Creative Chaos - Dina Mehta’s Weblog 
We’re now working with another tech company on a research project which will include blogging and the use of twitter for both participants and researchers who are located all over the world. Some issues we’re grappling with:
how much coaching and of what kind is required for those participants who are not actively using blogs […]
Thought I’d share something we worked on last year - almost at the same time Twitter came into its own. and before we thought up Twitter for Ethnography.
We spent some time developing an SMS-Blog research prototype with Srinivas Mogalapalli at Netcore (Rajesh Jain’s company), built upon the MyToday SMS platform.
This was a module in […]
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Great piece on Social Learning titled Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler. The supercool text illustrations are by Susan E. Haviland.
Some snippets I really enjoyed:
What do we mean by “social learning”? Perhaps the simplest way to explain this concept is to note […]
There’s a discussion on at the anthrodesign group around how best to approach a diary project. An excerpt from the initial query:
“We’ll be fielding a diary study trying to understand people’s initial experiences with a new mobile phone, particularly understanding the set up experience and the first few days of use. We are interested […]
There’s nothing like blog friends to make you feel guilty about ignoring your blog!!!!! Stuart first slaps his own wrist makes his affirmations a couple of days ago, Aparna pings me today with a one-liner in her sign-off on a quick chat we had today:
“ok gotto go now - will talk more […]
Punk Planning: From the heart, not the head - Research in Asia
Bookmarked to read later in detail and share my views with Charles Firth who’s had some bad experiences researching in Asia, and raises some interesting issues around the impact culture has on qualitative research methods. We’ve had to train our ‘foreign’ clients often […]
It’s been a while since I visited Reshma Anand’s blog on qualitative research …. and realised I was missing out on so many good conversations! In one of her posts, she asks:
“Are qualitative researchers - an inclusive lot - when it comes to the treatment of ‘Outliers’ or Do we banish […]
I recently got a brief from a Client who is a large movie-production house, to research their latest offering —- a full-length movie. The objective of research is not just to assess how it might fare and get viewer responses in order to identify motivational hooks, but also to test the marketing strategy, positioning, […]
Niti Bhan who writes Perspective 2.0 shares a snapshot of three mega trends in the Indian marketplace, the key words according to her being: “aspirational, ambitious, entrepreneurial, forward looking and pragmatic”
Multiplying Media: “The urbanized consumer has become as demanding and sophisticated as any in the world and the aspirations of the rest are influencing […]
I was driving back from a meeting when I had a few bloggy thoughts … long drives in traffic and beating rain tend to do that to me! It was a good meeting - regular (I actually said that!!!) qualitative research project among IT students and professionals to understand motivations that drive them to join certain sorts of organizations in a highly competitive field, to figure out a strategy to draw them to my Client’s organization. As we were discussing the research, I suddenly felt - wow - this is the perfect case for a social media / new media strategy —- you have young professionals, in the IT industry, probably heavy users of the internet, a captive target audience that must be familiar with blogs, social networking sites, youtube and the like! When you think of motivations and drivers for this segment, how can you not think of The Influentials, who help them frame their opinions. Am waiting eagerly for my copy which is winging its way here currently. It would be neat to figure out who or what they are in the project I am doing. So somewhere midway in discussing sample definitions, I broke away and asked my client - do you have a social media or blogging strategy - you need one! She was interested I think, particularly since one of her marketing objectives is to build a powerful corporate identity in order to attract the best talent.
Now am hoping it’s a qualitative research +++ project!! Am beginning to believe any organization or brand that is targeting an audience that is ‘online’ must have a social media strategy. Social media is in-your-face today, no web user or surfer can really escape it.
I’ve known Shubhangi for almost 15 years. We worked in the same company then. We still do. She’s been my mainstay at Explore Research and Consultancy, ever since she came on board way back in 1999. I’ve never known her to panic, feel out of control and never once has she met any of my requests (however absurd they may seem) with anything less than a smile and a “we can do it”. She makes my life so easy really.
Tremendously talented and always looking out for something new to do - yeah - she does yoga, is a full-time mum, rides bikes, paints Tanjore paintings, is an expert in Japanese - and now a fantastic photographer. Match that with her deep understanding of humanity, her strong sense of what’s right and not, her ability to question life and you find a precious gem. She has her feet firmly on the ground - and a heart of gold.
Recently, she discovered Flickr - go check out her awesome pictures there - each one has such depth and tells a story. The image in this post is by her - and one that I feel reflects who she is perfectly. She’s also discovering the joys in sharing herself as she has so quickly built a community around her images. And now she’s blogging and learning the ropes - I am so thrilled about this - welcome huggggggs Shubs. For long, I have felt she hides herself away - not anymore I hope 
| "Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?" Guy de Maupassant |  |
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