A report in the current issue of the Journal of Service Research describes the changing nature of customer relationships and how new technologies have altered the way consumers interact with businesses. The authors from Europe and the US describe a ‘pinball’ framework that characterises the to-ing and fro-ing of these more equal relationships, which they […]
Archive | August, 2010
Friendship Business
A couple of weeks ago I talked about a piece of informal research I’d conducted with teenagers about their use of Facebook and wondered aloud how their average of 400 ‘friends’ correlated with Dunbar’s number of meaningful relationships? Could those many hundreds of connections translate into a genuine social circle? Likewise, Twitter’s ability to broadcast […]
Grown Ups and Growing Up
At the weekend I joined many others in celebrating my mum’s forty year’s service to the Girls Brigade in Coventry, England. Forty years. Forty years. Since she was sixteen, apart from a break to have her own children, she’s encouraged, supported and empowered thousands of girls by giving her time and energy to provide safe, […]
This Week’s Review
Some of the articles that have caught my eye this week: General Issues Did you know there have been more than 2000 nuclear explosions on the planet since 1945? I didn’t. Displayed in an animation from Pink Tentacle Guillermo del Toro to make games – but what other film directors would you like to see […]
Stopping Children’s Play
The news today made me cry out with primal rage. The UK government is cancelling the funding for thousands of community playgrounds. The Playbuilder scheme was a key element of the 2007 Children’s Act and was establlished in response to the universally acknowledged need for safe outdoor places for children to play. Now the government […]
Recession Risk
I spend a good deal of time trying to respond to the social media/ online/ learning needs of all sorts of organisations. There is a commercial imperative to my efforts. Bluntly, I sell ideas. But these are peculiar times. Recession changes the game. In economic straits, all business, but public organisations especially, are less likely […]
Clever Fools
Now, here’s a clever science game. A game that actually generates valuable scientific outputs. Foldit is a game from Seth Cooper and his colleagues at the University of Washington where players score points by squeezing as many proteins as possible into a chemically stable configuration. Understanding how proteins can fold together is essential to establishing […]
This Week’s Review
Some of the articles that I’ve seen this week. Pathological internet use by teenagers can lead to depression according to School of Medicine, Sydney and SunYat-Sen University. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/2010.159 Childhood traits predict adult behaviour according to report from University of California Riverside. http://newsroom.ucr.edu/news_item.html?action=page&id=2401 Behind the scenes of the museum…there’s real value. Director of the National Media […]
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
I get quite cross when some says “I’m no good at that” or “I can’t do that” or worse “You’re stupid.” I’m especially conscious of it as a dad of two small children. I believe talk like that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if it is said often enough about someone, they’ll live up to […]