Ben Proctor
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benproctor.co.uk
Ben Proctor
@benproctor.co.uk
Some time folk singer. Ex Data Orchard CIC. Now freelance data consultant.

LibDem Herefordshire and Hereford City Councillor for College Ward (promoted by Sam Potts on behalf of the Liberal Democrats all at 54 St Owen St Hereford HR12PU)
Reposted by Ben Proctor
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Nonprofit data jobs for the week ending 2025-11-21 is out buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...
Nonprofit data jobs 2025-11-21
Featuring vacancies with Centrepoint, Housing 21 and the Welsh Government
buttondown.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
Well this is a *JOB*...for someone brave 😆

Director General for Digital, Data and Technology for the Office for National Statistics
www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...
Quick Check Needed
www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk
November 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
"When people rely on large language models to summarize information on a topic for them, they tend to develop shallower knowledge about it compared to learning through a standard Google search."
Learning with AI falls short compared to old-fashioned web search
Doing the mental work of connecting the dots across multiple web queries appears to help people understand the material better compared to an AI summary.
theconversation.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
Today is Carers Rights Day 2025. The theme is Know Your Rights, Use Your Rights. www.carersuk.org/news-and-cam... #carers #carersRightsDay
Carers Rights Day | Carers UK
www.carersuk.org
November 20, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
‘The half life of the teaspoons was 81 days.’
November 20, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
I could do all the pics in my next Welsh book with AI, but I believe in paying artists, not stealing from them. If you have a fiver to share so I can pay the wonderful Lizzie Harper for her pics, that'd be grand. Pre-register here: www.kickstarter.com/... Please...
November 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
“Why Herefordshire was the perfect stand-in for Shakespeare’s Stratford in the new film of Hamnet”
Why Herefordshire was the perfect stand-in for Shakespeare’s Stratford in the new film of Hamnet
Crooked buildings, welcoming inns, ancient woodlands … it’s easy to see why the location scouts chose this idyllic corner of England
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I had a sense of deep nostalgia while reading this history of personal computing leading up to VisiCalc technicshistory.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Useful Personal Computer
To market their new products to people who had not already spent years pining for a computer of their own, the creators of the second wave of microcomputers had to face head on the question of what…
technicshistory.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Find a new role or just keep an eye on the market with the latest edition of Nonprofit data jobs buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...
Nonprofit data jobs 2025-11-14
Featuring data vacancies with Money Ready, The Wildlife Trusts, Bristol City Council and many others
buttondown.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
New thing! The @carefultrouble.bsky.social Careful Consequence Check is now live and free to use. Based on research with the Bristol Digital Futures Institute, this practical tool will help you answer the question "is my AI product creepy and weird" www.careful.industries/consequences
November 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
The Pudding Cup is back for 2025! We want to see your best non-commercial visual and data-driven projects!

🗓️ Deadline: Friday, December 5, 2025 (free entry)
📢 Winners announced: the week of December 9, 2025
💸 Up to 3 winners each get $1,500

pudding.cool/pudding-cup/
November 13, 2025 at 6:31 PM
How the BBC is labelling content created with the help of AI www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
How we’re designing user-centred AI labels at the BBC
As a public service organisation, it’s vital that audiences can trust what they see in BBC content and understand how AI is used.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 11:47 AM
What autistic people – and those with ADHD and dyslexia – really think about the word ‘neurodiversity’
What autistic people – and those with ADHD and dyslexia – really think about the word ‘neurodiversity’
A new UK survey of more than 900 neurodivergent adults has revealed strong feelings about the language of neurodiversity.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
The BBC isn't perfect. But it remains an institution defending British values against a populist, Trump-style takeover.

Party leaders must unite to defend it.
November 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
A profound analysis of DNA co-discoverer Jim Watson. Best piece of science writing I've seen in a long time.

"To remain on the stage and keep receiving what he viewed as his due, he therefore needed a new act."

By the late Sharon Begley @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:01 PM
This week's Nonprofit data jobs is quite a bumper edition with something for everyone buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...
Nonprofit data jobs 2025-11-07
Featuring vacancies with Better Society Capital, Save the Children, Victim Support and many more
buttondown.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Home vs office working: why it doesn’t have to be a battle theconversation.com/home-vs-offi...
Home vs office working: why it doesn’t have to be a battle
But homeworking throws up tricky paradoxes that need to be understood.
theconversation.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Exploring Data Detective Practices as a Class Activity, Nightingale
Exploring Data Detective Practices as a Class Activity - Nightingale
We reflect on our experiences arising from a recent computer science graduate class about data feminism, during which we explored the idea of being data..
nightingaledvs.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
The advances we've made in statistics, experimental study design, and causal inference over the past century are remarkably useful for understanding our world. But there is never been a push to make people use them like we are seeing with generative AI. Perhaps take a moment to consider why.
November 7, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
Which one is more English?
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Ben Proctor
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....

genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
GitHub - hadley/genzplyr: dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap
dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap. Contribute to hadley/genzplyr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:25 PM