Tech Champion Spotlight – Meet Jack

In this article

What has your Digital Culture Network journey looked like so far?

As the newest Tech Champion, I’m still finding my feet and starting to think about what kind of support and resources organisations might benefit from in my specialism. I’m focused on audience research, and the data systems and fieldwork methodologies that organisations can use to understand their audience, informing their strategy and operations.

This is a field that the Digital Culture Network has dabbled in a little bit in the past with some of our one-to-one support cases, but I’m hoping to be able to develop a full suite of resources to help on these topics.

What is happening in the world of Data, Methodologies & Systems right now?

Audience and market research is in an interesting place right now – research tools and platforms have become available and more accessible to more people than ever before. Across all sectors, organisations are increasingly able to bring market research and audience insight in-house, so working in a fieldwork agency I saw more clients conducting more of the research process themselves.

This is great, in that being more directly involved in the process can make the research more useful and insightful for the organisation. But for people from non-research backgrounds, it can be difficult to know how to get started and what approaches are available to you.

What are you working on right now?

As with our other specialisms, I’m pulling together ideas for articles, training, webinars and other content explaining the basics of audience research, data collection, survey design, insight and segmentation, and a range of other topics related to the field aimed at helping people find their feet in the world of research and data collection.

With the launch of Illuminate, the data and research platform made available by Arts Council England, I’m getting up to speed with the system, standard questions and thinking about how to guide and support organisations using it for audience surveys.

How can you help organisations?

I’m here to offer resources and 1:1 support on anything to do with audience research. I can use my knowledge of the research sector to think about what kind of research you might need for your objectives, and similar projects undertaken by others for inspiration and guidance.

I can help you find platforms to use for data collection and analysis, help you find and negotiate with research or fieldwork suppliers. I can help you design your surveys and research methodologies thinking about best practice – but also about language and how research can help you connect with your audience; doing it in a way that is warm, friendly and inclusive.

I can offer training and support for your team to manage your research, and for front-of-house teams on how to carry out surveys and have meaningful and positive conversations with your audience.