This episode was written, performed, and edited by two of our best DAHL students - avid Substackers, João and Rebecca.

What is Substack? How is it like an old fashioned blog, but a lot more? Why are so many academics and experts adopting it as a publishing platform? And how have our students found it to be so useful in developing their own writing and audiences?

Beginning with a scripted and detailed exploration of the platform, João and Rebecca then add their own personal experiences and reflections. Hear how Substack helps develop writing and academic work in a new, open, and engaging way, and how it helps them to value their academic work more highly, giving it a broader audience and persistence over time.

Great to hear!

We can build and train a neural network using any large data set, and then use it to discover key features in the data. For example, using the Titanic passenger list, which includes data on survival, we can identify characteristics that seem to lead to some passengers surviving. This is a Humanities-oriented application of the technology. We might also use similar techniques creatively, for example, generating virtual worlds populated with people similar to those on the Titanic. In this episode we explore neural networks and techniques for using them in the Arts and Humanities. It includes a good enough explanation of how they actually work, without going into too much technical detail.

For this episode Robert O'Toole is in conversation with Keith Bloomfield, creative technologist with the Media and Creative Industries degree team at the University of Warwick. They talk about how to keep positive and keep innovating creatively and ethically, despite the efforts of big tech to turn the world into a bland AI generated nightmare. Enjoy!