Karl's Notes (Page 2)

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First count votes in Parliamentary Elections in Malta - 1921-2017

Data Visualisations

First count votes in Parliamentary Elections in Malta - 1921-2017

Malta is required to hold a General Election to elect Members of Parliament every 5 years. Elections are conducted using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method, which is regarded as one of the fairest ways to transfer the wishes of the electorate into parliamentary seats, in a more representational manner.

How does a casual election work?

Data Visualisations

How does a casual election work?

General election candidates in Malta are allowed to contest in two different voting districts. If they are elected from both, they must resign from one of them and their seats are filled through a ‘casual election’ – ‘casual’ as in ‘not a regular thing’. Casual elections also happen when an MP

Do the hard things.

Do the hard things.

Back in 2014, I came across this [https://danwaldschmidt.com/2014-01-business-hard-things/] online post by Dan Waldschmidt on his Edgy Conversations blog. I saved it and still reference it when everything seems to be going the wrong way. You Have To Do The Hard Things You have to make the call

IKEA and the future of living

IKEA and the future of living

The keyword guiding IKEA’s history is innovation. Ever since its start in 1943, the name IKEA has been synonymous with minimal, cheap furniture that can be bought and assembled in one’s own home. Its first innovation is also its most famous one – the flatpack furniture. By introducing this

Analysing famous speeches using Metaranx - an AI no code platform

Analysing famous speeches using Metaranx - an AI no code platform

Update - Metaranx is unfortunately no longer operational, but there are several other platforms which can do this. I recently received an invite from Metaranx to try out their new platform, an AI no code tool which currently lets users analyse the emotional sentiment of text using pre-built AI tools.

Building a No code app for a friend's side hustle

Building a No code app for a friend's side hustle

One of my friends started baking and selling pizzas during the COVID-19 quasi-lockdown. His way of reaching people consisted solely of a Facebook page and sharing posts on his personal profile and a local Facebook group. People could either contact him on the page, directly on messenger or by calling

Do political stickers work?

Do political stickers work?

Go to any major European city and you’ll find dozens of stickers on road signs, bus stops and billboards. Each with a different message about the politics of a candidate, a political party or just a general pro or anti something message. I believe that in the US the

Monopoly: the board game

Monopoly: the board game

In 1903, Elizabeth Magie, a self-declared left-wing feminist, patented the Landlord’s Game, the forerunner of the now world-famous Monopoly board game. Today, Monopoly is more associated with capitalism than any left-wing ideology, but in the early years of the 20th century, the original goal of the game was not

A branding overhaul for Austria's ÖVP

A branding overhaul for Austria's ÖVP

In 2017, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) had a slogan which said ‘Time for something new’, despite it having been in government for 30 years. That same year, its new leader Sebastian Kurz [https://twitter.com/sebastiankurz] rebranded the party as the ‘New People’s Party’ and changed its

Facebook of the 1940s

Facebook of the 1940s

While World War II was nearing its end, the practise of data gathering to sell products or services directly to the consumer, was already in existence in the US. Data for sale Specific data on someone’s lifestyle was gathered in a list according to different interests and was used

How did Keir Starmer win?

How did Keir Starmer win?

I recently wrote about the online campaigns of the three candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Out of the three, Keir Starmer successfully clinched the nomination with the help of a formidable online campaign on Facebook and Instagram amongst other social media platforms. Keir

Towards a new country in Europe?

Towards a new country in Europe?

On Monday, Politico Europe released an article about the increasing sectarian discourse by Flemish nationalists about the future of Belgium. You can read the whole article here [https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-coronavirus-the-flemish-independence-nationalist-exit-strategy/] , but the argument mainly centres on how COVID-19 has accelerated the need for “for a “confederalist” Belgium,

Burundi's 2020 election

Burundi's 2020 election

Burundians will be voting for the next President and their new Deputies at the National Assembly on 20th May 2020. This will be the first election without the current President since 2005, and is bound to be an interesting one to follow, not least due to the COVID-19 crisis, which

UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign - Part 2

Data Visualisations

UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign - Part 2

Back in February I had published a post regarding the social media following and number of ads promoted by the three contestants for leadership of the UK Labour Party, as well as a former contestant. The voting for the leader by members of the Labour Party, closed on 2nd April

Political campaigning in the time of Corona

Political campaigning in the time of Corona

The Novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has spread around the world at a phenomenal rate. Many institutions and private businesses have had to shutter down, white-collar workers started to work from home, and people in general have been left in a sense of disbelief at how a virus could

Deepfakes in an Indian election campaign

Deepfakes in an Indian election campaign

VICE [https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-deepfakes-in-indian-election-by-bjp] has recently reported that the president of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatiya_Janata_Party], used deepfake technology to change the language of his speech in a political advertisement. In the

UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign

Data Visualisations

UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign

Following a poor electoral result for the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, its leader, announced his intention to resign from the position, which triggered a leadership election. There are currently 3 contestants running for leader of the Labour Party; Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, and Keir Starmer. However, when the readings

Irish political dynasties

Irish political dynasties

A few days before the Irish election, both Politico.eu [https://www.politico.eu/article/healy-rae-kerry-political-dynasty-irish-election/] and The Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/02/meet-the-healy-raes-the-rural-irish-populists-who-have-never-lost-an-election] published an article on the Healy-Raes [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healy-Rae_family], a local political dynasty in County Kerry, Ireland. At

Ireland goes to vote today

Ireland goes to vote today

Can Sinn Féin be in government? [https://www.politico.eu/article/why-sinn-fein-is-surging-in-the-irish-election/] : Sinn Fein has moved from political pariah to potentially winning the greatest share of the votes in the Irish election, according to latest polls. While the party cannot achieve a majority of TD’s (MP’s), due to

Kiwis to vote in September 2020

Kiwis to vote in September 2020

Prime Minister of New Zealand and Leader of the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern, has recently announced that the country will be holding general elections on 19th September 2020. This article [https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-01-2020/lets-do-this-again-whats-on-the-whiteboard-for-jacinda-ardern-and-labour/] gives a pretty good overview on what to expect from the Labour Party’