Download - Change agents, Zeitgeist and Innovation
Understanding CHANGE
Where does change come from in our societies?
Change agents: Human interventions, free-will
Zeitgeist: Determinism, the ‘invisible hand’
Contingency: The ‘synchronisation’ of circumstances
What are the consequences of change?
Anticipated or unanticipatedEvidence that the person intended these consequences or not?
Direct or indirectDoes the change directly causes that impact or not?
Desirable or undesirable Are the effects positive for the stakeholders?*
Rosa "Lee" Louise Parks
U.S. Congress:“Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”
Famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to give up a bus seat to a white man when ordered to do so by the bus driver
• An unfair system• Not the first woman to do it• Not the first time she did it• An activist for 12 years• Husband supported her high-school
studies• Dec 4th is formed the Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA) leaded by Martin Luther King
• “Montgomery Bus Boycott” unexpected response (381 days)
• Sparked many other segregation protests in the USA
• Many black churches were dynamited
Change agents are product of their
time/society
They 'trigger' changes but, ultimately, societies collectively decide if/when changes occur
1893: World’s Exposition (Chicago), fascinated by a German chocolate-making exhibit
Purchased and shipped the equipment to Lancaster to produce chocolates
Hershey built a chocolate factory in Derry, PA (dairy farms)
Experimented with many flavours (onion, beet...) Hershey specialized in the affordable “nickel” bar Became the first nationally marketed product of its
kind sold in grocery stores, newsstands, and vending machines
Built a residential town for the workers, a school for orphan boys, a medical center, an amusement park -today this city is named Hershey, Pennsylvania
Only selected information gets revealed...
Who were the first customers? Who sold him the chocolate
equipment in Chicago? Who bought the Lancaster Caramel
Company for 1million? Who invested money on his
businesses after 10 years of bankruptcy?
Who discovered penicillin?
a) Ernst Boris Chainb) Alexander Flemingc) Howard Walter Floreyd) all of the abovee) none of them
“In 1929, I published that it would be useful for the treatment of infections with sensitive microbes, but few people paid any attention up to 1936.
Chain and Florey took up the investigation and succeeded... beyond the wildest dreams I could possibly have had in those early days”
Penicillium notatum Westl.
Richard Westling (Swedish professor) discovered it in 1911 but did not publish its antibacterial power Penicillin is not the first antibacterial, but the first antibacterial not antileucocytic (harmless) Fleming saw its potential but was unable to produce a stable strain Chain and Florey (Oxford) successfully treated mice and published in 1940, the world was at war Huge investments enabled industrial production
Results: about 450,000 for "Alexander Fleming"
Results: about 108,000 for "Ernst Chain"
Results: about 97,800 for "Howard Florey"
Results: about 6,420 for "Richard Westling"
Unexpected consequences
Rosa Lee Parks
Milton Hershey
Alexander Fleming
Unexpected consequences
Rosa Lee Parks Overwhelming positive response in many cities
Milton Hershey Part of the obesity epidemics in children & diabetes
Alexander Fleming Bacteria resistance to penicillin from 'underdosing'
Diffusion of innovations
Diffusion
Process by which A new idea is communicated Or spread in a social group And becomes an innovation
Diffusion is a type of social change Diffusion is behind ________________
Diffusion
M-payment is not yet diffused in Mexico, so it's still a good idea, not an innovation!
Diffusion
Herorat.org: training and using rats to sniff landmines in Africa is an innovation! (training process, adoption scheme)
The designed environment has an important role in social
change: it creates opportunities and incentivates certain
behaviours over others
Diffusion
“The process by which new ideas become real solutions”
Solutions available to social groups Adoption or rejection decisions Consequences
Diffusion is uncertain
Hard to predict how people will respond (future)
Hard to interpret the reasons behind their choices (past)
Most new ideas/products are not diffused and
adopted rapidly
Even when they have obvious, proven advantages
$500 dollars
Diffusion curves
Sigmoid function S-shape curves
time: cumulative adoption
number of adopters
Diffusion curves
‘Tipping point’ At about 10 to 25% adoption*
‘Inflection point’ At about 75 to 90% adoption*
(Hard to distinguish start/end)
time: cumulative adoption
types of adopters
The S-shape curve
Once a few adopt, they tell others about the innovation and the number of adopters per unit of time takes off (word of mouth)
Until the market potential decreases, influence becomes redundant and adoption slows down
Critical mass
Point at which enough individuals have adopted an innovation so that the innovation’s further rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining
That means:“Diffusion continues no matter what”
Adopter categories
Early adoptersMass adoptersLate adoptersLaggards
(avoid clichés)
Enabling strategies
Target opinion leaders Shape individual’s perceptions of the
innovation Target early adopters first, but do not
focus only on them Provide incentives for adoption Promote negotiation and interpretations Any design strategies?
Different external influences
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Different aggregate influence
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Constant critical mass,different end result
“Zeitgeist”German for “spirit of the time”
The intellectual and cultural 'climate' of an era
Some experts attribute innovation to this “social order” that demands and values new solutions
Zeitgeist
Rosa Lee Parks
Milton Hershey
Alexander Fleming
Zeitgeist
Rosa Lee Parks Mass-media, democracy, social changes, politics
Milton Hershey Middle class, mass production, supermarkets
Alexander Fleming War, research, bacteriology, chemistry, medicine
www.google.com/trends
“What you see here is a cumulative snapshot of interesting queries people
are asking over time that perhaps reveal a bit of the human condition”
“Zeitgeist”
Refers to the “climate” of an era including:
• Shared problems and issues• Shared beliefs and values• Open questions and debates• A particular state of technology• Comparison and acceptance of ideas
(but be careful interpreting the results!)
“Zeitgeist” in innovation
• Multiple discoveries or inventions (telephone, ADN)• Focus on a set of problems (household appliances in USA late XIX century)• “Spillover” effects: one innovation leads to many more• Patents, licensing and VC (venture capital) (dot-com bubble in 1999)• “Fertile ground” processes (Sushi-ito)• Competitions’ topics and judges (agendas)• Market, culture and aesthetic trends• Funding and media attention
Characteristicsof innovations
Characteristics of innovations
Relative advantage ● Perceived as a better solution
Compatibility ● Perceived as consistent with values & experience
Complexity ● Perceived as difficult to understand and use
Trialability ● Experimented with on a limited basis
Observability ● Results are visible to others
Adaptability ● Value adapts to users' perceptions
Evidence shows that innovations that diffuse rapidly have:
- greater perceived advantages- greater compatibility- greater trialability- greater observability- greater adaptability- less complexity
Trialability
Observability
Compatibility
Complexity
Adaptability
- individual activity-
Write down how could you address the characteristics of innovations, diffusion and unexpected consequences in your Design Studio project...