HOLIDAY GREETING

The holidays are for eating, spending time with family & friends, maybe going for a walk and a run – and then, it’s for reading!

We’re feeling the holiday spirit of sharing – and so this is NAO’s reading list to feed our curiosity over the holiday – maybe there’s something to feed yours too? And perhaps you have a tip or two to share with us in return?

Here it goes…

We’re curious about different methodologies, mappings, research and data analysis tools. That’s why we’re going to read:

This overview by Kairos Future and Covestro of China’s startup landscape (2018)
The 2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation by University of Oxford (2019)
This “step-by-step guide to AI-powered mapping of any topic: examining the discussion of Greta Thunberg in social media” by dcipheranalytics
And, this “large-scale listening exercise” by VisitFlanders – “Seeking the power of travel” (2018) with over 1,600 travellers sharing how their travel experience has made an impact on them as part of their Tourism Transforms and Travel to Tomorrow project.
Finally, this one where journalism is at its very best: New York Times’ The Privacy Project – Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy with great data visualizations on how data location companies harvest and sell our personal data in unimaginable and largely unregulated ways. This one comes with a warning: It may spoil our holiday moods.

We’re curious about the future of work & skills – and that’s why we will be diving into:

Deloitte’s 2019 Global Human Capital Trends– declaring the alternative, flexible workforce now mainstream!
This completely new report (December 2019) from World Economic Forum on Shaping People Strategies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution with a number of case studies from global companies.
We are curious to explore the platform Skills Panorama – inspiring choices on skills and jobs in Europe with some quite nice data visualizations (check the priority tree of most requested skills in EU – or the EU country of your choice).

We’re curious about cities, culture, tourism, people – and all the many topics that are related to this, and so we are going to read:

The reports of Sound Diplomacy, including this one on the role and importance of music and culture in creating better future cities(2019)
The newly launched framework of thematic indicators for culture in the 2030 agenda by UNESCO.
This special issue of the International Journal of Tourism Cities on “Overtourism and the marketing of smart tourism destinations” – where the first article is entitled “Marketing smart tourism cities – a strategic dilemma” and is freely accessible.

Perhaps not so heavy on the reading, but also on our list of curious exploration, we have:

The Happy Broadcast, sharing positive news from around the world. It might re-instore your “holiday spirit” after reading The Privacy Project in NYT.
The Happy Lab– we’ve listened to the podcast, if you haven’t, it’s recommendable – and now we’re ready to explore the readings behind each episode.
And, if time permits, this free online AI crash course – which Finland originally developed for Finnish citizens, but now opened up for anyone as a present to the European Union, as Finland is passing on the EU’s rotating presidency at the end of the year.

And finally, we have our fictional reading lists as well – as Margrethe Vestager, Exec VP of the European Commission, pointed out recently in an article in Danish newspaper Børsen: fictional literature often provides more direct insights into human behavior and relations.

Our fictional reading list this holiday includes: