5 Things We Learned... Lisa Talia Moretti
LISA TALIA MORETTI, HEAD OF USER RESEARCH, METHODS UK
LONDON, UK
I don’t know anyone who celebrates the beautiful discovery of nitty-gritty data quite like Lisa Talia Moretti. Her commitment to exploring why we tick, how we use technology, and why we can’t seem to get our act together to measure its effects is what makes Lisa an award-winning, South African digital sociologist, strategist, and tech ethics activist. Based in London, she serves as Head Of User Research at Methods, one of the UK’s leading digital transformation partners.
For more than a decade, she's studied and written about the relationship between technology, information, and society. Lisa has collaborated on groundbreaking research projects for companies such as IpSoft, Adobe, Mindshare, and Rackspace and has gained international coverage with CNN, BBC, Fast Company, Campaign, Techcrunch, Forbes, and others. She is a frequent keynote and panelist at top tech conferences - check out her inspiring TEDx talk! Lisa was also recognized as a 2020 BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) 100 Champion for Change, which highlights the industry’s most influential and pioneering change-makers in the digital space.
Here are 5 Things We Learned about Lisa.
What made you...you?
I was born in a small, slightly dysfunctional (truly… some of the stories!), but tightly-knit town in the middle of South Africa. My parents, both entrepreneurs, were opposite ends of the spectrum. My mom was a professional ballet and modern dancer and ran her own dance school. My dad worked in the family business which spanned engineering and gardening hardware. I watched them work hard and never complain about their jobs. My mom always told me I was made for bigger things than just staying put. I believed her. I was always a dreamer.
When are you happiest?
When I’m writing…pretty much anything. Blogs, poems, books I hope to one day publish, research papers. I love questioning what words to use, rephrasing sentences, adding in footnotes, discovering words from different languages that are heavy with the weight of culture, nuance, and history.
From a work perspective, by the time I get to the point where I’m ready to write, I’ve read to the point of bursting and the words feel like they tumble all at once onto the page, some tripping over one another in a race to land first. It feels sooo good. The first draft is like love at first sight; it feels like it comes from nowhere, knocks me senseless but leaves me feeling high at the same time. The second, third, even fourth drafts are like wedding vows; thought through, heartfelt, and committed.
Would you rather have a muse or be a muse?
What a question, Anne! What would Calliope say? I think everyone needs a muse, someone they look to for inspiration. However, knowing you inspire someone is such a tremendous privilege that I hope I’m graced with the honor on more than one occasion in my lifetime, but in a quiet and meaningful way, much like the adjective of this brilliant word – to muse. As a researcher, I always hope that my work allows someone to become absorbed in a new way of thinking.
Who do you admire?
People who believe they’re ordinary but are anything but; parents who have lost their children, nurses, mothers, the bin collectors, state school teachers, refugees, those who society calls disabled, people who fight eating disorders and mental health challenges all their life.
I met an elderly man named Richard recently who was blind. He was one of the most radiant individuals I have ever met. Someone asked him when he lost his sight and he replied, “I never had it and I’ve lived an amazing life.” I was so overwhelmed with emotion I had to excuse myself.
What is important?
Family – in the broadest, most inclusive sense that sees friends and colleagues plotted along the branches of the tree. Good, honest, challenging work. Making time to do the things you love. Helping where you can. And from an on-again-off-again insomniac, sleep. Because my God, how those precious nighttime hours can transform or destroy a day.
Follow Lisa and her work on Instagram @lisatalia and Twitter @LisaTalia. For her Tedx talk, you can watch it here.
Images from left to right: 1. Lisa Talia Moretti; 2. Lisa has been researching the impact that emerging technology has on society and information for about six years now. So thinking about how issues like governance, inclusion and bias present themselves in a world filled with AI consumes most of her waking hours; 3. Traveling the world and getting out of your comfort zone is the best education you could give yourself. If you are fortunate enough to be able to do so, just book the ticket and GO! 4. Cover image for Lisa's latest research paper, It Speaks! looks at how to manage bias in big language data sets; 5. In response to our obsession with the visual, Lisa created Sound Taxi, a blog dedicated to capturing the soundtrack of a place, city and/or country; 6. 1. Public art is a revelation. It brightens, inspires and transform civic life. More of that please.