#the robots and the ai-generated country singers?

[templeofshame]

I think my thing about thinking some celebrities aren't real is just me being old and a) not really knowing who people are or celebrity gossip, b) not being used to how younger people are named or are choosing to name themselves, c) either not knowing any songs or finding them generic enough that they could be ai or something

[thisaintascenereviews]

Bethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster

You know, I’ve never been the biggest fan of indie band Best Coast, but I couldn’t deny the vocal talent of singer / songwriter Bethany Cosentino. I always just wished she would do something that really complemented her voice, but it was admittedly a bummer when they went on hiatus a couple of years ago. She finally dropped her debut album last year, entitled Natural Disaster, and I didn’t listen to it, for whatever reason. I guess I just never got around to it, but I found a copy of it at Half Price Books for a dollar on clearance last week, so for that price, I couldn’t say no. That’s the best deal I’ll probably ever find for that album, and many 2023 albums.

I didn’t know much going into it, or how it sounded, so I ended up being surprised when I finally listened to it. This record is a really solid slice of Americana, pop-rock, and country-rock, which surprised me a bit. She recorded this with Butch Walker in Nashville, and you can hear the more accessible pop-rock direction, but it works quite well. Her voice is warm and inviting, the instrumentation is catchy, fun, and playful, but the lyrics are a bit heavier and try to tackle some heavier topics every once in awhile.

The lyrics are the biggest issue I have with this album, admittedly, but they’re not half bad. There are plenty of other things to enjoy, such as the vocals and instrumentation, because Cosentino’s voice sounds great here. She has a knack for hooks, and there are a ton of catchy and wonderfully executed hooks on here. The sound of this thing is pretty good, too, but it’s nothing special. That’s the thing, it’s relatively generic stuff, but it’s done well. This is what I meant when I talked about that in my review of Cassadee Pope’s Hereditary, where I enjoy something that’s relatively straightforward and generic, just as long as there’s effort and care put into it, versus sounding robotic or AI-generated. This album is just so catchy, lighthearted, and breezy, it’s so easy to get lost in.

As I said a bit ago, the only real issue I have with this album is the lyrics, but even then, it’s not much of an issue. The lyrics on this try to be very broad, albeit talking about some heavier topics, or focusing on relationships and heartbreak, and because she tries to paint broad strokes, the lyrics just end up really generic and forgettable, despite being just fine. They’re not badly written, but they don’t feel personal, so the personal connection can get lost at times, but when the vocals and instrumentation are so strong, it’s easy to ignore the lyricism. If you want a relatively generic but still catchy, fun, and lighthearted country-rock / Americana album that breezes by, I’d easily recommend this. If I did hear this album last year, it most likely would have shown up on my yearend list.

[xb-squaredx]

Rise of the V-Tuber

As a platform, YouTube has gone through a variety of “eras,” wherein a particular trend catches on and defines the website for some time. In the early days, you had funny cat videos, then Let’s Plays of video games became rather popular, and now we seem to be deeply entrenched into a new era that has exploded in popularity as of late. If you’ve frequented the website at all in the past few months, it is almost inescapable. Cutesy, anime-styled avatars that play games, sing, chat with viewers, or even cook! What does it all mean? Where did they come from? Are they here to stay? Most importantly, how does one crawl out of the rabbit hole once they fall into it? All that and more will be revealed as we delve deep into the wacky, wholesome and sometimes worrying world of V-Tubers. (photo credit YuuGiJoou. Check her out on YouTube, Twitter or Twitch!) 

THE ORIGIN

To begin properly, let’s define the subject. A “V-Tuber” is a “Virtual YouTuber,” someone who streams on YouTube (or any other streaming platform) using a digital avatar as a proxy. The streamer in question typically uses face-tracking software so that the avatar can emote (or at least attempt to emote) to match their own reactions as they provide entertainment for their audience. While it may seem as if V-Tubers are rather new, in doing research on the topic, you’d be surprised how far back things go.

For starters, the concept of a virtual celebrity has been around for a while, with one of the most notable efforts being Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid voicebank program. Hatsune Miku is every bit as famous and beloved as a flesh-and-blood singer or entertainer despite being nothing but voice synthesizer software. Vocaloid got its start back in 2000, eventually being reworked into a commercial product in 2004, though it wasn’t until the programs started receiving anthropomorphic character designs that it took off, with Hatsune Miku’s own debut in 2007, and the rest is history.

Many will consider “Virtual Idol” Kizuna Ai as the true pioneer of what we call a V-Tuber today, making her debut in 2016, however one could make an argument that Ami Yamato, a 3D-animated vlogging channel debuting in 2013, beat her to the punch. Honorable mention of course goes to Any Malu, a Brazilian animated YouTube vlogger who debuted in 2015 and eventually gained her own show on Cartoon Network Brazil. While Ai may not be the first, she is undoubtedly considered to be the codifier that many later V-Tubers would follow. Ai’s entire shtick was being an AI program that wanted to connect with humans, playing games, singing or interacting with fans. Following her explosive popularity, it was clear that other companies would follow the model established by Ai, with their own spins on it of course.

Nijisanji, established in 2018, proved that this trend could be incredibly profitable, becoming trailblazers in their own right as they established various “branches” of their company in several countries with their own unique performers that could cater to a wider range of viewers. As of this writing, Nijisanji employs over 164 “Virtual Livers,” most of which come from their Japan branch, alongside their Korean, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian branches. Similarly, there is the Hololive corporation, which saw substantial growth throughout 2020 in particular. Established in 2016 originally as Cover Corporation, at first Hololive was the name of an app meant for use in 3D motion capture, though following Nijisanji’s success, Hololive was rebranded as a V-Tuber competitor and also features a variety of colorful characters spread across many different main branches. There is of course the Japanese branch, as well as Hololive Indonesia, the relatively new (and highly successful) Hololive English, a defunct Chinese branch and an all-male Holostar branch in Japan.

Other, smaller V-Tuber groups have sprung up alongside the corporate powerhouses, such as VOMS Project, established in March of 2020, as an independent trio of streamers, and more recently at the tail-end of 2020 with V-Shojo, featuring a group of Western streamers (who ironically mostly stick to Twitch). Outside of this of course are the countless independent streamers who utilize avatars for one reason or another across many different platforms. Even prominent Twitch streamers seem to be getting in on the act, such as Pokimane, though that one has not come without some backlash. So consider that a rough history of how V-Tubers got started in Japan but how did they gain a more global fanbase? Well, in a word…”memes.”

GOING INTERNATIONAL

I won’t deny there had to be at least SOME overseas fans who enjoyed watching V-Tubers before they became more well-known, but for many Western fans their introductions to V-Tubers in general typically came from viral videos taken from various streams that spread like wildfire, eventually getting people curious enough to check them out. For Kizuna Ai, her playthrough of Resident Evil 7 gained notoriety for her mimicking the cursing of the English-speaking player character, and for Hololive, arguably the first real Western breakthrough for the company came from a now infamous moment from Sakura Miko’s stream of Grand Theft Auto 5. 

Also from Hololive, Inugami Korone in particular had a variety of memes spread about her due to playthroughs from various games that even got acknowledged by the developers themselves. Her playthrough of DOOM 2016 resulted in a short-lived Easter egg implanted into DOOM Eternal, and her video on Banjo-Kazooie (and the animated Eekum Bokum fan video that spawned from that) got the attention of Rare, Xbox and even Grant Kirkhope, the composer for the original game.

Honestly, the real unsung heroes of sorts for V-Tuber popularity might just come from foreign fans that would clip and translate various moments from streams that helped to build an international audience. There are dozens of Twitter handles and YouTube channels that specialize in spreading these clips around and if you factor in the YouTube algorithm, once you see one video your feed will be flooded with similar videos. It is no surprise fans call getting into the fandom “falling into the rabbit hole.” When you look at the more popular members of Hololive, often the ones with various viral clips have the higher subscription counts. In the case of Aki Rosenthal, one of the older members, her sub count exploded after a fan translated a section from a then-recent stream in which she talked candidly about her less-than-stellar growth as well as the difficulties of standing out in general. While at one point having the lowest amount of subscribers (well below 200,000), in the months since that video her sub count has more than doubled going past 400,000. Sometimes the talent needs a little push.

Now, within Hololive itself, I think Kiryu Coco is also partially responsible for expanding the fanbase, being one of the few employed talents with the ability to speak English (likely a native speaker), she gained a large international fanbase as she would work to translate what she or other members were talking about on the fly, and later on established an ongoing series where she would directly engage with fans over websites like Reddit and “rate” the various memes they would send in. Coco also pushed for establishing what would become Hololive English, which has proven to be a gigantic success, each member of that branch blowing past more established talent’s subscriber counts, with Gawr Gura becoming the first Hololive V-Tuber to pass one million subscribers and just recently passed the two million mark. So yeah, V-Tubers are a big deal now but…what is about them that makes people want to watch them in the first place?

THE APPEAL

So, right off the bat, if we’re going to ask why someone would want to watch a V-Tuber I think it’s fair to ask that of virtually ANY internet personality. The reason why someone would watch Game Grumps or Pokimane or Jojo Siwa or whoever else is the same reason they’d watch Kizuna Ai or Inugami Korone or Ironmouse: they’re entertaining. I guess that seems like a bit of a cop-out answer, right? There MUST be a reason why V-Tubers have blown up in popularity over the last few years, so are there things that make these particular Internet entertainers stand out from the crowd?

Undoubtedly, the fact that these streamers are playing a character is a deviation from the norm, though the dedication to staying “in character” seems to vary from person to person, and over time many V-Tubers tend to open up and are far more genuine. At any rate, even the best actor out there can’t possibly make up various daily happenings or childhood stories for their characters on the fly, day after day, stream after stream. Still, I’d imagine the decision to use a proxy as opposed to their real self can be liberating, a mask they can wear to speak more freely or a role they can play up for entertainment. For the most part, I think the persona aspect is mostly harmless fun that makes the streamer seem more distinct; ask yourself which is more eye-catching: some normal human playing a game and occasionally cracking a joke, or a one-eyed pirate girl discussing her raunchy past? Or maybe you’d rather watch the grim reaper practice her raps? Even talent that don’t really play up their character much still often have interesting character designs; we have princesses, dragons, devils, robots and more. A little something for everyone!

Speaking a bit more personally, I find it interesting to watch streamers from an entirely different culture and how they interact with fans or engage with games. I find it funny when Inugami Korone or Sakura Miko plays more Western-oriented games like the DOOM series or Grand Theft Auto V respectively. Often times they’re blown away by the culture clash, or they view these games through a different lens since it’s so different from what they’re used to. In particular, those two are just genuine goofballs that are funny all on their own. More chat-focused streams are an interesting view into daily life in Japan, such as the stories Houshou Marine tells, though obviously a given V-Tuber’s viewpoint isn’t a metric you can apply to the whole country, but she’s still interesting to listen to. Takanashi Kiara is also notable for her multilingual skills, which has helped her bridge the gap a bit more between the various Hololive members through her Holotalk segments where she interviews other V-Tubers. Outside of Hololive, Amano Pikamee from VOMS Project is just a bundle of energy that’s fun to watch as she rages in Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. Her tea-kettle laugh is also just kinda charming. The V-Shojo group stands out for being super vulgar compared to the more corporate V-Tubers and while I don’t watch them all that much, there’s still some fun chaos to be had. Still though, I think there’s one big elephant in the room that would also help explain V-Tubers catching on at this specific point in time: the pandemic. Streaming is one of the few jobs not really affected by the pandemic, and with people stuck inside, they’re more likely to scroll through YouTube or Twitter and find a funny clip and then…well, you know… It’s one bright spot in an otherwise dark time…but I’d be lying if I said it was all sunshine and rainbows.

THE DARK UNDERBELLY

The overall idea behind V-Tubers, at least in Japan, seems to be an extension of Idol Culture…and uh…if you know anything about Idol Culture in Japan, it is all kinds of scummy. Exploitative, filled to the brim with harmful rules and regulations and largely catering to some vary unsavory “fans,” I’ll make it no mystery that I find it incredibly distasteful. Look no further than what happened to Minegishi Minami from the idol group AKB48. To keep a long story short, the obsession with “purity” and being this idealized Japanese beauty means idols are effectively locked into their work, unable to discuss or in many cases partake in romantic relationships, as that would make them less “desirable” to their audience. This unfortunately does at times extend to V-Tubers.

Take Tokoyami Towa, who was suspended for some time and forced to make an apology video for…having some male voices briefly heard over Discord during an Apex Legend stream. She even lost a lot of subscribers and support from Japanese fans following this, though once learning of this, Western fans flocked to her as a show of support. Hololive has also dealt with a variety of issues coming from Chinese fans; though that’s a particular hornet’s nest I don’t want to delve into here too much. To sum it up, fans can get obsessive and toxic, which can lead to the talent being harassed. It is for this reason, it is generally agreed upon by fans to not delve too deep into the personal lives of the V-Tubers, for fear of being doxxed and the illusion being broken. These kinds of issues certainly bring up some interesting questions regarding how talent should be treated moving forward.

Are these V-Tubers characters or just alternate sides of real people? Where does the fantasy end and reality begin? Ultimately, the lines are somewhat blurred. Talent certainly brings some of their own personality into the performance, but they are forced to remain anonymous and as can be seen in the case of Kizuna Ai, they are not always in control of the character they’ve been given. Kizuna Ai’s initial actress was for a time replaced, and “clones” of the character with different voices and personalities started to spring up, likely as an attempt to compete with the likes of Nijisanji and Hololive. In cases where V-Tubers retire from the industry, or “graduate” as some call it, all of their hard work cultivating a fanbase might end up being for nothing as they were forced behind a proxy that isn’t truly themselves and I imagine it can be hard to start over again from square one. Never mind the attempts to step out of the shadow of your older work. Man, Perfect Blue was downright prophetic at times, huh?

I don’t want to dwell on the negatives too much though. It’s worth noting for one thing that Nijisanji seems relatively lax regarding how their talent operates, whereas it seems Hololive is the standout for adhering to the idol ideal, though considering how some of the talent acts (in particular Kiryu Coco), one has to wonder if they’re softening their stances a bit. Many V-Tubers generally talk about the positive aspects of the industry and being given the opportunity to reach people from all over the world. Shortly after Ina’s debut in Hololive English, she was actually brought to tears when told her art streams convinced people to get into (or back into) the hobby, which had been one of her goals for becoming a V-Tuber in the first place. Ironmouse, now a member of V-Shojo, has an immune system disorder that keeps her bedridden and forced to stay inside, so the opportunities afforded by this particular type of streaming has allowed her to reach out to others and as per her own words, has changed her life for the better. While there are definitely “fans” that go too far, corporate practices that are outdated, or harmful and a slew of potential unfortunate implications, ultimately I think most people out there are just looking for quality entertainment, and these digital proxies give these entertainers an outlet to connect with fans in a way that they might not have otherwise.

CONCLUSION

V-Tubers are in a bit of a boom at the moment, though I can’t imagine it’ll last forever. We’re quickly approaching market saturation and after a point, people can only follow so many streamers at once. Hell, as I was editing this up, it seems as if prominent YouTuber Pewdiepie is about to step into the ring, so who knows what kind of shake-up that could bring. The bubble will undoubtedly burst and what becomes of V-Tubers then is still up in the air. Or who knows, maybe V-Tubers will endure and replace all entertainment and we’re just watching the beginning of a cyberpunk dystopia. Stranger things have happened! Considering the world is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, that should largely have an impact on the popularity of V-Tubers for some time to come, though as we emerge into a “new normal” in the world, it’ll be interesting to see how these entertainers continue to evolve. Now, I suppose there is one question I never quite went over before now, isn’t there? How does one escape the V-Tuber rabbit hole? Well, I’m sorry to say but there is no escape.

Enjoy your new home!

-B

[930club]

9:30 INTERVIEW: Patrick Watson

Patrick Watson is more human than human. Performing under the eponymous band name, the singer-songwriter has made a career out of constant evolution. Whether it’s releasing five FANTASTIC albums, scoring blockbuster movies and television series, or performing with the likes of John Cale and James Brown, Patrick Watson is a machine. His latest album, Love Songs For Robots, is an ode to the human machine. Ahead of his show at U Street Music Hall later next month, we chatted with Patrick to discuss life, touring, and the future.

Quinn Koches [9:30 Club]: Your last album is titled Love Songs For Robots. What is it about robots/artificial intelligence (AI) that drew you in as a songwriter?

Patrick Watson: The title’s not to be taken too literally. After the fact, I thought about the title and realized I probably scared a lot of people off from the record because they thought it was all about robots [laughs].

For an album titled about robots, it has a uniquely human and personal feel to it - was that a conscious decision?

I guess that was more of the point with the title. I wanted to make something that had a bit of a science fiction edge to it, but still felt really sensual - a bit like the way the movie Blade Runner feels to me. It’s a really sensual film, even though it’s sci-fi. That was more of the inspiration behind the title of the record than anything.

How do you think robots will influence our lives, especially how we interact with music, in the future?

It’s come up in the news a lot in the last year, and I think it’s less about robots, and more the fact that people overestimate our sensibilities as humans to be these un-programmable beings. Humans are a bit more binary than they want to be. People think that AI could never meet our complexity, but as we’re finding out more and more people with complicated and complex jobs are being fired and replaced with machines. As for its impact with music, it’s not like the drum machine is some new creation. Pop music is constructed in a very strong tempo grid. Yes, humans are arranging the sound, but there’s still a vocoder and an auto-tuner on every vocal. Slowly but surely, it’s not really a human performance anymore.

How do you see that impacting your songwriting, moving forward?

I think when you’re on that pop-music grid, there’s a certain hypnotic feel to it that’s interesting for sure, but we’re not really that perfect... There’s a bit more of a jagged edge. Music that’s more on the grid doesn’t affect me emotionally as much. If you put Bob Marley on the grid, “No Woman, No Cry” would feel much different, y’know? But it’s an aesthetic choice, and a feeling choice.

I read in another interview that you really challenged yourself to change up your songwriting technique and approach for this record. What made you want to break out of your habits for this particular one?

I was reading a lot of science journals at the time. Reading about science is a lot more inspiring to me than anything else. It was pushing the boundaries of how I think about myself, more than films or any other art form could. Once I read about quantum mechanics or bio-engineering, it challenged me as a human to go, “Well, what the f*** even am I?” in the same way that art is supposed to challenge you. When I started writing this album, I wanted those to be the type of things I thought about. As for the arrangements and the songwriting, it was a bit more electronic, but it was all played live - they’re all live takes, the studio vocals and everything. We didn’t need overdubs to make it a good song. Lyrically and instrumentally, though, we were definitely influenced by that notion of science fiction.

Some of your most recent work includes scoring Alexandre Aja’s The 9th Life of Louis Drax, a story about a neurologist's explorations of a young boy's unconscious mind. How does your approach to writing a score differ from writing an album?

I kind of approach it as though the film is the melody, and I’m making the backing track of the singer. In a way, the music’s got to be missing a little something so that when it meets the film, they make something together. When you’re making music without film, you’re trying to complete the whole of what the film was. [Scoring] is really just leaving space for the film. The film is the lyrics to the song you’re writing. It’s also a challenge because I’m not thinking about what I’m thinking, I have to think about what the director’s thinking - in that way it’s kind of a nice vacation for my brain [laughs], but each film has it’s own unique personality, and you have to find music that gives it it’s own feeling.

I saw you recently played in India. What was that like?

Ah, f***ing amazing! First of all, going across the world to play in front of people is such a huge honor, especially when people know the lyrics and are singing along - it’s a pretty weird experience to think that people that far away would have that connection. India is just chaos that works. It’s medieval, it’s modern, it’s everything at once. To me, that’s really the payoff of doing music, to be able to share that experience with people from totally different parts of the world. Touring in general has been some of the biggest highlights I’ve gotten from music.

I also find whenever you come back from a developing country, it gives you a whole new perspective in your life that makes you realize you take things too seriously. It was a nice break from that, and gave me a fresh breath to start music again. We’re so comfy in the west. Whenever you travel to another part of the world like that, it’s always such a shock to your system and when you come back it feels like everyone’s wearing a helmet. You realize that keeping things chaotic or unorganized makes the simple things in life more exciting. It changes your tempo and makes you think about things differently, so that’s always a great place to come back to musically. I also LOVE Bollywood music. Indian pop music is the most progressive thing on Earth to me. If you look at 1960s Indian pop, I don’t think there’s a band from the west that is remotely as weird, so I’m a huge fan.

I guess that means next up we can be expecting a Bollywood album from you?

[Laughs] I wish! 

-Quinn Koches

Get tickets here for 9:30 presents Patrick Watson at U Street Music Hall on March 27.

[warninggraphiccontent]

12 June 2020

Tangfastic

Audrey Tang, Taiwanese digital minister, was fizzing with energy and insight when I interviewed her for the IfG this week.

We covered how Taiwan has kept its coronavirus cases astonishingly low (partly through quarantine and 'digital fences'), how it has fought misinformation, its innovative work on digital government and public engagement in general, and the most poetic job description you'll ever encounter.

Watch the whole thing here, and read/watch much more here.

In other news:

On the subject of job descriptions, a good selection of jobs this week. MoJ's Sam Tazzyman - you may remember him from an excellent Data Bites presentation - and the ESRC asked me to highlight theirs, while Full Fact also have an excellent opportunity - you'll find them all at the end of the Meta data section below. And an irregular reminder that if you're looking for data/digital jobs, Jukesie's newsletter is still the best place to look.

On the subject of Data Bites (any excuse), the next one will be at 6pm on Wednesday 1 July, supported by ADR UK. It's a great line up - full details shortly. Catch up on previous ones in the meantime.

Honestly, what is it with the completely unnecessary secrecy? The government is storing up serious problems for itself when it comes to earning trust in how it's using our data.

It was a bright cool day in June, and Nineteen Eighty-Four was celebrating 71 years since it was first published.

There are some good #BlackLivesMatter-related links from FiveThirtyEight below. But you should read this first.

See you next week

Gavin

Today's links:

Tips, tech, etc

Employees must be consulted on technologies monitoring the return to work (Computer Weekly)

MPs and their offices during lockdown - how we've helped (Parliamentary Digital Service)

Ten tips for facilitating online workshops (NPC)

Elephant safaris: organising meetings that help us grasp complexity (Geoff Mulgan)

Graphic content

Viral content: cases

How the Coronavirus Compares With 100 Years of Deadly Events* (New York Times, via Marcus)

Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak (New York Times)

Coronavirus cases are surging in Latin America* (The Economist)

Is the world making progress against the pandemic? We built the chart to answer this question (Our World in Data)

This chart compares the outbreaks of coronavirus in four parts of Wales (David James)

Coronavirus: Looking for R is about the geography as well as the maths* (The Times)

Brazil stops releasing Covid-19 death toll and wipes data from official site (The Guardian)

As coronavirus cases rise nationwide, public health experts urge caution* (Washington Post)

Viral content: consequences

Business impact of coronavirus, analysis over time, UK (ONS)

How to avoid the virus as the world reopens (FT)

What to Make of the Rebound in the U.S. Jobs Report* (New York Times)

The Economic Pain That the Unemployment Rate Leaves Out* (New York Times)

EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY TRACKER (ECFR)

That CNBC chart (CNBC, via everyone)

Psychopathic charts, lines that should be bars, and picking cherries (Alberto Cairo)

GDP monthly estimate, UK: April 2020 (ONS)

UK’s virus recovery lags behind European peers* (FT)

#BlackLivesMatter

#StolenSeriesbyAB (Adrian Brandon)

How Public Opinion Has Moved on Black Lives Matter* (The Upshot)

US boardrooms fail to reflect country’s demographics* (FT)

Protests spread over police shootings. Police promised reforms. Every year, they still shoot and kill nearly 1,000 people.* (Washington Post)

Charts that Count: how badly are African Americans affected by police brutality?* (FT)

Do You Know How Divided White And Black Americans Are On Racism? (FiveThirtyEight - but also, read this)

Why would you want to honour this? (Mona Chalabi)

BME deaths in custody, 1991-2014 (Institute of Race Relations)

Coronavirus fuels black America’s sense of injustice (FT)

George Floyd is remembered around the world* (The Economist)

Experience the sights and sounds of a historic protest in the nation’s capital* (Washington Post)

Patterns Of Death In The South Still Show The Outlines Of Slavery (FiveThirtyEight, April 2017)

Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys* (New York Times, March 2018)

US politics

What to remember about polls as Trump continues to disparage — and invent — them* (Washington Post, via Marcus)

Forecasting the US elections* (The Economist)

Will protests help Donald Trump as they did Richard Nixon in 1968?* (The Economist)

Everything else

Services and Brexit (UK in a Changing Europe)

Ministerial directions (Oliver for IfG - being updated today)

A virtual parliament was well equipped to make progress on the government’s legislative agenda (Alice/Hannah for IfG)

A U.S. Secret Weapon in A.I.: Chinese Talent* (New York Times)

A study names firms who buy products from areas with deforestation* (The Economist)

Explore connected papers in a visual graph (Connected Papers)

A national aggregator for current and historical planning information (UK PlanIt)

#dataviz

A journalist’s introduction to network analysis (Paul Bradshaw)

How We Accidentally Wrote Our Most Popular Story Yet and What We Learnt in the Process (NZZ)

Meta data

Viral content: trace-y island

Boris Johnson’s patience wears thin over tracing app* (FT)

Coronavirus: Ministers consider NHS contact-tracing app rethink (BBC News)

NHS Covid-19 data store doc raises questions about link to contact tracing app (NS Tech)

Under pressure, UK government releases NHS COVID data deals with big tech (openDemocracy)

Revealed: Trump backer’s spy firm lobbied Gove, Hancock before winning key NHS contract (openDemocracy)

No, coronavirus apps don’t need 60% adoption to be effective* (MIT Technology Review)

Matt Hancock says the Test and Trace system is on its way to being “world class” Is that justified? I've spent the day trying to find out (Rowland Manthorpe)

Babylon Health admits GP app suffered a data breach (BBC News)

DHSC 'satisfied' after investigating Serco contract tracers data breach (Civil Service World)

Most data sent to Greater Manchester by national test and trace system 'was so rubbish it had to be returned' (Manchester Evening News)

Coronavirus: Police planning their own contact tracing system over concerns about government's version (Sky News)

Viral content: everything else

How Taiwan became a coronavirus success story: in conversation with Audrey Tang (IfG)

Struck (again) by how much lack of data on social care made this crisis hard to respond to (NAO via Graham)

Brazil reports 679 new coronavirus deaths amid controversy over data (Reuters)

How geospatial data is supporting the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic (Geospatial Commission)

DVLA and HMRC – working together during the coronavirus pandemic (DVLA)

Using detailed, frequently updated health data in a secure database, providing up to date information about patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic (DECOVID)

What data and digital stuff have you seen working really WELL during Covid? (Ben Goldacre)

Overload in the time of Covid (The Occasional Informationist)

Volte face?

IBM will no longer offer, develop, or research facial recognition technology (The Verge)

Although... (Olivia Solon)

We are implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition (Amazon)

Microsoft won't sell police its facial recognition technology, following similar moves by Amazon and IBM* (Washington Post)

Identity parade

Meet the Identity and Attributes Exchange – GDS’s future for digital identity after Verify (Computer Weekly)

Digital Identity: The Missing Piece of the Government’s Exit Strategy (Institute for Global Change)

AI

Academics call on nations to work together on A.I. and ensure it benefits all of humanity (CNBC)

Microsoft's robot editor confuses mixed-race Little Mix singers (The Guardian, via Alice and Tim)

The ‘dark matter’ of visual data can help AI understand images like humans (The Next Web)

Big tech

Oral evidence: Online Harms and Disinformation - YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sub-Committee on Online Harms and Disinformation)

Google got rich from your data. DuckDuckGo is fighting back* (Wired)

Wendy Liu: “Silicon Valley didn’t create the pandemic, but they’re profiting from it”* (New Statesman)

Everything else

New advice to help councils fight procurement fraud (MHCLG)

Liz Truss launches future trade strategy for UK tech industry (DIT/DCMS)

How data-driven democracy both helps and hinders politics (LSE British Politics and Policy)

Data firms pitch profiling tools at UK councils* (FT)

A Moment of Change: Challenges and Opportunities When Covering Hate Speech and Mis/Disinformation (MIT Media Lab)

Rendering Knowledge (Dave Snowden - old, but resurfaced via Glyn)

Selected Readings on Open Data Legislation and Policy (Open Data Policy Lab)

Storytelling with data podcast

Introducing the GOV.UK Data Labs (GDS - see also relevant Data Bites)

Best practice guidance and tools for geospatial data managers (Geospatial Commission - Owen's take)

Opportunities

EVENT: Launch of the UK's Geospatial Strategy (Geospatial Commission)

EVENT: Data, the Global South and the NHS: risks from new digital trade rules (Trade Justice Movement)

EVENT: Data, power, and the pandemic (Benchmark Initiative)

JOB: Head of Policy and Advocacy (Full Fact)

JOBS: Senior Data Engineer in the Data & Analytical Services Directorate and Lead Data Engineer in the Data & Analytical Services Directorate (MoJ)

JOB: Head of Data and Search (UK Parliament Digital Service)

JOBS: Citizens Advice is hiring into our technology team (James Plunkett)

JOB: Director, DDaT Function Strategy (GDS)

JOB: Deputy Director for Public Policy (ESRC)

And finally...

A behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of our @instituteforgov charts (Cath/Alice)

Animal Crossing’s massive popularity has made it less like paradise and more like Wall Street* (Washington Post)

The #opendata on every vineyard in France and which AOC wine grows in it (Tom Forth)

[fhamt]

Discover More About Applications Of Philosophical Discussions On Boydian Philosophy

By Donald Brooks

Short answer to the question of why we need to study philosophy is that people need philosophy for them to begin understanding answers to questions. Questions like what makes life worth living, what should one believe, how must people resolve disagreements require philosophical debate. These are questions requiring getting dirt from studying even Boydian philosophy. Possible answer could be that individuals have questions, afterward, these raises social issues as often as possible. All things considered, these are great inquiries one deserving of answers. Furthermore, there are different diverse routes running with. Be that as it may, here is one kind of approach. Philosophical exchanges regularly are about obviously, thoroughly looking at issues with respect to principal significance. This may never be the sort requiring particular professional preparing. Rationality encourages one plainly observe and inspect the essential parts of being, how asking works, history scholarly improvement. Also, considering sharpens composing, talking, basic thinking aptitudes. Study permits both give take feedback. Discussion gifts time preparing structure created positions epistemology, morals, legislative issues, mysticism, loads different things. Exchange gives proper adjust certainty quietude stake out claim, guard, see conceivable protests. An individual approximately has around perhaps 70 years being in here. Do no longer waste completely making widgets, crunching numbers, pushing buttons, selling apps, thinking how one gets more commercials into people. Doing offers hazard maintain reasoned reviews approximately critical perennial questions. Alternatively, walk around pressured haze, struggling apprehend how gadgets are at significant level, not able articulate what, turning into indignant protecting while confronting with justifications do now not recognize how solution. Give some substantial illustrations esteem works Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum dependably have been extremely compelling when comes issues monetary improvement. Work Larry Temkin likewise has been incredibly compelling certain fields formative financial matters, portion of assets, medicinal services among others. Lastly, Rawls has clearly affected legislative issues frameworks. Development fuzzy logic has number practical implications employed somewhat frequently. Work Singer, Regan, others has obviously influenced what people regard about animal rights. Philosophers brief, popular amicus curiae of Robert Nozick, Ronald Dworkin, Nagel Thomas, Judith Jarvis, John Rawls, Scanlon Thomas, Thomson regarding euthanasia. Lots philosophers influence bioethics, play roles hospitals, policy boards, tanks, centers among others. Other philosophers influenced things about environmental policy, interacting with native populace, issues, reparations, affirmative actions, abortion, social welfare, taxes, so much more. Now world has philosophers heavily working AI, robot ethic, drones, big data, host other recent technology issues. That just composes smattering things last 40 years so. If want go farther back, historians can give general looks have played pretty big role, say, founding countries, development economic systems, crafting interpretation laws, developments literature art, fields, cognitive science, linguistics, political science, economics even natural sciences. Any gigantic advancement will most likely be foundation, if not frontal area. For example, relativity, feminism, human rights, every living creatures common sense entitlement, advancement, vote based system, money saving advantage investigation, religious perspectives, logical strategy, quantum mechanics, set hypothesis, formative financial matters, capacities approach speculations welfare and such. Significant effects onto what individuals accepted regardless of whether few people make no plan perceiving. In conclusion, genuine faculties, talk advance appears philosophical sort question. Inquiries, for example, what recognizes as advance. All things considered, perhaps some sense however that make not advance sort one might think. In an event that they on a great extent are discussing things worth doing ought finishing. On an off chance what is implied requests getting unto a few. Just doing sciences, does not appear address any these huge typical subjects.

About the Author:

When you are looking for information about Boydian philosophy, come to our web pages today. More details are available at https://ift.tt/2GtLJZz now.

Discover More About Applications Of Philosophical Discussions On Boydian Philosophy via FHAMT https://ift.tt/2BbhxBk

[recentanimenews]

Fan Get In The Robot As Singer/Voice Actress Megumi Ogata More Than Doubles Crowd-Funding Goal!

She was Kurama in YuYu Hakusho, she was Sailor Uranus in Sailor Moon. She was Yugi Mutou in Yu-Gi-Oh! Oh, and she was Shinji Ikari in an obscure anime called Neon Geneis Evangelion. And, in 2017, 51-year old voice actress/singer Megumi Ogata is celebrating the 25th anniversary of her career! In part, she's doing this with a crowd-funded Animeg. 25th album.

  While she was staggering the Japanese and international efforts, the Japanese Campfire campaign, launched at the end of last week, hit its 100,000yen goal in 90 minutes and and today crossed 200%

  Check out the English page at http://ift.tt/2qbzoB4

  【To overseas fans!】 How are you? Do you remember…? The news that I talked for you about before? Today, the time has come! ⇒NEXT　#animeg25th

— 緒方恵美@6/6BDLive (@Megumi_Ogata) May 12, 2017

Today, I will start Crowdfunding in JAPAN! 1st, if I let the project succeed in Japan, …next! It's YOUR CUE！ Don't miss it♡ #animeg25th

— 緒方恵美@6/6BDLive (@Megumi_Ogata) May 12, 2017

Megumi Ogata 25th Debut Anniversary Project Please wait… I'll be right with overseas fans! Please pray for success in Japan. #animeg25th

— 緒方恵美@6/6BDLive (@Megumi_Ogata) May 12, 2017

【御礼】支援総額2000万円を突破！ 200％です…夢のようです…。 ありがとうございます…！ #animeg25th 【緒方恵美、声優デビュー25周年記念企画】国内＆海外、同時に正規CDを届けたい https://t.co/DLzCaEuear @campfirejpより

— 緒方恵美@6/6BDLive (@Megumi_Ogata) May 16, 2017

    From the English page

  Hello! My name is Megumi Ogata. I’m a Japanese singer as well as a voice actress for animations. My 25th voice actress debut anniversary will come in a few months on October 10!

Why am I producing an album through crowdfunding, you ask? I have two main reasons.

To provide genuine content to Japanese fans and also fans around the world at the very same time

To raise awareness in Japan and overseas about the current status of our industry

As you may already know, the CDs and DVDs that we produce in Japan are difficult to obtain outside of Japan. I don’t mean the pirated and illegally distributed versions. The genuine copies of our CDs and DVDs are difficult to obtain. As authentic routes of distribution are scarce, fans are generally required to import them privately and pay hefty shipping fees.

  We in the industry want to share our music and other creations with fans, no matter where they reside. Fans overseas often ask us about gaining access to more of our content, too.

  I spent a long, long time pondering over this issue. What can I do to overcome this invisible wall separating the fans and myself? There has to be something that even I can do, right?

The conclusion I came to was to utilize the power of crowdfunding.

I consulted other members in the industry about my thoughts. Many fans in Japan also helped me brainstorm and search for possibilities. “We want to share the pleasure of receiving something on the day it’s released with fans living outside of Japan”. “We would like to celebrate music and creativity with fans around the world”.

  To transform those thoughts into reality, I decided to propose this special project. My wish is for this project to serve as a platform that upcoming generations of Japanese voice actors and actresses, musicians, and other members of the entertainment industry can use to connect with fans around the world. Not just in sharing music through CDs, but also through other simple yet innovative formats.

  I also wish my project could help fans residing outside of Japan to gain access to a wide variety of Japanese content. Nothing would make me happier than having those wishes come true.

Megumi Ogata Born on June 6. Known as Ogata, Aniki, Otoko-Hachidan

Ogata debuted as a voice actress in the role of Kurama in Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files and quickly gained popularity among fans. She is known for her ability to voice a broad range of characters and also for her natural performances. Young boys and girls, older men and women, serious and comical genres, Ogata can easily handle them all.

  She possesses a vocal range extending beyond three octaves, delivering rich and full notes regardless of how high or how low they are. Ogata is also active as a singer who performs with a powerful and soulful voice. In recent years, she has released numerous motivational rock albums that offer listeners the passion and the gentle push forward they need. She continues to hold live performances not only in Japan but also in other countries as well. Ogata’s newest album “real/dummy” (High Edition) was ranked first during the first week of its release on the Hi-Res charts.

Notable roles: Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files (as Kurama) Sailor Moon (as Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus) Neon Genesis Evangelion (as Shinji Ikari) Angel Beats! (as Ayato Naoi) Danganronpa: The Animation (as Makoto Naegi & Nagito Komaeda) and much more.

  About the Album

Animeg. 25th

An anime song cover album featuring selections from titles Megumi Ogata performed in and other relevant tracks.

Tentative tracklist

“Taiyou Ga Mata Kagayaku Toki” - from Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files

“Moon Revenge” - from Sailor Moon R: The Movie

“Platinum” - from Cardcaptor Sakura

“Komm, süsser Tod” - from THE END OF EVANGELION

“Driver’s High” - from Great Teacher Onizuka

“Fukanzen Nenshou” - from Kamisama Dolls

“My Soul, Your Beats!” - from Angel Beats!

“???” - from ???

“Kamisama no Itazura” - from Tamayura: Hitotose

“Bye Bye Yesterday” - from Assassination Classroom Second Season

Additional Notes  ・Tracks will be skillfully arranged by a music arranger who is active at the forefront of the Japanese music industry. ・Tracks with lyrics written for a specific character will be performed in a voice that closely resembles that character (some exceptions apply). ・Tracks already covered in “Animeg.” (Megumi Ogata’s 15th debut anniversary anime song cover album) and in other projects will not be included in this album.

Tracks covered in “Animeg.” “A Cruel Angel's Thesis” “Kyou mo Dokoka de Devilman” “Yamato Yori Ai wo Komete” “Moonlight Densetsu” “GET WILD” “Omoide ga Ippai” “Yuzurenai Negai” “Unbalance na Kiss wo Shite” “Miyu Yachiyo” “Ao no Requiem” and more. (The track “GET WILD” in “Animeg.” was also featured in the album “GET WILD song mafia”)

  -----

Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com