How did Uber’s ratings become more inflated than grades at Harvard? That’s the topic of a new paper, “Reputation Inflation,” from NYU’s John Horton and Apostolos Filippas, and Collage.com CEO Joseph Golden. The paper argues that online platforms, especially peer-to-peer ones like Uber and Airbnb, are highly susceptible to ratings inflation because, well, it’s uncomfortable for one person to leave another a bad review.
Tag: 04.04.18
Hallmark Channel Is Thriving With Diet Of Feel-Good Movies
The channel — derided by critics for formulaic, low-budget fare with dialogue inspired by Hallmark cards — is carving out a space in this divisive, Trumpian age. The worse things get in the real world the more people run to safe spaces. Hallmark, along with sister channel Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, has been a key beneficiary.
How Streaming Data Is Changing How (And What) Music Is Made
Streaming reflects what people will actually listen to on their own, when provided with infinite choices that aren’t entirely constrained by what radio programmers, retailers and record company executives put in front of them. With streaming services, “it’s more data-driven, and more give-the-people-what-they-want-driven, because it’s so limitless.”
How Orchestras Can Make Their Programming More Diverse
Derek Bermel, artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra: “I’ve spoken to several artistic administrators and conductors who insist that their audiences aren’t asking for more of the new; their internal research shows that their audience wants to hear what they already know. When I hear that argument, I think, ‘Well, of course! Audiences haven’t experienced what they don’t know, so how could they possibly be clamoring for it?’ One of the responsibilities of curators is to introduce the public to work they didn’t know existed or to help bring it into being. Five years ago, how many regular music theater patrons were yearning to see a hip-hop musical? We all know that answer: very, very few. Today it’s impossible to get tickets for Hamilton. Some of that audience is coming from outside the typical music theater audience; all the better!”
Reinventing The International Piano Competition
It’s looking as if the scarcely-changed Dublin competition has now become the old fogey, and it’s a reconceived Leeds that’s pushing the envelope.
The Revival Of ‘Roseanne’ Has Split The American Left
Emblemizing the split are author Roxane Gay (“[the show is] further normalizing Trump and his warped, harmful political ideologies”) and comedian Sarah Silverman (“I like that Trumpers will watch and embrace it because it’s secretly liberal as fuck”). Conor Friedersdorf unpacks the arguments.
National Symphony Of Cuba Forced To Cancel Next Year’s U.S. Tour
The February 2019 tour, with vocalist/bassist Esperanza Spalding as guest artist, has been called off because the U.S. Embassy in Havana, which has withdrawn 60% of its staff after many of them suffered mysterious health problems, is no longer able to process visa applications.
First Of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s ‘Translated’ Shakespeare Plays Scheduled For Staging
In the fall of 2015, OSF announced the controversial project “Play on!”, in which 36 playwrights were commissioned to “translate” the 36 plays into modern English, creating companion works for the originals. The first product of the initiative, an English-Spanish version of The Comedy of Errors by Luis Alfaro, will debut in the summer of 2019.
‘Dancers Are More Intelligent Than They Get Credit For’, Says Dance Magazine
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? Even so, Jennifer Stahl reports: “Dr. Matthew Henley, a professor at Texas Women’s University [and a former dancer for Seán Curran], is gathering data to advocate for the value of dance as an intellectual practice – and build a framework for how to describe dance intelligence to non-dancers.”
Frick Collection Reveals Its Fourth Expansion Plan, Hoping This One Will Actually Get Built
“The irony is not lost on Ian Wardropper, the director of the Frick Collection: The very gated garden that upended the museum’s previous attempt to renovate its 1914 Gilded Age mansion is now the centerpiece of its revised design. … The new plan, by the architect Annabelle Selldorf, has situated several new elements precisely so that each provides a tranquil view of the garden.”