Welcome our new robo-journalist overlords
Why? Because it looks like the robo-journalist overlords are going to be human. I wrote about natural language generation (or robo-journalism) last autumn, and have recently been playing around with Automated Insight's Wordsmith product.
The main things I learnt was that (at least for now) robo-journalism needs spreadsheets to turn into stories and considerable human work is required to set things up: choosing which pieces of data go where, what words or phrases to use under certain conditions and what random synonyms work to add variety.
I think natural language generation has a lot of potential for the media, but will actually create new opportunities for (human) journalists with skills in wrangling data, editing and programming.
Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter has a rule that "you can edit with a typewriter or a calculator, but not both" (according to Toby Young on p143 of How to lose friends and alienate people, so it must be true). In future, we'll be able to edit with word processors, spreadsheets - and software that combines them.
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I wrote
The rise of the robots in financial services
More on software automating work previously done by humans for ComputerWeekly.com, this time on robo-adviser firms including Nutmeg and Betterment.
Higher US Fed interest rates will hit startups over the head
Higher interest rates aren't going to end venture capital funding of tech firms, I found for The Register, but according to Droplet founder Steffan Aquarone they are making VCs "less ridiculous in some of the valuations placed on American start-ups".
Kidney dialysis – from the comfort of your sitting room
Nottingham City Hospital is trialling new, much smaller, dialysis machines. For Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network, I talked to those involved, including someone playing the Sugar Plum Fairy in panto and a silver medal winner at the 2000 World Transplant Games.
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I read and watched
Why do doctors still use pagers?, Allison Bond (a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital), Slate. US healthcare has backward IT, as well as the NHS. Here's some musical evidence courtesy of ZDoggMD.
Queen of dialysis describes her dependence on a machine, Maddy Warren, TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells/YouTube. Maddy tweeted me this after the Guardian article above; it's hard to disagree that home dialysis is the way to go.
Press Gazette survey finds freelance journalists are happier than staffers - but pay is falling, William Turvill, Press Gazette. 94% of freelancers enjoy their jobs, one says "I can work naked, unshaven and when I like."
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Map of the month: Taken for a ride in suburbia?
For a data journalism course this month I produced this map of the workplace gross-value added figures for London's boroughs in 2014 (roughly equivalent to GDP per person). Until the latest release ONS used to group boroughs together; now most have their own data, with just a few paired. The data reveals that the City of London and Camden have a GVA/person of £263,789, more than 10 times the UK average. Meanwhile, Waltham Forest and Redbridge are more than a third below the average at just £15,833.
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Seeking tech companies for and against Brexit
I am looking for comments on the pros and cons of Brexit for UK IT firms for The Register. Phone interviews or email work, but I need to hear from you by 2pm Wednesday (2nd March). Please get in touch if you can help.
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