As we witness a radical increase in the volume and variety of digital data, it should not come as... more As we witness a radical increase in the volume and variety of digital data, it should not come as a surprise that social sciences have become increasingly ‘datafied’. The traditional social sciences, such as sociology or anthropology, are thus under the threat of becoming marginalized or even irrelevant because of the prevalence of the new methods of research, which require more computational skills. This chapter describes a way for researchers to enter this new domain and keep their advantage of mastering qualitative research relevant: a new, mixed-method of Thick Big Data, relying on a combination of quantitative approaches (data scraping, Social Network Analysis, culturomics, sentiment analysis) with qualitative ones (digital ethnography, narrative analysis, cultural studies). The chapter outlines how these approaches may blend, and offers some practical advice for a researcher without coding skills on how to take the first steps in online research, through examples focused on Wikipedia.
Achieving climate-neutrality by mid-century and its intermediary reduction targets for 2030, nota... more Achieving climate-neutrality by mid-century and its intermediary reduction targets for 2030, notably the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 55% by 2030, requires an accelerated transformation of our systems of production and consumption. In essence, such transformations are socio-technical change processes that require a combination of technological and social innovation. While it is widely acknowledged that ambitious climate and energy policies are needed to accelerate such transition processes, research and practise have largely focused on their importance for spurring technological innovation. In this research perspective, we argue that energy and climate policy making should pay more attention to social innovation as much needed additional puzzle piece for successful decarbonisation. Such social innovation is diverse, ranging from renewable energy cooperatives, to participatory incubation and experimentation, and crowdfunding as well as local electricity exchange. Based ...
The article draws attention to the multidirectional impact of the widespread Internet communicati... more The article draws attention to the multidirectional impact of the widespread Internet communication on public involvement in risk governance processes. The prevalence of Internet communication chan...
The outcome of the Erasmus+ project Responsible Research and Innovation Learning are learning mod... more The outcome of the Erasmus+ project Responsible Research and Innovation Learning are learning modules to anchor the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This required to develop a coherent concept of what sustainability and sustainable development is and which is the linkage to RRI. This discussion paper is not a result of an empirical research, but a revision of selected works consulted as policy documents, technical reports, articles and books on sustainability, sustainable development, social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental and ecological economics. The purpose of this paper was not to provide new evidences, but to clarify basic concepts for the development of a learning programme. Despite the critics, we advocate for the three-pillar model of sustainable development. We take for grounded the validity of ecological sustainability as the main goal to mitigate the Anthropocene Crisis. We focus on the pillars of social and economic sustainability, underpinning that the social pillar, despite the recent efforts, is the less developed. In the area of economic sustainability, there is an important debate which concerns not only sustainability but also basic assumption of conventional economic approaches. In the background stands the question if the focus lies on economy as an integrated part of the system earth or as a system by its own. In the first case, the question is how economic activities contribute to maintain the earth as an ecosystem in which humanity can live. In the second case, the question is how to maintain economy as a value generation system considering the scarcity of natural resources in the frame of sustainable development. In both fields, social and economic sustainability, we observe a distinction between weak and strong sustainability, as two extremes of the societal implications of sustainability policies. The weak social sustainability approach support strategies without substantial change in society as a social system and the lowest political intervention as possible. The strong social sustainability approach assumed that ‘real’ sustainability strategies to contribute to solve the Anthropocene crisis will imply a fundamental transformation of society. Our starting point was that sustainability must be the reference point of RRI due to the Anthropocene crisis. In the conclusion, we argue that RRI should be an integrated part of sustainability as goals reinforcing the social pillar, but also as means to promote a high participation of society in the transformation to a sustainable world, to achieve a high degree of fairness of the transformation and to provide a sustainable ethical framework for science-based social and technological innovations.publishedVersio
Qualitative Methodologies in Organization Studies, 2017
Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative... more Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative researchers, we can identify questions which one must always, or virtually always, answer when formulating the problem and designing research. Steinar Kvale (Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: SAGE, 1996) notes that at this stage the project may at times require a kind of an explorative interview with a researcher, which will help us better understand why, how, and what we want to do. Following this line of reasoning, we will suggest certain outlines for an interview we can carry out with ourselves at this stage of research design. We will try to identify the most important questions to ask ourselves while designing the study, as well as a few suggestions as to where the search for answers to these questions can begin. This is perhaps the most accurate type of a universal guide to qualitative research design that can be offered. In this chapter we present the subsequent stages of the research design journey, starting from a vaguely defined area of interest, and ending with a detailed research project proposal. Let us first discuss the questions we face when formulating the research problem—those helping us to reflexively approach the research. We will then describe issues that need to be resolved when matching to the problem research methods which help us to be consistent. In the last part of the chapter we will discuss the decisions which need to be taken when planning the details of research project implementation.
In the paper, we propose a new focus in qualitative organization studies, which we call organizat... more In the paper, we propose a new focus in qualitative organization studies, which we call organizational anecdotal evidence. The novelty of our method is in linking storytelling, studies of organizational anecdotes, and humor studies. We claim that organizational anecdotes, jokes, and short fictional stories should become a core object of organizational culture analysis, rather than be refuted as unimportant. This is so because the study of organizational anecdotes and fictional stories shared by the social actors is more meaningful and gives more insight into their culture than establishing mere facts. In the article, we briefly relate the limitations of factual studies in many areas of organizational research, describe the theoretical background of our method (coming from humor studies, storytelling, and organizational anecdotes analysis), and propose their combination as a new approach for organization scholars, namely, organizational anecdotal evidence research. The utility of the...
As we witness a radical increase in the volume and variety of digital data, it should not come as... more As we witness a radical increase in the volume and variety of digital data, it should not come as a surprise that social sciences have become increasingly ‘datafied’. The traditional social sciences, such as sociology or anthropology, are thus under the threat of becoming marginalized or even irrelevant because of the prevalence of the new methods of research, which require more computational skills. This chapter describes a way for researchers to enter this new domain and keep their advantage of mastering qualitative research relevant: a new, mixed-method of Thick Big Data, relying on a combination of quantitative approaches (data scraping, Social Network Analysis, culturomics, sentiment analysis) with qualitative ones (digital ethnography, narrative analysis, cultural studies). The chapter outlines how these approaches may blend, and offers some practical advice for a researcher without coding skills on how to take the first steps in online research, through examples focused on Wikipedia.
Achieving climate-neutrality by mid-century and its intermediary reduction targets for 2030, nota... more Achieving climate-neutrality by mid-century and its intermediary reduction targets for 2030, notably the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 55% by 2030, requires an accelerated transformation of our systems of production and consumption. In essence, such transformations are socio-technical change processes that require a combination of technological and social innovation. While it is widely acknowledged that ambitious climate and energy policies are needed to accelerate such transition processes, research and practise have largely focused on their importance for spurring technological innovation. In this research perspective, we argue that energy and climate policy making should pay more attention to social innovation as much needed additional puzzle piece for successful decarbonisation. Such social innovation is diverse, ranging from renewable energy cooperatives, to participatory incubation and experimentation, and crowdfunding as well as local electricity exchange. Based ...
The article draws attention to the multidirectional impact of the widespread Internet communicati... more The article draws attention to the multidirectional impact of the widespread Internet communication on public involvement in risk governance processes. The prevalence of Internet communication chan...
The outcome of the Erasmus+ project Responsible Research and Innovation Learning are learning mod... more The outcome of the Erasmus+ project Responsible Research and Innovation Learning are learning modules to anchor the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This required to develop a coherent concept of what sustainability and sustainable development is and which is the linkage to RRI. This discussion paper is not a result of an empirical research, but a revision of selected works consulted as policy documents, technical reports, articles and books on sustainability, sustainable development, social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental and ecological economics. The purpose of this paper was not to provide new evidences, but to clarify basic concepts for the development of a learning programme. Despite the critics, we advocate for the three-pillar model of sustainable development. We take for grounded the validity of ecological sustainability as the main goal to mitigate the Anthropocene Crisis. We focus on the pillars of social and economic sustainability, underpinning that the social pillar, despite the recent efforts, is the less developed. In the area of economic sustainability, there is an important debate which concerns not only sustainability but also basic assumption of conventional economic approaches. In the background stands the question if the focus lies on economy as an integrated part of the system earth or as a system by its own. In the first case, the question is how economic activities contribute to maintain the earth as an ecosystem in which humanity can live. In the second case, the question is how to maintain economy as a value generation system considering the scarcity of natural resources in the frame of sustainable development. In both fields, social and economic sustainability, we observe a distinction between weak and strong sustainability, as two extremes of the societal implications of sustainability policies. The weak social sustainability approach support strategies without substantial change in society as a social system and the lowest political intervention as possible. The strong social sustainability approach assumed that ‘real’ sustainability strategies to contribute to solve the Anthropocene crisis will imply a fundamental transformation of society. Our starting point was that sustainability must be the reference point of RRI due to the Anthropocene crisis. In the conclusion, we argue that RRI should be an integrated part of sustainability as goals reinforcing the social pillar, but also as means to promote a high participation of society in the transformation to a sustainable world, to achieve a high degree of fairness of the transformation and to provide a sustainable ethical framework for science-based social and technological innovations.publishedVersio
Qualitative Methodologies in Organization Studies, 2017
Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative... more Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative researchers, we can identify questions which one must always, or virtually always, answer when formulating the problem and designing research. Steinar Kvale (Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: SAGE, 1996) notes that at this stage the project may at times require a kind of an explorative interview with a researcher, which will help us better understand why, how, and what we want to do. Following this line of reasoning, we will suggest certain outlines for an interview we can carry out with ourselves at this stage of research design. We will try to identify the most important questions to ask ourselves while designing the study, as well as a few suggestions as to where the search for answers to these questions can begin. This is perhaps the most accurate type of a universal guide to qualitative research design that can be offered. In this chapter we present the subsequent stages of the research design journey, starting from a vaguely defined area of interest, and ending with a detailed research project proposal. Let us first discuss the questions we face when formulating the research problem—those helping us to reflexively approach the research. We will then describe issues that need to be resolved when matching to the problem research methods which help us to be consistent. In the last part of the chapter we will discuss the decisions which need to be taken when planning the details of research project implementation.
In the paper, we propose a new focus in qualitative organization studies, which we call organizat... more In the paper, we propose a new focus in qualitative organization studies, which we call organizational anecdotal evidence. The novelty of our method is in linking storytelling, studies of organizational anecdotes, and humor studies. We claim that organizational anecdotes, jokes, and short fictional stories should become a core object of organizational culture analysis, rather than be refuted as unimportant. This is so because the study of organizational anecdotes and fictional stories shared by the social actors is more meaningful and gives more insight into their culture than establishing mere facts. In the article, we briefly relate the limitations of factual studies in many areas of organizational research, describe the theoretical background of our method (coming from humor studies, storytelling, and organizational anecdotes analysis), and propose their combination as a new approach for organization scholars, namely, organizational anecdotal evidence research. The utility of the...
Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative... more Despite the diversity of legitimate approaches to the theory and methods available to qualitative researchers, we can identify questions which one must always, or virtually always, answer when formulating the problem and designing research. Steinar Kvale (Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: SAGE, 1996) notes that at this stage the project may at times require a kind of an explorative interview with a researcher, which will help us better understand why, how, and what we want to do. Following this line of reasoning, we will suggest certain outlines for an interview we can carry out with ourselves at this stage of research design. We will try to identify the most important questions to ask ourselves while designing the study, as well as a few suggestions as to where the search for answers to these questions can begin. This is perhaps the most accurate type of a universal guide to qualitative research design that can be offered. In this chapter we present the subsequent stages of the research design journey, starting from a vaguely defined area of interest, and ending with a detailed research project proposal. Let us first discuss the questions we face when formulating the research problem—those helping us to reflexively approach the research. We will then describe issues that need to be resolved when matching to the problem research methods which help us to be consistent. In the last part of the chapter we will discuss the decisions which need to be taken when planning the details of research project implementation.
We are excited to hand this guidebook to those looking for new ways of engaging in urban sustaina... more We are excited to hand this guidebook to those looking for new ways of engaging in urban sustainable transitions. Local authorities, citizens and NGOs, local entrepreneurs, and academics interested in new ways of collaborating with their city administrations may find inspiration in this guide. City Lab methods – also known as Living Lab or Urban Labs – offer an opportunity to co-create and test new ways of dealing with urban challenges, to explore cities’ potential, and to support their strategic goals. Based on the rich experience of six City Labs conducted in six different European countries, we demonstrate how this method may be used specifically to develop social innovations for sustainable and just energy transitions.
Co-creating a rich understanding of the diversity, processes, contributions, success and future p... more Co-creating a rich understanding of the diversity, processes, contributions, success and future potentials of social innovation in the energy sector.
Energy is central to the fabric of society. This book revisits the classic notions of energy impa... more Energy is central to the fabric of society. This book revisits the classic notions of energy impacts by examining the social effects of resource extraction and energy projects which are often overlooked. Energy impacts are often reduced to the narrow configurations of greenhouse gas emissions, chemical spills or land use changes. However, this neglects the fact that the way we produce, distribute and consume energy shapes society, political institutions and culture.
The authors trace the impacts of contemporary energy and resource extraction developments and explain their significance for the shaping of powerful social imaginaries and a reconfiguration of political and democratic systems. They analyse not only the complex histories and landscapes of industrial mining and energy development, including oil, coal, wind power, gas (fracking) and electrification, but also their significance for contested energy and social futures. Based on ethnographic and interdisciplinary research from around the world, including case studies from Australia, Germany, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Turkey, UK and USA, they document the effects on local communities and how these are often transformed into citizen engagement, protest and resistance. This sheds new light on the relationship between energy and power, reflecting a wide array of pertinent impacts beyond the usual considerations of economic efficiency and energy security.
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different European countries, we demonstrate how this method may be used specifically to develop social innovations for sustainable and
just energy transitions.
SONNET: SOCIAL INNOVATION IN ENERGY TRANSITIONS
The authors trace the impacts of contemporary energy and resource extraction developments and explain their significance for the shaping of powerful social imaginaries and a reconfiguration of political and democratic systems. They analyse not only the complex histories and landscapes of industrial mining and energy development, including oil, coal, wind power, gas (fracking) and electrification, but also their significance for contested energy and social futures. Based on ethnographic and interdisciplinary research from around the world, including case studies from Australia, Germany, Kenya, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Turkey, UK and USA, they document the effects on local communities and how these are often transformed into citizen engagement, protest and resistance. This sheds new light on the relationship between energy and power, reflecting a wide array of pertinent impacts beyond the usual considerations of economic efficiency and energy security.