Showing papers by "Arie Rip published in 2000"

Narrative Infrastructure in Product Creation Processes

Abstract: In product creation processes, perhaps even more than in organization processes in general, uncertainties are addressed and complexity is reduced. In retrospect, linearized success stories are told. The history of a product innovation in a biotechnology firm is used to show how actually, over time, attributions and typifications in stories, and the implied stories contained in interactions, link up and an overall plot emerges. Such a social-semiotic analysis identifies the narrative infrastructure which enables, as well as constrains, further actions, just like narrative enables and constrains the characters involved. In the specific `genre' of product creation processes, the role of `hero' shifts from the project team to the emerging product itself. Managers and other actors involved can profit from the reflexive understanding offered by social-semiotic analysis, and avoid becoming captive of the path they follow, even though reflexivity may hinder the build-up of thrust in the process.

Users and unicorns: a discussion of mythical beasts in interactive science

Abstract: The UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has placed considerable emphasis on the users of the research it supports Researchers have in turn pointed to the potential uses of the work they do as a means of demonstrating relevance However, to date, researchers and research funders have succumbed to the temptation of constructing and then believing in users of their own making The over-reliance on an embodied notion of use and uncritical acceptance of associated pathways of influence is understandable but unnecessary There are other ways of conceptualising and identifying use, but these require researchers and funders to develop and work with more convincing models of knowledge diffusion and relevance In short, the challenge is to understand better the process of use even if that means abandoning the comforting fairy-tale of the research user

Evaluation of societal quality of public sector research in the Netherlands

Abstract: Dutch thinking about the issues, tools and practices of evaluation is explored, with special reference to societal quality. Indicators are identified and positioned through the review of 17 evaluation processes in the Netherlands. The context for the review process is examined.

Higher forms of nonsense

Abstract: Research councils are under pressure and some are responding pro-actively. This has implications for their functioning as ‘aggregation machines’ taking in proposals and churning out judgements and decisions. Five scenarios of possible futures for research councils in the world of strategic science are laid out, with examples