In this episode of The Data Malarkey Podcast, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, talks with Darryl Sparey, Managing Director and Co-Founder of UK-based PR agency, Hard Numbers. A seasoned expert in communications and marketing measurement, Darryl breaks down what it really means to use data effectively in PR, how vanity metrics mislead, and why storytelling still reigns supreme.

From launching award-winning campaigns to championing smarter KPIs, Darryl brings sharp insight and plenty of playful Data Malarkey to the mic.

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

🔍 Topics in this episode include:

• The rise of data-led storytelling in earned media communications and PR

• Vanity metrics vs. genuine business impact

• Lessons learned from building Hard Numbers

• What PR measurement too often gets wrong
  
  

🎯 This episode is a must-listen for marketers, comms professionals, and curious media data analysts analysts alike.

In this episode of The Data Malarkey Podcast, host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, is joined by Christine Rosen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the 2025 book, The Extinction of Experience. They dig into what happens when real-world, face-to-face experiences are replaced by screens and algorithms.

Christine shares her unique journey from a bassoon scholarship to intellectual thought leadership, how teaching aikido shapes her thinking, and how she sees technology reshaping human behavior - for better and worse. With insight, wit, and depth, Christine challenges us to reconsider what we lose when digital convenience becomes the norm.

🔍 Topics include:

• Why boredom, handwriting, and walking matter
  
  

• What the "extinction of experience" means
  
  

• AI, screen time, and our increasingly mediated lives
  
  

• Martial arts, musical instruments, and embodied attention
  
  

• The pandemic’s role in accelerating mediation

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

🧠 This one’s for anyone curious about reclaiming a genuinely human presence in an over-mediated world.

In this episode of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, talks to Chris Summerfield, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Chris shares insights into what makes human intelligence so remarkable, how AI models are both fundamentally different from AND similar to human brains, and why understanding cognitive science is critical for building better AI. They explore the future of AI-human collaboration, discuss Chris’ long experience at DeepMind, and consider why prediction sits at the core of both artificial and human intelligence.

Take the Data Storytelling Scorecard: https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com

What you'll learn:

• Why AI models both AND aren't like human brains

• How DeepMind trained AlphaGo to beat the Go world champion, Lee Sedol

• What cognitive science can teach AI research

• Why prediction is central to intelligence

• The benefits and limitations of current large language models

Resources mentioned:

• Chris Summerfield’s University of Oxford ‘Human Information Processing’ lab

• These Strange New Minds – Chris’s compelling 2025 book

• Chris’ personal webpage

• DeepMind and the AlphaGo documentary

Want to learn more? Check out the links in the show notes and subscribe for more episodes.