New Dynamic Data Tools for Market Research and Digital Ethnography

In a recent blog post I wondered about who was going to tackle the issue of new multi-faceted datasets that incorporate rich media like photos alongside traditional survey answers. Aside from the sheer overwhelming nature of these datasets, the industry is crying out for non-static dashboards and reports as opposed to the tried and true PowerPoint file & stacks of cross-tabs (this was driven home as a major theme at the recent CASRO technology conference).

At that conference I showed how we used Pivot by Microsoft to dig into quali-quant ethnographic data from a recent diary research pilot project. It’s very cool – I recommend checking it out. Microsoft is releasing a way to integrate Pivot “collections” as they’re calling them into Silverlight Websites! It’s a way to share meaningful data in a cool and informative way like I’ve never seen before. (p.s. a big thanks goes out to Candice at Luminosity for pointing me towards this…)

… And if you like that, check out SeaDragon, the underlying technology. This 6 minute overview from the TED site will blow your mind.

Lastly, it looks like there are some new players in this space in MR. I learned about Cognicient, a UK company that specializes in dynamic dashboards for longitudinal data.

Connect these tools to your survey system, and you may just tackle that data yet!