The power of big data—why so many corporations and government agencies and political pollsters and baseball teams are after it—is that it can reveal things we might otherwise not see. But statistics alone can't do that. We need to transform those statistics into stories. One artist doing that is Brian Foo, aka the Data Driven DJ. He takes large data sets and turns them into music. His first song, "Two Trains," amplifies a dire but often ignored truth about our country: income inequality.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Anne here. My conversation with Turkish writer Elif Şafak back in April still sticks with me as the year comes to a close. In many parts of the world, 2016 was the year of the populist leader—especially in Turkey, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a crackdown on free speech and all forms of opposition. 120 journalists have been jailed, more than 2,000 academics have been dismissed from universities, and more than 100,000 public workers have been fired. How did Turkey—once a model of new democratic nations—become such a different place? Not only did Şafak see this coming, she warned that the West should not consider itself immune.
Chris Ayres was more comfortable reporting on celebrities in Hollywood when the Times of London sent him to Iraq.
Writer and film-maker Arthur Bradford tells Steve Paulson about some of the stories in his collection “Dogwalker."
Dallas Abbott tells Anne Strainchamps about the massive chevrons she believes are caused by mega-tsunamis which are in turn caused by asteroid impacts on the Earth.
Ellen Handler Spitz is the author of many books on psychology and aesthetics. She talks with Jim Fleming about her latest - "The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood."
Christopher Stewart's “Jungleland”, a book about his adventure in Honduras seraching for La Cuidad Blanca.
John Safran says we need writers who are outsiders. Otherwise, groups will keep hiding their secrets.
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