Cultural projects should be data-driven — but which *kind* of data?

What’s the difference between the “big data” we all know — and “thick data”? Which is more important? (Hint: trick question.) What does cell phone data have to do with sculpture gardens? What’s a “two-hour ring”? What if we just recorded visitors narrating their entire experience — out loud?

Elena Kazlas (Founder, Elevativ) and Adaheid Mestad (Design Anthropologist, HGA) join Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Museum Research: Big Data Meets Thick Data”.

Along the way: drawing polygons, the odd truth of Connecticut art museums, and the “streakers, strollers, scholars” model. 

Talking Points:

1. Big Data = Quantitative. Thick Data = Qualitative.

2. Big Data on museum visitors includes demographics, origin/where they are coming from, how long they spend on site, leisure patterns and spending patterns in near real-time.
 

3. Big Data analytics inform business and marketing strategies to support the mission.
 

4. But Big Data (numbers) alone can’t capture the emotions of visitors’ daily lives.
 

5. Thick Data reveals the social, emotional, and cultural context of individuals and their social identity in the place they are in

6. Thick Data is real-time, whole-person context, and can be scaled.

7. Thick Data anchors strategic, programming, and operational decisions on insights derived directly from the perspectives of visitors, members, and community.

8. When Big Data meets Thick Data, we support strategic, efficient, and impactful mission decisions.

Guest Bios:

Elena Kazlas is the Founder & Creator of Elevativ, LLC. Elena has over 25 years’ of international experience in the successful development of non-profit and for-profit projects.She has extensive experience in working with clients as part of iterative planning processes to yield optimal development strategies for socially impactful projects, such as museums, with a special expertise in understanding their market and economic potential. Elena leads Elevativ with a left-brain/right-brain approach to project planning, balancing both quantitative and qualitative elements as they relate to a project’s potential success. Elena is a thought leader and expert in future planning for cultural projects.

Adaheid Mestad, M.A., is a Design Anthropologist currently working at HGA. Ada has over 15 years of experience utilizing social science approaches to translate human experience and sociocultural practices within the built environment. Ada’s philosophy is to engage and design with people, as the experts, to understand social constructs, values, and perspectives throughout a transparent and iterative process. Her ethnographic research informs and evaluates design that strengthens identity, representation, relationships, and sociocultural systems. Ada has worked with innovators, nationally and internationally, to transform experiences and social impact within Healthcare, Workplace strategy, Higher Education, Urban Planning, Government, and Cultural Institutions.

About MtM:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture. Learn about the firm's creative work at: https://www.cgpartnersllc.com

Show Links:

Elena’s Email: [email protected]
Elena’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-kazlas/
Elena’s Website: https://elevativ.co/
Placer.ai: https://www.placer.ai/ (mention Elena Kazlas from Elevativ)

Ada’s Email: [email protected]
Ada’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adaheidmestad/
Ada’s Website: https://hga.com/people/adaheid-mestad/
The American Anthropological Association: https://americananthro.org/
EPIC (Ethnography Association): https://www.epicpeople.org/
Thick Data: The term has been popularized by the anthropologist Tricia Wang and built on American Anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s “thick description”: https://medium.com/ethnography-matters/why-big-data-needs-thick-data-b4b3e75e3d7

Newsletter:

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