Spark from CBC Radio

Do fitness trackers even work? Are product companies really data companies? Fighting depression through a social network. How to make the internet a happier place. Teaching computers to recognize jerks.

The perfection of the paper clip. Why the hottest new thing in online shopping is offline shopping. Crisis communication and Nepal. How math can help us understand a Jackson Pollock painting. Women at work in image search.

Thanks for downloading season six of Spark! We're on production hiatus until mid-August, when you’ll start getting full interviews that we’ll feature on season seven. Thanks for listening, stay subscribed, and have a great summer!

Ethan Zuckerman is director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, and the author of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection.

Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive psychologist at New York University. His new book is called Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. In it, he critiques the idea of intelligence (or even multiple intelligences) as a fixed 'thing'.

Kenny Wollmann and Kevin Kelly on tech lessons from Hutterites and the Amish. Paul Dewar and Tessa Wernink on conflict minerals in our tech devices. Linda Duxbury on achieving work-life balance on vacation.

Vivienne Ming on rethinking recruiting. Christopher Kennedy on going beyond the traditional resume. Martin Ford on the automated workforce and our future. Jaron Lanier on building an information economy. Ben Falk on holistic live/work design.

Ben Falk on modern-day homesteading – planning self-sustaining plots of land to both live and work on.

Nora Young interviews Martin Ford, author of The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future.

Simon Reader on aphorism and tweeting. David Crystal on internet linguistics. Jesse Wente and Mohan Matthen on visual effects. Denis Grignon on Tom Green. Lavrans Lovlie on service design.

Nora Young interviews Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and author of Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace.

Florence Chee on data harvesting and social games. Ron Deibert on Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace. Joel Spolsky on Eating Together. Francois Chartier on Molecules and Wine. Kenji Lopez-Alt on Cooking and Science.

Academic, linguist, broadcaster, author (over 120 books!), David Crystal also developed the field of internet linguistics to understand how people use language online. Nora Young speaks to him about why texting and tweeting have been good for language.

Rick Smolan on The Human Face of Big Data. Viktor Mayer-Schonberger on datification. Carolyn McGregor on neonatal data. Danielle Bochove on big data and the stock market. Rufus Pollock in favour of small data.

Becca Bland on estrangement online. Michelle Parise on unexpected friend suggestions. Caro Rolando on communication tech and identity. Dan Misener on 3D scanning. Paul Banwatt on 3D scanning, printing and the law. Matt Mason on 3D piracy.