NUDGE: IMPROVING DECISIONS ABOUT HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein Penguin Books, 2009, 312 pp, ISBN 978-0-14-311526-7This book is best described formally as a general explanation of and advocacy for libertarian paternalism, a term coined by the authors in earlier publications. Informally, it is about how leaders, systems, organizations, and governments can nudge people to do the things the nudgers want and need done for the betterment of the nudgees, or of society. It is paternalism in the sense that "it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence people's behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better", (p. 5) It is libertarian in that "people should be free to do what they like - and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so", (p. 5) The built-in possibility of opting out or making a different choice preserves freedom of choice even though people's behavior has been influenced by the nature of the presentation of the information or by the structure of the decisionmaking system. I had never heard of libertarian paternalism before reading this book, and I now find it fascinating.Written for a general audience, this book contains mostly social and behavioral science theory and models, but there is considerable discussion of structure and process that has roots in mathematical and quantitative modeling. One of the main applications of this social system is economic choice in investing, selecting and purchasing products and services, systems of taxes, banking (mortgages, borrowing, savings), and retirement systems. Other quantitative social choice systems discussed include environmental effects, health care plans, gambling, and organ donations. Softer issues that are also subject to a nudge-based approach are marriage, education, eating, drinking, smoking, influence, spread of information, and politics. There is something in this book for everyone.The basis for this libertarian paternalism concept is in the social theory called "science of choice", the study of the design and implementation of influence systems on various kinds of people. The terms Econs and Humans, are used to refer to people with either considerable or little rational decision-making talent, respectively. The various libertarian paternalism concepts and systems presented are tested and compared in light of these two types of people. Two foundational issues that this book has in common with another book, Network of Echoes: Imitation, Innovation and Invisible Leaders, that was also reviewed for this issue of the Journal are that 1 ) there are two modes of thinking (or components of the brain) - an automatic (intuitive) process and a reflective (rational) process and 2) the need for conformity and the desire for imitation are powerful forces in human behavior. …

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Opportunities of Sustainable Manufacturing in Industry 4.0

THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization

https://usir.salford.ac.uk/22964/1/Davies_et_al_PSP_overview_App_Acoust_post%2Dreferee.pdf

Perception of soundscapes: An interdisciplinary approach

The development and application of the emotional dimensions of a soundscape

A Framework for Improving Urban Soundscapes

Soundwalking is a practice that was devised by R. Murray Schafer, when he established the World 
Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is an 
empirical method for identifying a soundscape and components of a soundscape in various 
locations. In the EPSRC-funded Positive Soundscapes Project (Davies et al, 2007) we have 
utilized and adapted this concept of soundwalking into a sociological methodology for identifying 
and understanding people’s experiences and perceptions of the acoustic urban environment. Our 
soundwalk is a walk around an urban area where the senses are directed towards the sounds that 
are heard rather than the more commonplace sights that are viewed. We focus on everyday 
practices, as people move around and within the city environment with a view to understanding their 
professional and/or personal impressions of the relationships between the soundscape and the built 
infrastructure. This paper describes the development of the soundwalking methodology and its use 
as a tool to engage professionals who work in the area of urban design and urban development 
(including city planners, developers, and architects). The paper does not report on the findings of 
this project as data collection is currently ongoing but rather reflects on the utility of soundwalking 
as a methodological practice.

/pdf/soundwalking-as-a-methodology-for-understanding-soundscapes-1d4doo8i45.pdf

Soundwalking as a methodology for understanding soundscapes

There can be a tendency, even within companies who practice concurrent engineering, to limit customer involvement to the initial and final stages of the new product development process only. This invites the possibility that the customers' opinions will be lost or at least diluted during the intermediate stages of the process. A joint research project involving Loughborough University and the Central University of Technology, Free State has provided evidence, through several case studies, that physical models created via rapid prototyping enable the customer to be involved throughout the development process. The benefits associated with using physical models are discussed, showing that these models have a unique role to play in promoting customer involvement. The authors propose the method termed Customer Interaction with Functional Prototypes, which has been implemented during several new product development projects carried out in both academic and industrial environments. At present, the Customer Inter...

Rebecca Cain

Papers

Perception of soundscapes: An interdisciplinary approach

The development and application of the emotional dimensions of a soundscape

A Framework for Improving Urban Soundscapes

Soundwalking as a methodology for understanding soundscapes

Design evolution through customer interaction with functional prototypes