When the sun shines…

…entrepreneurs find any excuse to work outdoors instead of indoors. If only a laptop existed that wasn’t entirely unusable in a bit of sun, with an infinite battery, and with the ability to pick up WiFi signals from the middle of the Meadows.

Fortunately, I’ve been doing a lot of planning lately, and planning is something I do best on a piece of paper with a pen. Another important task that can be done outdoors is thinking; not to be underestimated in its value!

I’ve been thinking about data, see.

My Pavlovian association of “sunshine” and “Edinburgh” awakes a deep-seated belief in me that it’s somehow August. Which means Festival time. And what does the Festival mean to a sentiment analysis company? Why, tons and tons of data!

What I’ll dub the “Festivals problem” is an interesting one. Thousands of people. Thousands of shows. Thousands of opinions. Thousands of options. How do you unite the opinions with the people to define the best option for someone wondering what to see? Is this even a valuable piece of information? Do people like the pot luck aspect that you usually get? (Answer: yes.)

I mean, I’m never, ever going to forget the time I decided Doktor Cocacolamcdonalds was a good choice of show. Look, I’d vaguely heard of him from TV and the description sounded OK. But had I had access to even one review of the show, I would have saved myself an hour of excruciating torture and a tenner.

So I’m now beavering away on, let’s rename it, the Doktor Cocacolamcdonalds Problem. The DCP is defined thus: How do I get the opinions of everyone at the Festivals, crunch and process them, and deliver that back to Festivalgoers?

Stay tuned for the answer!