Posts Tagged ‘research’

More than skin deep

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
more-than-skin-deep

Beauty pays. That’s the conclusion of Daniel Hamermesh, economics professor at the University of Texas in Austin, who measured the economic benefits of looking good.

His conclusions:

  • Attractive people are likely to earn about 3% to 4% more than a person with below-average appearance.
  • Better-looking people tend to sell more products or attract more new customers.
  • White-collar criminals are more successful if they are better-looking.

For us mortals, is plastic surgery the answer? Hamermesh says research doesn’t support that conclusion. “Surgery pays back less than $1 for every $1 spent. But it might make you feel better.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, Commerce, Culture, Marketing | No Comments »

Browsing the big picture

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
browsing-the-big-picture

Laura Larsell has posted a thoughtful article on Mashable called “Why Browsing Is So Important to Content Discovery.” In it the librarian and information organizer at Trapit argues that the practice is a crucial component of information discovery.

Today we find information directly through search engines or indirectly through social media contacts, but those processes narrow the chute from the beginning. Larsell says browsing offers value in that it opens us to chance and opportunity before we dig too deeply. “It allows an information seeker to expand organically upon an initial vague, often unarticulated need.”

In a phrase, browsing gives readers the big picture, not just the details, a critical advantage when starting a project. “Browsing gives information seekers a high-level sense of what exists within a collection, while presenting easy entry points to explore the unknown. It also allows for lesser-known works to stand alongside — and compete with — the more canonical ones they resemble.”

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, Commerce, Culture, Internet, Nonfiction, Novel, Social media, Writers, Writing | No Comments »

Culture as an engine of commerce

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
culture-as-an-engine-of-commerce

U.S. politicians who want to cut federal funding for NPR might read a study by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich. Researchers there found a direct link between spending on culture and regional economic health.

The authors studied the economic growth of regions with and without opera houses. Their conclusion: regions with these cultural centers attracted residents with more training and education, leading to greater economic growth for the region as a whole.

Or in the arcane language of the study: “Proximity to a Baroque opera house is a strong predictor of the district’s share of employees with a tertiary degree.” The study is quoted in the Economix blog by the New York Times.

Now you might dismiss the parallel with public broadcasting by saying that no one moves to a new location solely to be near a radio or television station and that’s a valid point. But for affluent and well-educated citizens, proximity to sources of knowledge and culture factor almost as heavily as health care in the decision to relocate. (In a recent survey by  homebuilder Del Webb 61% said one of the top reasons for deciding where to move involves cultural and recreational amenities — a percentage point more than a favorable climate.)

Since these consumers have the wherewithal to support politicians as well as newscasters, lawmakers might reconsider using fiscal policy to drive social change.

Bavarian State Opera, Munich

Bavarian State Opera, Munich

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Art, Business, Commerce, Culture, Music | No Comments »

TinEye not picture-perfect but it’s a bright start

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
tineye-not-picture-perfect-but-it%e2%80%99s-a-bright-start

Ever find a photo and wonder about its origin? There’s a search engine for that. It’s called TinEye, billed as a reverse image engine that uses image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks. According to the company, “You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist or to find higher resolution versions.”

How does the beta site work in the real world? Well, with some limitations.

TinEye

I tried it with a representative sample of images—people, objects and logos—with mixed results.

The first search, using a portrait of John F. Kennedy, yielded 81 results, including partisan blogs, poster suppliers and dating-gossip sites. (The link to the Slate online magazine did correctly identify the former president.) The search engine also led to the correct identification of singer Lady Gaga (through mtv.com), novelist John D. MacDonald (through blogs in the U.S. and Russia) and Dilbert, even though the comic strip contained three frames and multiple images. TinEye showed no results for personalities such as magazine finance writer Dyan Machan.

A search using the Leaning Tower of Pisa turned up 31 results, including several postings on the photo-sharing site Flickr. A search using the image of a bottle of Coca-Cola yielded a 2009 blog post about one of the company’s marketing campaigns, along with 19 other results.

For the final search I used the logo from one of my agency’s business-to-business clients, GGB. TinEye found the image on a French industry-directory site, correctly identifying the company as the manufacturer of metal-polymer plain bearings.

The conclusion? TinEye is good at finding images of popular people, objects and brands. In my limited sample it did not lead to official sources, so if you need to annotate research reports, the service may lose some value. I also could not consistently find information about image location, use or version, but that may apply only to certain types of images.

As an image search engine, TinEye isn’t picture-perfect but it could have a bright future, especially as it enlarges its database. On the whole, the service is a fast way to identify common images, and a fun way to view the Web.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, Commerce, Culture, Nonfiction, Novel, Photography, Writers, Writing | No Comments »