This week's best things

A selection of some of the best things I’ve seen this week.

We were never supposed to see our own faces this much

A fascinating exploration of reflections, mirrors, and self-image.

“Historically, our identities were heavily linked with where we lived, our families and friends. But as the quality of mirrors improved and candlelight gave way to gas and electricity, visual self-awareness was intensified and focus turned inwards – a shift which has had a significant impact. “The change in where the self resides is as fundamental a change as the change from feudalism to capitalism, or collectivism to individualism, and yet is hardly recognised,” says Heather Widdows, professor of Philosophy at Warwick University. “It has sneaked up on us, and yet is totally transformative.””

How Google Alters Search Queries to Get at Your Wallet

Lots of interesting tidbits have come out of the Google antitrust case filings. In depressing (and not at all surprising) news it seems Google are modifying a significant proportion of our search queries.

“Here’s how it works. Say you search for “children’s clothing.” Google converts it, without your knowledge, to a search for “NIKOLAI-brand kidswear,” making a behind-the-scenes substitution of your actual query with a different query that just happens to generate more money for the company, and will generate results you weren’t searching for at all. It’s not possible for you to opt out of the substitution. If you don’t get the results you want, and you try to refine your query, you are wasting your time. This is a twisted shopping mall you can’t escape.”

RTS Cambridge Convention 2023 - Speech by Alex Mahon, Chief Executive, Channel 4: Too Much to Watch

A speech from Channel 4 CEO, Alex Mahon in which she shares the results of some research C4 undertook to map “what the new ‘video day’ for consumers is really made of”.

There are some interesting findings in here, and it’s always useful to keep your understanding of people’s media consumption habits as up to date as possible.

It contains findings like:

• People watch over five hours per day and the video day is lengthening – short-form viewing has piled on to long-form viewing, and gaming has piled in on top of both.
• Video is the default leisure activity for most people in the UK. Our main motivation-to-view is to change our mindsets – sometimes to quicken our pulses, sometimes to slow ourselves down and relax.
• Short-form is 25% of total video for older people; and a whopping 45% for the younger demos.

Sam Smith: Tiny Desk Concert

If you’re not familiar with the Tiny Desk Concerts format, they are “a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C”.

Bob retired this week. So here is a great performance from Sam Smith, who is not someone I’m particularly familiar with but this is - as is regularly the case with Tiny Desk shows - a beautiful, intimate performance.

If you’ve seen something interesting, stick it in the comments! The algorithms are invading our lives, but the best stuff is still discovered and shared through word of mouth.

Here’s last week’s round-up