Introducing pulp: notes from rer
pulp: a writer’s salon at the intersection of design, social science, and business.
In graduate school I was part of a ‘workshop’ that had been started by one of my advisors (Wendy Griswold, now at Northwestern University) on the ‘Sociology of Culture.’ There wasn’t a curriculum. Wendy didn’t lecture. There were no grades. It went across academic quarters, year over year (I was part of it for four of them), with an evolving composition of graduate students and faculty members from across the university.
We presented work in progress. We shared drafts of papers and chapters. We critiqued what we read and we argued (productively) about what we were working
Brand article from 2005
At brand conferences, the usual case story goes approximately like this: 1) first, look how bad this was. 2) Next, the thoughtfully arrived at new strategy. 3) then usually there’s story about the tussle with the client or a sr. manager or an outside agency, and then, fourth and finally, here’s how spectacular the new brand looks.
Often these are great stories. Inspiring. Fabulous work. But as the theme of this conference suggests, there also seems to be something missing—the need for innovation is real. I’m going to talk today about some of the changes in first, perspective on what brands do, and second, in the way we approach research,
Designing Embedded System Interactions for Human Flourishing
Designers of human-computer interactions (HCI) work in a highly ambiguous space, investigating the middle ground between the user and the interface. However, what happens when the interface is not visible to the user? Such is the case with embedded ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) systems. These systems work through complex sensor networks that act as a constant, silent observer, monitoring user behavior. Through these systems, the domain of interaction expands from a keyboard, traditional game controller or even next generation game controllers such as WiiMotes and Project Natal, to a user’s home, car or office. While HCI researchers propose one value of embedded systems is as persuasive agents that motivate users in
Complex Adaptive Systems, Heroism & Disruptive Innovation in Multinational Corporations
VERY EARLY DRAFT: DO NOT FORWARD, POST, REDISTRIBUTE. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. THANKS.
Working title: Complex Adaptive Systems, Heroism & Disruptive Innovation in Multinational Corporations
Tony Salvador
Abstract
This paper reframes innovation practice within large multinational corporations through a merged lens of systems theory with mythology. There are several reasons for this reframing: First: the structure of innovation in a large corporation is theoretically and practically the same as the structure of heroism across mythology – the monomyth — as outlined in Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. In both cases, the Hero must escape his/her current system, enter into, create and/or operate within another, and eventually
Practice makes… practice?
A question, what is new with practice? I don’t mean “our” practice (whoever the ‘we’ of that is), but I mean the notion of practice as a conceptual, theoretical or methodological object.
It seems to me that “practice” is a predominant notion upon which much ethnographic and human-centered design work in industry sits. Theories of practice have provided ethnographers in industry a theoretically nuanced yet empirically resonant object of analysis by which to frame and ground their work. I think it grounds the work of human-centered designers too. Even when practitioners themselves may not draw explicitly (or knowingly) on this trajectory, the general framing of the applied ethnographic research, design
Lurking | Learning
This has emerged as the main question folks have about the idea behind pulp: “Why would I put anything I write up where all those lurkers can see it too?”
I don’t have a pat answer. I think that thinking about thinking in an open-source sort of way does entail some risk of a form of idea piracy. That’s not without basis, given the fact that a great deal of work in the design/research intersection has been ‘citation-free,’ largely, I think, due the perception among all kinds of practitioners that they need to be able to claim uniqueness in order to offer value, and that uniqueness
editors
contributors
recent WIPs
- Brand article from 2005
by Rick Robinson (editor) on May 20, 2010At brand conferences, the usual case story goes…
- Designing Embedded System Interactions for Human Flourishing
by Ryan Brotman on January 24, 2010Designers of human-computer interactions (HC…
- Complex Adaptive Systems, Heroism & Disruptive Innovation in Multinational Corporations
by Tony Salvador on October 23, 2009VERY EARLY DRAFT: DO NOT FORWARD, POST, REDISTR…
- Backpacks and diaper bags
by Katie W McGlenn (editor) on October 6, 2009Teen mothers schlep a tremendous amount of stuf…
- Protected: Testing the ‘private’ function
by Rick E Robinson on September 15, 2009There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
recent strands
- Practice makes… practice?
by Melissa Cefkin on October 14, 2009A question, what is new with practice? I don’t m…
- Lurking | Learning
by Rick Robinson (editor) on October 8, 2009This has emerged as the main question folks have…
- Desire, Icon, Fetish, and Discrimination
by Rick E Robinson on September 17, 2009Over the last couple of days, I’ve been mu…
Ethnography and the Corporate Encounter: Reflections on Research in and of Corporations (Studies in
Melissa Cefkin, Editor
The Art of Seeing: An Interpretation of the Aesthetic Encounter
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Rick E. Robinson
published works by our authors
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