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BEACHCOMING AT THE BRINK OF THE KNOWLEDGE-WAVE FOR ITEMS OF POSSIBLE MUTUAL BENEFIT
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MAY 08
“ Most of science is actually part of the entertainment industry . . . in the end, the public pays the bills “
Prof. Steve Jones, University College London. |
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  dB at the BMB
For, opening at the end of the month is his exhibition ‘ Playing
the Building ‘ -
in which case the featured musical instrument is : the Battery Maritime
Building in Manhattan, New York. Mr. Byrne successfully mounted a similar show in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2005 - here’s a soundclip of visitors playing the buidling at that event. ‘ Playing the Building ‘ 13 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
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‘ There’s a hole in my NPD ‘New Product Development ( NPD ) is difficult. As a rule of thumb : • Only about one in ten of a corporation’s new ideas for products ever get as far as being prototyped. • And somewhere around nine out of ten of those don’t get past the R&D phase to become a viable, manufacturable, product. • And just 10% of newly launched products are a commercial success. To sum up, the chances of an average corporation’s idea becoming a winner are about 1 in 1000. How can this lamentably low success rate be improved ? Perhaps with Strategic Buckets ? The idea has been around for some time now – here’s an article explaining how they might be implemented. Rather than expressing one’s ‘ distilled objectives ‘ as a list of ‘ bullet points ‘ ( as so many corporations do ) why not consider those bullet points instead as Strategic Buckets ? Now the company’s project ideas are placed ‘ into ’ those buckets ( taking care not to force projects which don’t quite fit ). Hopefully, misalignments of the NPDs with regard to commercial realities may begin to show up ? If this approach seems, well, a little vague, bear in mind that it was written way back in 2003, when Strategic Buckets were in their infancy. Things have advanced quite a bit since then, and now the Darden School of Business, at the University of Virginia, has published a new theoretical framework describing exactly ( that is to say mathematically ) When and How to Use Strategic Buckets. The article draws attention in particular to the Environmental Complexity and Environmental Instability within the R&D framework of the company concerned. However, we should perhaps bear in mind what Shane and Ulrich pointed
out in 2004 : “ A substantial body of research has been focused
on the question of which innovation projects to pursue... Surveys have
shown that these models
have found very little use in practice. If 50 years of research in an area
has generated very little managerial impact, perhaps it is time for new approaches.” Can Strategic Buckets (SBs) hold the answer ? Can they really dip into the Well Of Corporate Creativity (WoCC) and come up overflowing with Strategically Meaningful Viable Product Initiatives (SMVPIs) ? Or will the Porosity of Objective Misalignment (PoOM) continue to leak away Return on R&D Investment (RoR&DI) ?
؟ ؟ ؟ The
full paper can be found here 12 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
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Abscents.Moving swiftly away from the cess-lagoons of Iowa, Eastwards, across the Atlantic, we arrive in Sunderland, in the Northern UK.
For the ‘ If there ever was ‘ exhibition is ‘ An exhibition of extinct and impossible smells. ‘ “ Scent is the essence of physical presence and lends proof to our surroundings. “ The work of at least 11 aromartists will be available for sniffing – and include : • The surface of the Sun • The smell of communism • The smell of the Mir spacestation. ( full list here ) The show runs until 6th June 2008.
[ note : The exhibition was made possible in part by the generous
sponsorship of Northern Gas Networks Ltd. ]
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Down on the Containment Unit.The Department of Sociology at Colorado State University has just published a research paper into ( one of the ) problems caused by intensive animal farming. “ Specifically, its empirical focus is on how residents living near
a large-scale hog facility within the state of Iowa actively ‘do’ smell. “ To put it bluntly, if a large-scale hog farm containment unit opens in your neighbourhood, and your home is downwind – it can rapidly acquire a market-value of zero. With the new insights, help might be on the way though : “ . . . an understanding of agricultural odor is provided that is both active ( in that it is something we ‘do’ ) and historical ( recognizing that such ‘doing’ always occurs within a particular sociohistorical milieu ). “
Pubished in the current issue of the journal ‘ Environment and Planning A ’
Also see, from the same author : Published in the journal Local Environment, August 2007
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YOUprisonIf you’re going to be in or around Turin, Italy in mid June, why not check out the inauguration of a new architectural exhibition ? Subject : The ( architecturally speaking ) oft-neglected field of prison cell design. 11 specialist international architectural studios have been invited to submit designs for a ‘ living unit ‘ of a correctional facility, Visitors will be able to : “ . . . physically experience a space designed for isolation and confinement. The cell thus becomes a tool for reflecting on the system it is the smallest functional unit of. “ One of the most captivating of the schemes - organised StudioNOWA from Sicily - may highlight any possible conflicts in the requirements of prison governors and those in their care. For the project will feature a suite of cell-designs based solely on ideas submitted by the current inmates of the Turin Correctional Facility. Inauguration of YOUprison : Thursday June 12, 2008, 7 p.m. at the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Via Modane 16, Turin The exhibition will run until September 21
( our in-house artist's impression ) 08 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
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War : Men’s fault ?The latest issue of the journal Men and Masculinities carries an article from the London School of Economics which attempts to Make Sense of Masculinity and War.
“ . . . the link between masculinity and war does not depend on the substantive meanings of either masculinity or war, or on a causal or constitutive relation between the two; rather, masculinity is linked to war because the formal, relational properties of masculinity provide a framework through which war can be rendered both intelligible and acceptable as a social practice and institution. “ The article is ‘ subscribers only ‘ - but a free-to-read follow-up conclusion to the piece can be found here. ( in .doc format ) Noting : “ The crucial characteristic that is shared by
all masculinity discourses, is that they are not feminine. “ ؟ ؟ ؟ Really Magazine is sticking though with a more succinct approach to the subject as encapsulated by Richard Buckminster 'Bucky' Fuller " Either war is obsolete, or men are."
07 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top Thesmology Exclusive.Thesmologists - those who study institutions - have been offered a swathe of new research opportunities with the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London. Confidential documents obtained by Really Magazine have revealed new plans under consideration for the capital. 1) The central London traffic control scheme ( known as the Congestion Charge ) will be kept, but with special exemption for Aston Martins and Bristols. 2) The London Eye will be retrofitted with a Swiss-designed musical-box mechanism attached to the central rotor pivot. The amplified signal ( which will play as the wheel turns ) will be broadcast around the Southbank. ( Possible music programmes include Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, and the theme from The Magic Roundabout. ) 3) The public transport tracking device travelcard known as the ‘ Oyster Card ‘ will be retained, but will be complimented by the ‘ Champagne and Strawberries ‘ card ( to be available only for first-class rail travellers ) 4) All graduate students in central London will be required to wear academic black gowns and mortarboards at all times when off-campus. 5) The façade of the controversial central London architectural icon Centrepoint is to be rebuilt in mock-Tudor style.
( an artist's impression ) Quote of the day" My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters. " From Boris, the Mayor of London ( source: Boris's column in the Daily Telegraph ) 03 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top Celebrity Burnout : the Math(s)Celebrities are often viewed as ‘ Social Leaders ‘ . But from the celebrities’ point of view, the pressures and costs ( social, emotional and sometimes financial ) can be extremely severe. So severe that many succumb to exhaustion, psychosomatic illnesses and drug abuse. So called Celebrity Burnout. New research from the Dept. of Economics at Clemson University has ( for the first time ) applied a mathematical model to attempt to explain and quantify the burnout. The author draws attention to the touring careers of Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and Amadeus Mozart. There are two basic premises : • Firstly, that performers will often extend their touring schedule way beyond the length they would be comfortable with. • Secondly, they ( try to ) keep going if ‘ the revenue derived from the performance is less than the cost. ‘ ( viz. they’re making money ) The tour schedule can be described thus :
But, when mind altering substances are introduced into the equation, things become considerably more complex :
Despite the new mathematical insights, the author does point out though that more research is still required : “ The question of why celebrities appear so inclined to burn-outs and self-destructive behavior is a problem not inclined to a simple solution. “ For example, one puzzling, and as yet still unexplained aspect is that there are some other very well-paid occupations which would appear to be just as stressful, and yet workers in these areas don’t ( generally ) turn to copious quantities of illicit drugs and other full-on excesses.
Really Magazine wonders if that might be because they think they wouldn't be able to get away with it ? The study is published in the May 2008 edition of the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Non-subscribers can read a full copy here. 02 MAY 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top 01 May [and] Digital SugarTwo researchers from the School of Art History, Cinema Studies, Classics & Archaeology at the University of Melbourne are working on a soon-to-be-published book on Digital Maypole Theories. These are theories which “ . . . engage the non-textual maypole life and pursue the trails of sugar, copy the hieroglyphic gestures, and participate in the seasonal dances that make up digital life. “ For a taste of the forthcoming book, turn to the authors’ essay on the subject published in the journal FibreCulture in 2005. ( link below ) Here, parallels are drawn between : • The ritualistic Maypole Dances of Western and Northern Europe, and : • SMS messaging, computer games, gesturing, and what they term ‘ Digital Digits ‘
“ The maypole seems unsolicited for the comprehension of self-organised networks and socially self-regulating information technologies “ For example, the ribbons connected to a traditional maypole vibrate – they ‘ contain noise ‘ – ( Kahn, 1999: 72). Could this ‘ active resonance ‘ be meaningfully compared to electromagnetic ( digital ) transmissions ? And is there perhaps a darker underside to an electronic/digital maypole ? “ Cancers developed by the atomic specificity of a vibrationary milieu are related by blood to the ' critical moments ' that lie on the opposite end of the scale of vibration. “
“ . . . begins the process of reorganising conceptions of modalities of communication around the absent centre and the affective realms that form through the movement of information-energy, like sugar in a hurricane. “
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Bubbles On The Couch.A novel technique for getting to grips with the intricacies and foibles of the stockmarket is being developed at the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, at University College London. (UCL) Instead of the more usual mathematical and dynamic-systems approaches, the research team decided to look at trading-floor actions from a different angle – using Psychoanalysis. The new method : “ . . . argues that banks and financial institutions should be as wary of ‘ emotional inflation ’ as they are fiscal inflation. “ And the study also introduces the concept of ‘ Phantastic Objects ’ and their possible role in affecting ‘ the financial market’s Sense of Reality ’. Further : “ Market investors’ relationships to their assets and shares are akin to love-hate relationships with our partners.” The new theory might encourage stock market analysts to incorporate neurobiological and emotional factors into future theoretical models. Really Magazine is sticking with a simpler model though. Preferring to view the stock market as an unadorned battle between Fear and Greed. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other. The UCL study is published in the latest edition of The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 29 APR 08 ( late edition ) comments | permalink | back
to the top Meaning in Kentucky
In order to investigate the subject, the research team asked 122 participants ( students ) to complete ten poignant questions from the Meaning In Life Questionarre (MLQ ) ( developed by the paper’s lead author back in 2006 ) Subsequent mathematical investigation of the data ( using Aiken & West’s Single-Slope Analysis technique ) flagged up the following results : “ Findings suggest that people lacking meaning search for it . . . “ though, sadly, perhaps :
؟ ؟ ؟ The paper is published in the latest issue of the journal ‘ Personality ‘
29 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
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RoboFolder
- as performed by robots. It almost goes without saying that the challenges of creating a proficient origami-robot are manifold. But the possibilities could be worth investigating, because manufacturers and retailers love flat-pack items ( they save on expensive warehousing space ). More details of the research progress can be found here ( including a video showing robots trying their hand at folding a paper hat ). Some way to go though to reach this stage ( over 1000 examples provided courtesy of origami.com )
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Pick Your Own
The authors argue that : “ . . . public road signs are important enabling intermediate interaction between communities. “
To examine the phenomenon, the researchers undertook a 4000km journey along Swedish roads, and recorded more than 2000 photographs of publicly made roadsigns. They also conducted a series of interviews, both with the signs’ creators, and with road-inspectors ( using Kusenbach’s go-along technique. ) Keyphrases : de-contextualisation transparency of the setting organisational procedures material objects modes of interaction bridging, and, particularly, intermediate interaction Lively, informative, and sometimes humorous as they are, some might argue that irregular road signs could contravene the law, and the authors point out that the road inspectors can see their work as an ‘editing ‘ process. But is it always clear what constitutes a ‘ sign ‘ ? Is a mailbox a ‘ sign ‘ ? Is a tractor-trailer laden with apples and parked at a farm gate a ‘ sign ‘ ? In the final analysis though : “ We have shown how public signs can, and do,
provide liveliness to the roadspace. “
24 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
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Have/Want Survey resultsIn his 1954 book ‘ The real enjoyment of living. ‘ Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel claimed that, “ Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. ” - but just how right was he ? A joint research project from Texas Tech University and Wichita State University recently decided to expose the pronouncement to the rigours of scientific scrutiny. A series of two experiments ( involving students ) applied : • Schwartz et al.’s Maximization Scale, • Ryff’s Personal Growth Subscale, • the Purpose in Life Subscale of Ryff’s (1989) Multidimensional Measure of Psychological Well-being, • Robitschek’s (1998) Personal Growth Initiative Scale, and • Preacher and Hayes’ (2006) Bootstrapping Procedure - to questionnaires regarding whether the students had things, wanted things, or both ( or neither ). The things in question were ( for example ) a car, a bed, a cellphone, a microwave, tennis-shoes etc etc. The researchers then “ calculated conditional probability scores in order to quantify the extent to which participants have what they want [i.e., p(have|want)] and want what they have [i.e., p(want|have)] “ The results ? “ Results indicate that those American undergraduates who are happiest in this life are not necessarily those who amass great numbers of things. Rather, they are those who both have the things they want and want the things they have. “ Or, put another way : “ Results indicate that Schachtel was both right and wrong. “
A free abstract of the study is published in this month’s issue of Psychological Science.
23 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top Organizational Sensemaking – an extensionHow can we make sense of ‘ Negative Entropy ‘ ( a.k.a.
Information ) within the framework of ‘ Ogananizations ' ? For readers who haven’t come across the concept of Organizational Sensemaking - here’s a 2002 Sensemaking Recipe from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Canada. Which explains how “ People in onganizations actively construct the environment that they attend to “ and indicating how they do so via : • Enactment : • Selection : • Retention : • Expecting : • Manipulating and • Arguing . ( using a real-world example involving baloons, human voices, and the flow of electricty. ) Now though, the present understanding of Organizational Sensemaking has been extended - by an article entitled : Extending the Present Understanding of Organizational Sensemaking - just published in the latest issue of the journal Administration & Society. Despite this new clarification, readers should perhaps bear in mind : " Our understanding of organizational sensemaking remains somewhat fragmented " - and sadly, the full article is ‘ subscribers only ‘ . But happily, readers can get a sense of the author’s drift in his doctoral thesis on the same subject - which sums things up like this : “ Sensemaking is conscious meaning construction. ‘Meaning’ is bounded to the being of which it is meaning. ‘Meaning’ is also united with I for which it is meaning. ‘Meaning’ is ‘something’ that I have relative to the being ‘outside’. “ 21 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top They ' are no longer accepting lunch orders ‘Sadly, it’s one-day-too-late to visit the 2008 Astrobiology Science Conference in Santa Clara, California. The good news though, is that they have posted online free-access .pdf abstracts of the entire conference programme. Although many of the subjects under discussion are almost imponderable, that doesn’t mean that pondering shouldn't be attempted - and and authors from various academic institutions have spent considerable effort doing just that. For example :
From the University of Hawaii, Where did the Earth’s water come from ? Unknown : but perhaps “ most of it probably accumulated with the latter half of Earth’s mass from wetter planetary embryos originating beyond 1.5AU “ ( in other words gravitationally scavenged from passing wet comets and space-ice etc ).
From Penn State University Would it be possible to ‘ Modulate Moon’s albedo to create a calling-card detectable by any civilization pointing a TPF-like telescope in our direction ? ‘ Maybe, with the aid of giant flipping mirrors on the Moon’s surface say the authors.
From Massachusetts Institute of Technology What might a search for ‘ Weird Intelligence ’ entail
? The authors ask : ‘ Is there a comparison to be made between
non-water solvents and unexpected media in which intelligence might exist
? ‘ And then
go on to speculate that “ the answer
might be no. “ Really Magazine's clear favourite though comes from the University of California, Berkeley Could a Douglas Adams’ Babelfish universal translator be a viable device for communicating with alien life-forms ? The authors contend that evolved ‘ computational organs ‘ which might be able to support symbolic communication will inevitably tend to share processing constraints. Or, to clarify : “ These constraints reflect a domain of structural-functional influences that can neither be ascribed to nature nor nurture nor even to their interaction, and although not proof against radical divergence of content, this argues for the plausibility of translating not just extraterrestrial mathematics but also extraterrestrial language into a form humans can readily understand. “ Unfortunately, no-one in the Really Magazine office could readily understand it - so we put it through our round-trip tanslator : " These ties to reflect an structural-functional dominion of infuences that can be chargeed neither to the nature neither to cultivate and not even to their interaction, and even if not test against radical divergence of content, for this supports the plausibilità translate not only extraland mathematics, but also extraland Language in a shape the man can easy understand. " ؟ ؟ ؟ Here's the index to the entrire collection ( scroll down )
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Excellen$e.In the second half of the 5th century BCE, particularly in Athens, the term ‘ Sophist ‘ came to denote a class of ‘ intellectuals ‘ who taught courses in ‘ excellence ‘ . . . [ sound familiar ? Ed. ] For this service they were in the habit of charging substantial fees, [ sound familiar ? Ed. ] and, because of this, have come in for criticism. Now a new research article from the Department of English at Ohio State University, asks the disarmingly simple question : ‘ Why Shouldn't the Sophists Charge Fees ? ‘ The author argues that they may not have charged simply as a way of getting richer, but, instead - “ . . . the sophists charged fees to demystify the ways in which gift-exchange made it possible to naturalize culturally established values and misrecognize power relations as relations of generosity and friendship. “ Really Magazine wonders if modern-day Excellence Consultants might
like to adapt the above paragraph and incorporate it into their invoicing
template ?
17 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
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XXXchangesA ' large Midwestern University ' ( the University of Michigan ) has recently completed its study into Reproductively Relevant Currencies. 475 students ( of introductory psychology ) were asked if they had ever been offered, or had asked for ‘ Nuptial Gifts ‘ [ ahem. Ed.] in exchange for some other type of service or goods. Although the paper doesn’t specify any of that actual exchanges on offer, Really Magazine can reveal that they included : Tickets to sports events Incongruous perhaps, as most of the students weren’t exactly in the grips of financial hardship. In fact 87% of respondents estimated that their family’s wealth was at or above the national average. " We have seen many examples where people do this out of necessity, but we still see these tendencies in people who are already well provided for. " The implication is that such behaviors might be hard-wired, and persist no matter how much wealth, resources or security people already have. It should be noted however : " The low success rate of exchange attempts may indicate that such explicit offers are not usually an effective strategy."
The article is published in the latest issue of Evolutionary Psychology
16 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top Darwin’s ideas about Haut ( an update )Researchers from the Emotion and Self Lab at the University of British Columbia recently undertook ( what is believed to be ) the first scientific study to investigate whether the non-verbal expression of ‘ Pride ‘ is truly cross-cultural . . . To test their ideas, investigators showed photographs of actors ‘ posing emotion expressions ‘ [ pride, happiness, surprise, contempt etc ] to rural villagers from ‘ a preliterate, highly isolated tribe ‘ near the city of Bobo Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The results showed that, although the villagers were almost entirely isolated from ‘ Western Culture ‘ they nevertheless consistently identified images attempting to portray ‘ Pride ’ - with an accuracy of 57% The authors sum up : “ . . . these findings suggest that, at least from a behavioral perspective, pride may be as much a part of human nature as any other emotion. “ And thus, the results are presented as “ . . . the first evidence in support of Darwin’s (1872) claim about pride. “
Here’s the claim - from Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872 ) chap. 11 “ Of all the above-named complex emotions, [ Jealousy, Envy, Avarice, Revenge, Suspicion, Deceit, Slyness, Guilt, Vanity, Conceit, Ambition, Pride, Humility, &c ] Pride, perhaps, is the most plainly expressed. A proud man exhibits his sense of superiority over others by holding his head and body erect. He is haughty (_haut_), or high, and makes himself appear as large as possible; so that metaphorically he is said to be swollen or puffed up with pride. A peacock or a turkey-cock strutting about with puffed-up feathers, is sometimes said to be an emblem of pride. The arrogant man looks down on others, and with lowered eyelids hardly condescends to see them; or he may show his contempt by slight movements, such as those before described, about the nostrils or lips. “
Read the lab's paper here, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Further research here :
“ The human self is quite remarkably different from what is found
in most other species. “ ؟ ؟ ؟ Notes : 1• The lab has developed its own Pride Nonverbal Coding Scheme to assist pride-researchers : They suggest that pride-based cues might include : ‘ Head tilted back / up ‘ ‘ Chest expanded ‘ ‘ Hand on hips ‘ etc etc
15 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
to the top Dunking in WinnipegIf you’re going to be in or around Winnipeg, Canada, on wednesday, May 21, 2008 , the Department of Food Science at the University of Manitoba is offering you the opportunity to attend their second lecture in the series - " So, food in Canada is the safest in the world, eh ? " Room 130, Agriculture Building, Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre,
3:00 pm ( Coffee and doughnuts will be served )
14 APR 08 (midday) comments | permalink | back
to the top Shopping painsA new consumer-behaviour evaluation tool has been made available. A research team from the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University has ‘ validated ‘ a new scale : The ‘ Spendthrift-Tightwad ‘ scale ( ST-TW ) ( a measure of individual differences in the pain of paying. ) They decided to create the new scale after observing that : “ Consumers often behave differently than they would ideally like to behave. “ The investigators queried more than 9000 individuals regarding their attitudes to financial questions. Subsequent mathematical analysis of the data revealed their levels of what the team are calling spendthriftiness and tightwaddism. It became clear that : “ Spending differences between tightwads and
spendthrifts are greatest in situations that amplify the pain of paying
and smallest in situations
that diminish the pain of paying. “ They are called : The Unconflicted. ؟ ؟ ؟ • Spendthrifts can view the report in the current issue of the Journal of Consumer Research for US $10.00 • Tightwads can read it
here for nothing. 14 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
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Olympictograms
Others however . . . 1 3 Is it just us, or are some of them a touch cryptic ? Reader Carmelita reckons they might mean 1 - Calligraphy competition 12 APR 08 comments | permalink | back
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Now
the question has been augmented still further by the out-of-the-box thinker/artist/musician
David Byrne.
Specifically,
at the Reg Vardy Gallery at the University of
Sunderland. Which is currently hosting an exhibition that focuses
on odours – or
rather, their absence . . .
2
4
