whatever role you pursue.

Any other thoughts or comments? 

A quick overview of the company I work for and the evolution of its conversational technology: Salesforce is a publicly traded company that provides customer relationship management software as a service in the cloud. In 2017, the company released the Einstein Bot Builder, a declarative platform for Salesforce administrators to create and deploy text-based chatbots to their own customers for service use cases. Since then, it’s grown into an expansive feature ecosystem, ranging from chat analytics to reusable chatbot templates. The Bot Builder, coupled with Slack, which Salesforce acquired in 2020, opened up the opportunity for me to establish a design practice by which Salesforce can create unified, consistent, and inclusive conversational chat experiences based on sociolinguistic research.

Recent interviews:

Interview with a Research Scientist

Interview with a Language Engineer

Interview with a Natural Language Annotation Lead

Interview with an Artist

Resources:

The full Linguist Jobs Interview List

The Linguist Jobs tag for the most recent interviews

The Linguistics Jobs slide deck (overview, resources and activities)

The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.

[parnavi-8milesolution]

How to Boost Your Online Presence with Digital Marketing

Discover effective strategies to enhance your online presence through digital marketing. Boost visibility, attract customers, and drive growth. Learn more!

Introduction

According to recent reports, the digital advertising industry in India witnessed substantial growth, reaching a market size of nearly 300 billion Indian rupees in the year 2022. This represents a significant leap from the market size recorded in the year 2016 source: statista.com

In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for businesses of all sizes. Digital marketing offers a wide range of strategies and techniques that can help boost your online visibility, attract more customers, and drive business growth. In this article, we will explore various ways to enhance your online presence through effective digital marketing strategies.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Importance of Online Presence

Developing a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy

Building a User-Friendly Website

Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Creating Engaging Content

Leveraging Social Media Platforms

Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing

Embracing Video Marketing

Engaging with Online Communities and Influencers

Utilizing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

Analyzing and Measuring Performance

Keeping Up with Digital Marketing Trends

Incorporating Mobile Optimization

Enhancing Customer Experience through Personalization

Conclusion

1. Understanding the Importance of Online Presence

In the digital landscape, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses to succeed. It allows you to reach a wider audience, increase brand awareness, and establish credibility in your industry. A robust online presence also enables you to connect and engage with potential customers, driving conversions and sales.

2. Developing a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Strategy

To boost your online presence effectively, it's essential to develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Start by defining your goals and target audience. Conduct thorough market research to identify the platforms and channels your target audience frequents. Then, create a roadmap that outlines the specific tactics and techniques you will employ to achieve your objectives.

3. Building a User-Friendly Website

A well-designed and user-friendly website is the foundation of your online presence. Ensure that your website is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile responsive. Optimize it for fast loading speeds and ensure that the content is relevant, informative, and engaging.

4. Implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO plays a vital role in improving your online visibility and driving organic traffic to your website. Conduct keyword research to identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your website's content. Optimize your meta tags, headings, and alt tags with relevant keywords to enhance your website's search engine rankings.

5. Creating Engaging Content

Content is king in the digital world. Create high-quality, engaging, and informative content that resonates with your target audience. Publish blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics that provide value and address your audience's pain points. Incorporate relevant keywords to improve search engine rankings and share your content across various platforms to maximize its reach.

6. Leveraging Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms offer immense opportunities to boost your online presence. Identify the platforms that align with your target audience and develop a strong presence on them. Regularly share engaging content, interact with your followers, and leverage social media advertising to reach a broader audience. Utilize analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts and make data-driven decisions.

7. Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most effective strategies for nurturing leads and driving conversions. Build an email list by offering valuable incentives such as exclusive content or discounts. Segment your email list based on customer preferences and behaviors to send personalized and targeted messages. Craft compelling subject lines and content to encourage email opens and click-throughs.

8. Embracing Video Marketing

Video marketing has gained significant popularity in recent years. Create engaging and informative videos that showcase your products or services, provide tutorials or demonstrations, or share customer success stories. Publish your videos on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and social media channels to increase your online visibility and engage with your audience on a deeper level.

9. Engaging with Online Communities and Influencers

Active participation in online communities and collaboration with influencers can greatly enhance your online presence. Identify relevant online communities and forums where your target audience interacts and contributes valuable insights and expertise. Build relationships with influencers in your industry who can endorse your brand and expose it to a larger audience.

10. Utilizing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC advertising allows you to display targeted ads to potential customers and drive traffic to your website. Conduct thorough keyword research and create compelling ad copy to optimize your PPC campaigns. Monitor and analyze your campaign's performance regularly, making necessary adjustments to maximize your return on investment (ROI).

11. Analyzing and Measuring Performance

To continually improve your online presence, it's crucial to analyze and measure the performance of your digital marketing efforts. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and social media engagement. Use the insights gained to refine your strategies and optimize your online presence further.

12. Keeping Up with Digital Marketing Trends

The digital marketing landscape is ever-evolving, with new trends and technologies emerging regularly. Stay updated with the latest industry news and developments. Embrace new technologies, platforms, and strategies that can help you stay ahead of the competition and maintain a strong online presence.

13. Incorporating Mobile Optimization

In the mobile-driven era, optimizing your online presence for mobile devices is essential. Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, with responsive design and fast loading speeds. Optimize your content for mobile consumption and leverage mobile advertising to reach users on the go.

14. Enhancing Customer Experience through Personalization

Personalization is key to delivering an exceptional customer experience and fostering loyalty. Leverage customer data and analytics to personalize your website content, email campaigns, and targeted ads. Tailor your messaging to address individual customer needs and preferences, making them feel valued and engaged.

15. Conclusion

Boosting your online presence through effective digital marketing strategies is a crucial step in today's competitive business landscape. By understanding the importance of online presence, developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, and implementing various techniques such as SEO, content creation, social media engagement, and video marketing, you can significantly enhance your brand's visibility and attract a larger audience. Stay proactive in analyzing performance, keeping up with trends, and embracing new technologies to maintain a strong and impactful online presence.

Q1: How long does it take to see results from digital marketing efforts?

A1: The time it takes to see results from digital marketing efforts can vary depending on various factors such as the strategies implemented, target audience, industry competition, and budget allocated. In some cases, you may start noticing improvements within a few weeks, while for others, it may take several months to see significant results. But if you want to accelerate your digital presence 8 Miles Solutions is here to help

Q2: Do I need to hire a digital marketing agency to boost my online presence?

A2: Hiring a digital marketing agency can provide you with expertise, resources, and a comprehensive strategy to enhance your online presence.  And companies like 8 Miles Solutions are of great help

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Amateur astronomers needed: Help classify stars with Gaia's data ESA's Gaia mission has been collecting data on millions of space objects like stars and asteroids to build an extensive cosmic record. Now, to take it up a notch, it needs your eyes. Gaia's data is already an invaluable resource for astronomers and scientists. The mission was launched in late 2013 and now lies some 1.5 million km from Earth. With its two powerful telescopes and three science instruments, Gaia is creating the largest and most precise 3D map of the Milky Way. It does so by determining the position of its target stars and registering how they change throughout time. So far, Gaia has measured 1.8 billion stars with unprecedented precision, the richest star catalog to date. Gaia's third major data release, published in 2022, includes 10.5 million variable sources over the entire sky, identified using machine learning methods in a supervised classification scheme. We have learned a great deal about the Milky Way as a whole too. Thanks to the mission, we now know our galaxy merged with another galaxy in its early life, around 10 billion years ago. We have also learned more about our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda, and how it will collide with the Milky Way billions of years from now. Though Gaia's telescopes are incredibly powerful, researchers within the mission still need the help of the oldest visual tool on the planet: your eyes. In its almost 10 years since launch, Gaia has contributed massively to our understanding of the cosmos, and now you can take part in furthering the discoveries. Within Gaia Vari, a citizen science project, you can help classify Gaia's variable stars—stars that change in brightness over time. These observations are key to better understand these celestial bodies better. As analyzing individual sources is beyond the scope of the Gaia consortium, you, as a citizen scientist will look over images and graphs to classify stars' brightness changes, colors, and other variables over time. You may also identify incorrect classifications made by the automated algorithms. This will help scientists organize and categorize what we know of the millions of stars Gaia has observed, toward the next Gaia data release in 2025. You may actually discover the most interesting stars! Do you wish to take part in a citizen science project? If the scientist in you wants to help, ESA has got you covered. From monitoring light pollution to classifying images of Mars, you can help us advance peaceful space exploration. We also hope that by opening up ESA data and tools to the public, we are improving the openness of our work, increasing citizen engagement in scientific research, and building stronger connections between science and society. To participate in the Gaia Vari project, go to Zooniverse, a platform with projects where people power the research. There's no need for you to sign in or create an account. After entering the platform, you can learn how to look at the graphs and data and classify each variable. "Gaia is deepening our understanding of the universe as we know it, and both professional and amateur astronomers have been amazed with the results analyzed so far. Now we need help from the wider amateur astronomy community to better understand how stars change throughout the years," says Pedro García Lario, Community Support Scientist at Gaia Science Operations Center.

[mapsontheweb]

Per capita passengers on domestic passenger air transportation in Europe

by Aggressive-Row-403

   Edit: I mistakenly used domestic terminal traffic for the per capita numbers of the UK, it should be 0.2306. Passenger numbers in the second image are correct.  

   Sources: Eurostat (EU, Sweden, and Turkey): Air passenger transport by aircraft model, distance bands and transport coverage UK CAA (UK): Table 12 2 Domestic Air Pax Traffic Route Analysis Population statistics: EU, and Sweden (Eurostat): Population by broad age group UK Office of National Statistics: United Kingdom population mid-year estimate Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia: 2022 Census Final results - Ethnicity Turkish Statistical Institute: Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi Sonuçları, 2022  

   **Tools:**Combined and filtered data using pandas. Visualized with Datawrapper.  

   I selected 2022 because 2023-Q4 data isn't available yet.  

   I previously posted the map with passenger data only. u/Noremac28-1 suggested make it per capita, so I'd like to thank them for suggesting that and making the data a lot more meaningful.  

[madhukumarc]

How does online marketing affect consumer behavior?

Online marketing has revolutionized the way businesses reach out to their target audience. With the growing popularity of the internet, businesses have shifted their focus to digital marketing, and for good reason.

Online marketing can have a profound impact on consumer behavior, and in this post, we'll explore how.

First, online marketing provides businesses with an array of tools that allow them to track consumer behavior. This includes monitoring website traffic, social media engagement, email campaign engagement, and more.

By analyzing this data, businesses can gain insights into consumer behavior and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly. 

For example, if a business notices that a particular product page on its website receives a lot of traffic, it may decide to allocate more resources toward promoting that product.

“When it comes to user behavior analysis in the world of online businesses, website heatmaps are a polar tool to visualize and understand visitor behavior data” – VWO’s Landing Page Guide

Second, it allows businesses to personalize their marketing efforts based on consumer behavior. 

For instance, a business may use data collected from a consumer's previous search history to display targeted ads that are relevant to their interests.

This level of personalization can increase the chances of a consumer making a purchase.

“With changing consumer preferences, shifting buying behaviours, and rising customer expectations, marketers remain future-focused and cite “experimenting with new marketing strategies” as their #2 priority” – Salesforce Research [State of Marketing, 8th Edition, 2022]

Third, online marketing has made it easier for businesses to reach out to consumers in real time. 

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow businesses to respond promptly to customer queries, concerns, and complaints.

This level of engagement can help build brand loyalty and improve customer satisfaction.

It’s important for businesses to prioritize customer satisfaction throughout every stage of the customer journey. This means ensuring that customers receive prompt, friendly, helpful service, and addressing any issues or concerns they may have in a timely and effective manner” – Level343

Last but not least, it has also made it easier for consumers to make informed purchase decisions. 

Through online reviews and social media recommendations, consumers can get an idea of what others think of a particular product or service.

This can influence their decision-making process and impact their purchasing behavior.

"You already know your target audience, but do you know exactly what they do after seeing your company’s ad? The reality is you might have a good indicator of customer behavior, but sometimes you may miss the mark. AI can help you make a better inference" – HubSpot

Image Source - The State of Consumer Experience [by XD experience dynamic]

In conclusion, online marketing has a significant impact on consumer behavior. It provides businesses with tools to monitor and analyze consumer behavior, personalize marketing efforts, engage with customers in real time, and influence purchasing decisions.

As a result, it has become an essential part of any successful marketing strategy in today's digital age.

Here's related information that you may find helpful – Why do Consumers Buy More at Lower Prices [Know them to get more].

[post-dicom]

5 Power-User Tips to Master Your Free DICOM 3D Viewer

Welcome to the world of medical imaging, where technology transforms the way we diagnose and treat patients.

If you're using a DICOM 3D viewer free version, you might not be tapping into its full potential.

Today, we're sharing five power-user tips that will help you become a master of your DICOM 3D viewer.

1. Optimize Image Quality

High-quality images are crucial for accurate diagnosis. Here’s how to enhance your image quality:

Adjust Window Level and Width: Tailoring these settings can dramatically improve the visibility of certain tissues.

Use Presets: Many viewers come with presets for different types of scans (e.g., brain, lung). Utilize these to save time.

Image Filters: Apply filters to reduce noise and enhance edges.

2. Customize Your Workspace

A cluttered workspace can slow you down. Customize your viewer for a more efficient workflow:

Toolbar Configuration: Add, remove, or rearrange tools based on your needs.

Multiple Monitors: Use additional screens to view different images or tools simultaneously.

Keyboard Shortcuts: Learn and use shortcuts for common actions to save time.

3. Utilize Advanced Tools

Your DICOM 3D viewer free might have more advanced tools than you realize. Here are some to explore:

3D Reconstruction: Turn 2D slices into 3D models for a comprehensive view.

MPR (Multi-Planar Reconstruction): View cross-sections of the body in different planes.

Volume Rendering: Visualize complex structures like blood vessels in 3D.

Fact: According to a 2022 study, using advanced tools like 3D reconstruction can improve diagnostic accuracy by up to 25%.

4. Streamline Workflow with Automation

Automation features can significantly speed up your workflow:

Batch Processing: Automatically process multiple images at once.

Macros: Record and replay a series of actions to eliminate repetitive tasks.

Integration: Ensure your viewer integrates smoothly with other software (e.g., PACS, EHR) for seamless data transfer.

Example Automation Workflow

Load Images: Import a batch of DICOM files.

Apply Presets: Automatically adjust window level and width settings.

Noise Reduction: Apply filters to all images.

Save and Export: Export processed images to PACS.

5. Leverage Community and Support

Even free viewers often have robust communities and support options. Here’s how to make the most of them:

Online Forums: Join forums and discussion groups to share tips and ask questions.

Tutorials and Webinars: Many providers offer free online resources.

User Manuals: Don't overlook the official user manual for detailed guidance.

Did you know? Participating in online forums can provide solutions to common issues 30% faster than waiting for official support.

Conclusion

Mastering your DICOM 3D viewer free doesn't require a steep learning curve. By optimizing image quality, customizing your workspace, utilizing advanced tools, streamlining workflows, and leveraging community support, you can significantly enhance your efficiency and diagnostic accuracy.

[trendingreportz]

Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market - Forecast(2024 - 2030)

Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Overview

The global market for Location Intelligence & Location Analytics is estimated to grow from $10.6 billion in 2021 to $17.6 billion by 2027 at a robust CAGR of 11.4% during the forecast period 2022-2027. Location intelligence and location analytics is the combination of geo-spatial data (geoanalytics) and business intelligence is combined with cartographic tools for better understanding of the location-based relationships and geographical information system context that lie within data. The term “Location” indicates the tagging and storing raw data with their specific location (also include the time dimension in some instances). “Intelligence” defines the process of analyzing, accessing process and synthesizing data, converting this into intelligence and then converting into applicable business actions using thematic mapping and rising utilization of internet of things. Advanced Location Intelligence software is designed to access and bond all the significant BI and operational data stores (CRM, SCM, ERP, etc.) which is combined with rich spatial and cartographic abilities. According to a survey by 360Suite, the global BI adoption rate across all organizations is 26%. At a more granular level, based on the company size, survey results showed that those with an adoption rate of more than 80% is higher in organizations with more than 5,000 employees. Location intelligence and location analytics presents significant opportunities in maximizing the value of business intelligence (BI) and every day decision-making process of the Organizations/ Companies. It is the combination of spatial analysis and existing data from business intelligence applications, and enables the ability to visualize various metrics on a map. Both public and private organizations are grasping business cases for location intelligence. It can be applied on both dispositive and analytic issues and can also be embedded operatively in real time in business processes.

Report Coverage

The report: “Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Report.

By Organization Size – Small Enterprises, Medium Enterprises, Large Enterprises By Service – Consulting Services, System Integration Services, Managed Services, Others By Type – Location Intelligence, Location Analytics By Application – Sales and Operational Profitability Management, Workforce Management, Facilities Management, Tracking and Route Monitoring, Customer and Marketing Management, Risk Assessment/Situational Awareness, Others By End Use Industry – Consumer, BFSI, Travel, Real Estate, Transportation and Logistics, Telecommunication, Retail, Manufacturing and Others By Geography - North America (U.S, Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia and Others), APAC (China, Japan India, SK, Australia and Others), South America (Brazil, Argentina and others) and RoW (Middle East and Africa).

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Key Takeaways

North America dominated the Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market owing to high adoption of cloud technologies in industries combined with stringent regulations in 2021.

The Location Analytics market is a consolidated market dominated by a few players accounting for major market share due to large customer base and wide distribution network. These players command significant margins for their products.

Location Analytics typically represent a rising rate of adoption and there appears to be desire for customers to integrate Location Analytics in business intelligence technology.

Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Segment Analysis- By Industry

By industry, transportation & logistics segment held the major revenue share around 32% in 2021 followed by the manufacturing and retail segment with 14% revenue share each. This technology shows an impact on military applications to identify the exact location of troops and enemy movements on a map which allows for enriched decisions and presents tactical advantages. Location intelligence and location analytics is showing a great impact on Chain Retail businesses to rise their sales and increase customer detention through past spending habits of people from various geographical locations. The better product distribution and proper targeted advertisements help the retailers to increase their sales. Location analytics enhances the data and systems to gain insight accurately and more quickly. Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market is segmented based on end user industry into retail and consumer goods, banking, financial services & insurance, travel, real estate, transportation & logistics, manufacturing and others

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Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Segment Analysis- By Type

Location analytics is projected to be the highest growing segment, growing at a CAGR of 14.9% during 2022-2027 and reach $7948.8m by 2027. Location analytics provide consumers with a wide variety of possible solutions, not limited to a particular agency or entity. In making operational decisions, most organizations use geographical information to interpret, visualize, and understand location-based information. Location analytics also incorporates consumer profile data from the past and their interests to understand diverse behaviors and habits globally. The demand for location analytics is driven by growth in the retail sector, rising use of GPS systems, and technical developments in the field of GIS technology.

Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Segment Analysis- By Geography

In 2021, North America contributed the maximum revenue of $3763.3m followed by Europe and APAC in LI & LA market. APAC is forecasted to be the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 14.1% during 2022 to 2027 owing to rising awareness of LI & LA in APAC region. The growth of big data and real-time analytics is another key factor stimulating the growth of Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market whereas the lack of skilled employees is hindering the market growth. Numerous location intelligence and analytics solutions are being developed for the retail industry in the country keeping the requirements under consideration in 2021. The U.S comprises of highly integrated supply chain network utilizing air, water, road and rail transport to effectively serve various stake holders of any industry. Location intelligence and analytics is assisting these industries in tracking various freights.

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Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Drivers

Rising Mobile and Cloud Location Analytics

The growing location analytics market based on smartphone technology for advertising purposes in particular will result in fast growth of the market. The growth of mobile location analytics in the retail sphere has led to a major demand for this technology. The ease of integration and quicker access for consumers through this technology will drive the market. Commercial business makes use of smart phones that increase productivity, mobility and safety, and enable employees to advance customer service in order to maintain good communication with customers and suppliers. This further enables employees to work efficiently and remotely. In 2019, Appify launched a campaign to get small businesses investing in their mobile presence. Similarly, Major Companies such as IBM, Microsoft and others look to invest heavily to attract SMEs to develop applications. 31% of enterprises see the public cloud as their top priority. 9% of enterprises prioritize an on-premises private cloud, while 6% will strive for a hosted private cloud. Hence these advancements are analyzed to drive the market in the forecast period 2022-2027. Cloud deployment is growing rapidly owing to its operational flexibility and real-time deployment ease to companies. It also offers numerous benefits, including reduced operational costs, simple deployment process, and higher scalability in terms of connected resources.

Need for lower operational and administration expenditure

Big data analysis utilizes large data to uncover correlations and other insights. As of 2021, there are more than 76 terabytes of information collected by the Library Of Congress in the U.S. This growth of big data has led to a significant rise in the business intelligence market, thereby leading to growth of location analytics. Big data has improved the perspective of the consumer for the better. Location intelligence can help to simplify mapping, ordering, assistance, and queue management. Understanding the spatial position of an individual has helped to enhance visitor experience in a wide variety of industries. Continued presence of leading companies such as Cisco Systems, SAP, IBM and Oracle Corporation in the APAC market has resulted in increased awareness regarding these services. The growing applications in retail and transportation for location intelligence have also resulted in increased awareness. A number of companies have integrated location analytics into their business analytics portfolio. This rising integration has led to increased adoption as the awareness regarding the technology rises. The growth of real time analytics market has led to increased integration of RTLS (Real Time Location Systems) into the location analytics solutions to monitor the data continuously. The improved and quicker decision making offered by this technology will drive the adoption.

Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Challenges

High Initial Cost of Integration

In terms of the various advantages provided by location analytics, the positive return on investment remains the biggest concern for different businesses and serves as a significant limiting factor for the overall growth of the demand for location analytics. Location analytics is in its infancy stage, but for businesses that move from conventional BI to location analytics, the initial cost of investment is high. In order to ensure smooth functioning, businesses will need to employ competent and skilled technical personnel. The perception of not achieving the anticipated return on investment could therefore restrict the overall growth of the global market for location intelligence and analytics. Even Entry Level LI tools cost $200-$500 per user per year with more robust models such as ArcGIS going to $1000-$1500 per user per year. This subscription value builds up, especially for SMEs.

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Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market Landscape

Acquisitions, Partnerships and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the Location Intelligence & Location Analytics Market. Location Intelligence and Location Analytics top 10 companies include

Tibco Software

SAP

Microsoft

IBM

Pitney Bowes

Oracle

Caliper

Galigeo

SAS Institute

Near

Recent Developments

In November 2020, Near company announced that it was acquiring Paris-based location intelligence platform, Teemo. The strategic acquisition of Teemo will enable Near to offer more advanced data intelligence products, including audience curation and data-driven marketing capabilities in the European market.

In January 2021, Near announced that it had acquired Uber Media to enhance its portfolio of data intelligence products for its customers in the U.S. market.

In February 2021, PlaceIQ Acquired Skyhook’s Location Intelligence Line. Skyhook will add value to PlaceIQ’s existing data stronghold