by Sam Ladner on April 27, 2010 · 4 comments
in Blog, bourdieu, design, facebook, goffman, home, interaction design, market research, social capital, social media, social networks, sociology, technology design, user experience
I was recently invited to speak at Ottawa’s Social Media Breakfast. The organizers, Simon Chen, Rob Lane and Ryan Anderson, asked me specifically to bring a sociologist’s understanding to social media. Below is my presentation. For the full version, with the notes, visit the full slideshare version.
My essential argument for the presentation was that we [...]
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bourdieu,
facebook,
goffman,
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social networks
Categories: Blog · bourdieu · design · facebook · goffman · home · interaction design · market research · social capital · social media · social networks · sociology · technology design · user experience
by Sam Ladner on January 28, 2010 · 9 comments
in Blog, Qualitative Research & Design, Research Methods, design, ethnography, home, market research, product design, qualitative research, quantitative research, survey, surveys
Remember “synergy?” AOL Time Warner was designed to save money and make money. But it was not designed to be a true organization. 10 years ago, Time Warner aimed to blast into the 21st century by “synergizing” with America Online.
The New York Times has a fabulous retrospective of the merger.
In their teaser video, Robert Puttnam, former [...]
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culture,
linkedin,
management,
organizations
Categories: anthropology · culture · home · innovation · organizations · sociology
Designing an innovative organization doesn’t necessarily mean a “flat” organization. We tend to believe that innovation and hierarchy are antithetical, but in truth, innovation often thrives in hierarchical organizations. Here are the key ingredients to an innovative organization, whether hierarchical or not.
The Internet: A Democratic Utopia We tend to believe that hierarchy kills innovation and [...]
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management,
organizations
Categories: Blog · culture · design · home · innovation · management · organizations · sociology
We are facing a collective conundrum: how do we continue to consume enough to keep our economic engine rumbling, while at the same time, not consume too much to destroy that very economic engine? This is a contradiction explored by Marx and Polanyi, and now by sociologist George Ritzer, author of The McDonaldization of Society.
Ritzer [...]
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capitalism,
consumerism,
consumption,
economics,
linkedin,
luxury goods,
marx,
mcdonaldization
Categories: bourdieu · class · luxury goods · sociology