The Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation » Barbara

The growth of the corporate blog

Barbara — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:45:13 +0000

Blogs, Twitter feeds and even Facebook pages are increasingly featuring in the arsenal of PR strategies employed by large corporations and public institutions. This is not an idle choice: corporate blogs at both Google and Apple have at times, been the locus of intense media attention at times when new products have been announced or controversial decisions defended. Yet the use of such modes of communication raise peculiar challenges for companies willing to embrace new media, relating to the tensions between maintaining central control of information flows and the desire to react quickly when criticism arises in online networks or discussion groups. What do companies expect to gain from maintaining this sort of online presence and what are the implications of these trends for both the development of traditional PR strategy and business journalism? Why are so many firms embracing social media as part of their communication strategies? Is it about free PR and getting the message across or is it more about reacting to online criticism?

Parties, campaigns and representation: the political impact of blogs and social media

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:44:39 +0000

The outcome of political careers and even campaigns is increasingly dependent on the successful mastery of new communication tools including social media. Many MPs and members of Congress are embracing the use of social networking tools to keep in touch with their constituents, whilst Facebook, YouTube and even Twitter have potentially changed the nature of election campaigns in reaching out directly to grass-roots supporters, with the recent US presidential campaign also showing how effective these tools might be in raising funds. At the same time, it is not clear whether these tools are likely to prove effective in engaging any voters except those who are already interested in politics, or whether their apparent ‘democratisation’ of traditional party structures is to be believed. Do we yet have any evidence to suggest that social media has genuinely altered the nature of election campaigning? Is there any evidence to suggest that traditional gate-keepers in the political communication process (political parties, press secretaries, political editors in mass media, etc.) are truely being bypassed? Or that traditional political institutions are being altered?

Making science public: data-sharing, dissemination and public engagement with science

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:39:20 +0000

Journals and peer-reviewed publications are still the most widely used channels through which research is disseminated within the scientific community and to a broader audience. However, social media is increasingly challenging the supremacy of editors, reviewers and science communicators. Blogging about science has become a new way of engaging “the public” directly with researchers whilst researchers are increasingly using blogs within their own academic communities for peer-review purposes. Panellists will give their perspective on how social media has changed the nature of the scientific debate amongst scientists, and how it has impacted on engagement with the public understanding of science. So, if social media offers the opportunity of unmediated exchange between scientists and the public, is this the last nail in the coffin of science journalism? Do blogs have the potential to become a respected medium for academic exchange?

Social media, so what? Assessing the impact of blogs and social media

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:33:02 +0000

Theorists such as Yochai Benkler have suggested that the accessibility and inherently social nature of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, social networking and wikis mean that we might expect them to enhance our democratic freedoms through the opening of new channels for debate and collaboration. Academic research suggests that such new opportunities have not been equally taken up, and that in many areas, new social media are simply being used by old ‘elites’. At the same time, blogs and social media are having significant effect in enhancing accountability and transparency, particularly in repressive regimes like Burma and China. This session will ask whether we should be so quick to dismiss the socially egalitarian and politically democratic potential of social media or whether there might equally be more mundane but significant social impacts which have so far been ignored. Is there any evidence that the advent of social media have enhanced the potential for meaningful collaboration? Or for political deliberation? Or engagement across rather than within particular groups? Have they lived up to their democratic potential? What are the downsides of the “Twitter revolution”?

Breaking news: the changing relationship between blogs and mainstream media

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:28:51 +0000

Among the traditional media, blogs and other contributions to citizen journalism have for a long time been regarded as posing a significant threat to ‘quality’ news reporting, whilst the global recession has shown that the threatened failure of high quality local and regional media outlets was not a groundless fear. Whilst some of the most successful social media sites are professional media productions such as CNN’s Twitter news feed and the Huffington Post, many critics of social media now fear that the collapse of traditional business models will see a real decline in the depth and quality of news reporting, particularly at the local level. On the other hand, blogs and social media are seen as potentially democratising the production of news, enabling fast, first-hand reporting often in areas where traditional media face political and other restrictions. In what ways can traditional media outlests ensure that the use of blogged or “tweeted” information is accurate and legal to publish? How can the originality and immediacy of “citizen journalism” be retained and incorporated into mainstream media? Does it need to be?

Tracking the performance of the “entrepreneurial university”….

Barbara — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:13:12 +0000

The concept of the “entrepreneurial university” first emerged in the US around the year 2000 and spread quickly to the UK and the rest of Europe. Today this idea has attained an almost mantra-like status among administrators and policy-makers. It espouses the view that one of the main roles of universities is to contribute to national and regional economic development through increased spin-out activities.
Surprisingly, there are very few studies which have examined the survival and performance of university spin-offs over prolonged periods of time. Helen Lawton-Smith, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck, London University considers this an important omission in measuring universities’ spin-out performance. Existing studies in her view are either too focused on particular sectors (i.e. biotechnology) or do not take the appropriate long term perspective. Available studies, in her view, mostly focus on those companies that have been formed since knowledge or tech-transfer institutions were instituted underestimating the longer term contribution of university spin-off activity to regional economic development.

Based on earlier work focusing on technology spin-outs in the Oxfordshire region she currently contributes to filling this identified gap through a study which analyses spin-out activity in Oxfordshire and London based institutions since 1965. Highlighting that data collection is problematic, often due to underreporting, she comes to the conclusion that the London region is similar to Oxfordshire in terms of spin-off numbers. However, Oxfordshire spin-outs employ more people and turnover is far higher (£1bn +). This raises important questions regarding the implications such long-term studies might have on government policies for the development of business ecologies. Does the London region provide an adequately supportive and networked environment to nurture university-related companies? It also remains to be seen what long-term effects business schools and other business support schemes have on the entrepreneurial “spirit” and the development of a particular region.

For further information please consult:
H. Lawton-Smith, K. Ho, Measuring the performance of Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University and the government laboratories’ spin-off companies in: Research Policy 35 (2006), pp.1554-1568

For Helen Lawton-Smith’s homepage, please click here.

Charismatic Authority – betting on the jockey and not the horse

Barbara — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:35 +0000

In the popular mind, science is often represented as a profoundly cold and impersonal affair, strictly governed by method, reason and impartiality. It is carried by the notion that the scientific endeavour is propelled by the anonymous knowledge-worker who carries out experiments under strictly controlled conditions behind closed doors. Steven Shapin, eminent historian and sociologist of science, explored these elements in a lecture at the Said Business School, based on his latest book Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation. He pointed out that before the twentieth century, scientific practitioners mostly used to be amateurs who —however competent— did science for love, a romantic vocation… driven by the desire to read “God’s book of Nature”. Yet, the secularization of Nature combined with the rise of the “scientific method” in the 19th century contributed to the erosion of science as a noble pursuit. The mid-20th century saw the emergence of large-scale government and industry funded science which further contributed to its demystification. Doing research became more and more a “job” like any other.

Although the majority of scientists today are employed by industry or government, Shapin clearly distinguished between academic and industry sponsored science. He argued that despite the growing anonymity of the individual scientist, certain notions of moral superiority still persist. Forexample, today, media and cultural commentators often bestow integrity and moral clout on the scientific community, mythologising institutions such as CalTech, MIT and Oxford. He also highlighted that in some areas of contemporary science and high tech innovation, charismatic authority plays a much bigger role today than in the past – think Susan Greenfield, Richard Dawkins, Kay Davies and Chris Evans. The key to understanding this apparent paradox is the uncertain outcome of these usually high-risk areas of enquiry. If you are pushing boundaries and venture into unknown territory, the only option is to trust the visionary individual rather than the proposed technology. Hence, you bet on the jockey not the horse.

Steven Shapin, The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation, University of Chicago Press 2008.

Invitation to the Oxford Social Media Convention 2009

Barbara — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:59:41 +0000

Twitter could not buy this publicity! Current events in Iran show how widely the use of social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Co, have revolutionised politics and indeed political dissent. Unquestionably, corporations, newspapers and even governments are increasingly embracing blogs and Twitter feeds as key-elements in their communication strategies. Yet, research shows that the landscape of social media use and impact is a complex one, quite unlike the simple depiction of democratisation of content production that was widely heralded with the advent of Blogger ten years ago.

The Oxford Social Media Conference organised by the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Internet Institute, will look back at the evolution of blogs and other social media to give a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which such tools have or have not made a difference at the social, political and economic level. In addition, speakers drawn from academia, industry and the media will be asked to look forward to identify the trends and developments which will mostly shape our experience of these technologies in the future.

Date: September 18th 2009
Time: 9:00 – 17.30
Location: Saïd Business School
To register your interest: events@oii.ox.ac.uk

The Organisers: Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and The Oxford Internet Institute

For further information on speakers please click here

How much killer-instinct do you need…?

Barbara — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:35:29 +0000

Today’s entrepreneurs are truly striking, particularly the Silicon Valley brand, stylizing themselves as romantic cowboys – roguish yet righteous and idealistic, riding into the sunset with a fist-full of dollars and a great idea.
Yet, anyone who knows anything about “how the West was won” and how fortunes were made and lost at “The Frontier” also knows that the reality of “rags to riches” is far less glamorous – with the odd body in the closet, perhaps.

Enter Balram Halwai, the “White Tiger” in Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker prize winning novel: servant, entrepreneur and murderer.
Quote: “…only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed – hunted, beaten, and burned alive by the masters – can break out of the coop [i.e. perpetual servitude]. That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. It would, in fact, take a White Tiger. You are listening to the story of a social entrepreneur, sir.”

Balram, the son of a rickshaw-puller, is born in a village in rural India. As a child he never gets the chance to complete his elementary education, instead he’s put to work in a tea-shop where as a “human spider” he wipes tables and crushes coal. Yet, fortune offers him a big chance when a rich village landlord takes him on as chauffeur and sends him off to Delhi to serve his son.
Between the slums and the roaches that characterize the dwellings of the poor and the glitzy shopping malls and hedonistic clubs for the rich he learns that to break the vicious circle of perpetual servitude some spilling of blood is necessary (which he eventually does). By murdering his boss and stealing money destined to bribe a particular politician, the “White Tiger” breaks free from his cage. Balram Halwai escapes and under a false name starts his own business and becomes a successful entrepreneur.

The story is one of utter amorality and irreverence. Yet, it also raises some interesting questions: How much of a killer-instinct is required to be a successful entrepreneur? Do we have to perhaps revise our culturally constructed image of the ones who “made it”? By hero-worshipping the successful ones, are we perhaps creating deluded narratives?