In this latest episode of the Data Malarkey Podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, brings together highlights from conversations with six guests spanning academia, technology, marketing, social justice, and design.
From a political scientist studying what happens to our data after we die to a designer helping prisoners rebuild their lives, Season 11 explored the opportunities, responsibilities, and occasional absurdities of our increasingly data-driven world.
The Immaculate Collection marks the end of the podcast’s 11th season and its 79th episode since launching in March 2023.
First up was Carl Öhman, Associate Professor at Sweden’s Uppsala University and author of the compelling book The Afterlife of Data: What happens to our data when we die? His research explores the unprecedented historical archive created by our digital footprints.
Unlike traditional archives – which have overwhelmingly documented the lives of powerful men – today’s digital records could preserve a much more representative picture of humanity. But who decides what survives, who owns it, and what obligations do we have to future generations?
Next, Andy Burrows, Chief Executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, challenges the growing political enthusiasm for banning social media for under-16s. Such bans, he argues, risk creating a false sense of security while letting technology companies evade responsibility for making their platforms safer. His alternative? Stronger regulation, greater accountability, and advertisers using their considerable commercial influence to demand change.
Zehra Chatoo – founder of Code for Good Now, former Head of Strategy and Planning at Meta UK, and trustee of UN Women UK – explores representation, bias, and the limits of artificial intelligence. Her contention that genuine insight requires discomfort, questioning, and a willingness to sit with uncertainty challenged the notion that faster AI-generated answers necessarily produce better understanding.
For Judah Armani, collaborative designer, educator, and social entrepreneur, the challenge is translating understanding into meaningful action. His deceptively simple approach – gathering information, specifying intent, and taking action – underpins projects including In-House Records, a prisoner-led record label that combines creativity, education, and rehabilitation. Its reported reoffending rate of less than 1% demonstrates what thoughtful, human-centred design can achieve.
Louise Twycross, Managing Partner and Head of Insight at media agency PHD, shares research revealing the enduring importance of optimism and anticipation in people’s lives. Even in an age of instant gratification, having something to look forward to matters enormously. Her work also illustrates how AI can accelerate research while human experience remains essential to uncovering unexpected insights.
Finally, Pete Markey, experienced Chief Marketing Officer and newly appointed marketing leader at the University of Nottingham, reflects on AI’s growing role in marketing. Drawing on his time as Chief Marketing Officer at Boots, he describes the importance of establishing clear boundaries: embracing AI’s efficiency while protecting the strategic thinking, originality, and creativity that distinguish great marketing. Sam’s conversation with Pete was recorded live on stage at June 2026’s AI for PR conference.
Across six very different conversations, one theme emerged repeatedly: more data, faster analysis, and increasingly capable technology are not ends in themselves. Their value depends on the questions we ask, the judgements we make, and the actions we take.
Season 11 may be over, but the case for using data smarter has rarely been stronger.
—
The first draft of this blog was written by ChatGPT, using a transcript of the episode and an ever-refined prompt. It was then edited by real humans.