Notes from the information environment.
Essays, field notes, and methods from our analysts on how narratives form, move, and matter across Southeast Asia.
- Method
Where Research Ends and Intelligence Begins
The question comes up in nearly every recent ministry conversation: “Can we just use ChatGPT Deep Research for this?” It is a fair question. Deep Research is genuinely capable for one-shot literature reviews on indexed topics. The gap appears when the requirement is intelligence rather than research: a real-time, multilingual read of public reception, separated from coordinated noise, with confidence levels you can stand behind.
- Field note
Vendor or Partner? Five Questions Before Your Next Media Intelligence Procurement
A ministry comms team gets to the end of a procurement cycle. Three vendors are shortlisted. On paper they look indistinguishable. The team picks one — and two years later isn't meaningfully sharper than before. The reason isn't that they chose wrong; it's that the RFP itself was asking 2020 questions.
More perspectives forthcoming.