Home » Archives for October 2015

FT Article: Forget the big data hype – people want to know what it all means

Keith Dugmore, of the CDRC and Demographic User Group, commented on better use of data in commercial settings in a recent article in the Financial Times.

Keith talked about the shortage of “numerate graduates who have not only theoretical understanding, but also the aptitude to apply this to practical business problems”.

The CDRC is investing significant resources to develop data science capability and is providing opportunities for MSc students and graduates to work directly with industrial partners through our Big Data Internship and Masters Research Dissertation Programmes.

FT subscribers can view the full article on the FT website.

Find out more about the Demographic User Group online.

 

Oliver O’Brien features on BBC News online

On 7 October 2015, CDRC’s UCL researcher Oliver O’Brien featured on an article in the BBC News online.

Titled ‘London’s Underground Languages’ the article tracks the most common linguistic journeys across the Victoria Line, identifying a rich diversity of languages depending on the point of any given journey.

Oliver’s contribution included a map of Londoners that refer to French as their main language, with an explanation of some key trends, such as the emergence of a jetsetting French community scattered close to the Victoria line.

To access the article: http://bbc.in/1NjjWbW 

Follow Oliver O’Brien’s research blog http://oobrien.com/ or, for those with an interest in mapping, visit maps.cdrc.ac.uk.

Demographics User Group Conference 2015

On 7 October 2015 the CDRC sponsored and supported the 12th annual Demographics User Group Conference (DUG), hosted at the Royal Society.

The conference focussed upon “How can data analyses best be communicated to decision-makers? Visualising – Distilling – Influencing” and bought together people from DUG’s 15 member companies, with special attendees from guests in government and universities, to spread knowledge and stimulate new ideas.

This DUG conference was a memorable one for the CDRC; introduced by CEO of the Economic and Social Research Council, Professor Jane Elliot, it was used as a platform to launch the new data service.

Additionally, the winners of the Retail Masters Dissertations Programme 2015 were announed. Judged by Bruce Jackson (ESRC), Tim Rains and Chris Llyod, results were:
Clemens Zauchner, first place for his project with easyjet, titled “Identifying the main drivers of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction by mining customer verbatim feedback”.

Further prize winners were Anastasia Ushakova (“Can we identify vulnerable energy customers in the UK using smart meter data?”, British Gas), Karlo Lugomer (“Relations between structure and performance of retail centres in England and Wales and demographics of their catchment areas.”, LDC) and Thomas Berry (Exploring the utility of the 2011 Work Place Statistics to help The Co-op better understand transient new store locations, worker flows and worker demographics”, The Cooperative).

For information on the 2016 Retail Masters Dissertation Programme, click here.

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CEO of the Economic and Social Research Council, Professor Jane Elliott (l) alongside Deputy Director and Co-investigator of the CDRC, Alex Singleton.

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Clemens Zauchner, first place prizewinner of the Retail Masters Dissertation Programme, pictured alongside Professor Jane Elliot during the students’ poster exhibition

 

CDRC Launch Data Service

The Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) launched its data services on Monday 5 October 2015, offering new data for researchers to garner unprecedented insights into consumer behaviour.

Whilst protecting privacy, data will – for the first time – be routinely collected and shared with the CDRC by major retailers, local government organisations and businesses across the UK to improve understanding of these complex patterns of consumer behaviour.

The aim is to use these findings to inform efforts to tackle a wide range of social and environmental challenges, such as improving transport planning, studying the latest ethical consumer trends to help companies understand how people are making buying decisions, or identifying different ways of encouraging people to lead more healthy and active lifestyles.

To maximise potential of research for the research community the CDRC have set up CDRC Open; data which are publicly available to all, for any purpose.

Examples of data include UK market research from the Ethical Consumer Research Association, which is the only comprehensive data set on the purchase of ethical products and services in the UK. There are also models representing retail catchment areas, which can show the most probable shopping destinations in communities.

Other tiers of data have restricted access based on the sensitivity of information, which include CDRC Safeguarded, a remote service, and CDRC Secure, which requires researchers to access the data at one of three secure facilities located in London, Liverpool and Leeds.

Professor Mark Birkin, Director of the CDRC at the University of Leeds, said: “We’re here to partner with policy-makers, organisations and businesses to analyse these huge data sets, as they contain really valuable information which can offer significant insights into our society. We’ve set up the centre to develop a professional, world-class service and resource, which offers incredibly high standards of secure data storage, access and analysis.”

Professor Paul Longley, Director of the CDRC at UCL, added: “We need to harness the potential of consumer-related data so we can support and guide policy-makers, service providers and commercial organisations. Insights drawn from these data sets mean they can implement new approaches, develop best practice and evaluate impact.”

The official launch of the CDRC data service will take place at the annual Demographics User Group Conference on 7 October 2015 and will be introduced by Professor Jane Elliot, Chief Executive and Deputy Chair of the ESRC. Sponsored by the CDRC this event will discuss how data analyses can best be communicated to decision makers across various disciplines.

Examples of current CDRC work and insights into consumer behaviour are:

a) maps.cdrc.ac.uk The CDRC has classified every neighbourhood in England according to how those who live there use the internet for consumer purposes. Key attributes to this Internet User Classification (IUC) include: education, employment, engagement with new innovations in information and communications technology and locally available broadband infrastructure. Associated data packs: http://data.cdrc.ac.uk/product/cdrc-2014-iuc-geodata-pack

b) The CDRC will host a new Strategic Network for Obesity, which brings together experts combined with different datasets to help organisations responsible for public health tackle unhealthy eating and activity patterns. These datasets include lifestyle and activity statistics, such as the number of gym memberships in an area or proximity to green space; consumer behaviour trends, such as retail data on food purchases; and health data, such as the annual Health Survey for England. The aim is to help identify different kinds of lifestyles, environments and behaviours that may increase the likelihood of becoming overweight or obese.