My essentials: Enriqué Tabone’s cultural picks

1. Book

A book that has stayed with me in the last year is called Data Feminism by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein. I met the authors and their online network during Covid and their work has been very inspirational for me. So much so, that I’ve developed postgraduate research work in direct response to some of the ideas they present in this book. The world needs more women from all sorts of backgrounds in the field of data science.

2. Film

The Lost King, a true story about Philippa Langley (played by Sally Hawkins) who discovered the remains of King Richard III under a car park in Leicester. The moment when she is drawn to a letter R on the ground, which is meant to mark a reserved space, and gets a gut feeling that that’s the spot where Richard III’s body was buried. Sometimes intuition is stronger than anything academics or authority figures propose, especially when you know your subject well and invest a lot of energy into it. She didn’t receive the credit she deserved and yet she was still happy because she managed to find him.

3. TV/Internet 

I don’t watch TV, mainly because we choose to not have a TV at home. So I spend more time on the internet. My main go to site is Wikipedia and related wiki projects by Wikimedia, such as Wikidata. Also because I’m heavily involved in promoting these websites and looking for ways to make them better especially the Maltese-language Wikipedia. They are an amazing free and open online resource for many people around the world seeking to share in the sum of all human knowledge.

4. Music

During the day I like to listen to BBC 6 Music as they always play all sorts of alternative music that I love but when I am relaxing in the evening I like to listen to Italian music by singers like Mina. ‘Amore Mio’ remains a very special song for me.

5. Place 

I really like lakes. Recently, I fell in love with the Lake District in Northern England from the very first time I visited the region a few years ago, when I took advantage of a special offer on train tickets for just £1. I’ve returned several times since then and every time I visit this beautiful part of England I fall more deeply in love with it, especially since I’ve now started driving to get there too from time to time.