The Human Zoo

1
The Human Zoo?

• An irreverent look at researcher personalities

2
What am I doing here?

• Insider-outsider
• Not (officially) an Information Professional
• Though FreshMinds has an involvement
• Working with a range of researcher types
• More of a Market Researcher
• Same questions being asked
• Is there a common problem?
• What can we do about it?
• Diagnose the problem
• Suggest solutions
• Lay down the gauntlet
• By exploring researcher types (personalities)

3
If MR is anything to go by, we should worry
INTERNAL FACTORS
EXTERNAL FACTORS
External perception (nerd-factor)
science creativity tension
self-esteem anxiety issues
Encroachment by consultancies
Outsourcing / Offshoring
Technology commodification
technique application tension
vocational inertia?
Client demands
4
If we continue navel-gazing
If a plumber came around to mend your toilet and
started telling you about his spanner youd
say shut up you boring bastard. But music
people think its alright to talk about guitars
and computers. Thats nothing to do with music as
far as I can see. Jarvis Cocker, NME, 8th April
2006, p11.
People dont want quarter-inch drills, they want
quarter-inch holes. Ted Levitt, Harvard
Business School
5
and cannot deal with status issues
6
then subservience beckons!
Master
Slave?
7
unless we address the animal within
Master
Slave?
8
Two animal traditions

• 1. The human animal
• 2. The animal human

Darwin
Pavlov
Skinner
9
Segmentation aids recall
10
and provides a common language!
11
From essence to existence
12
Identity cannot be a static essence
The system of signs is constituted solely by the
differences in terms, and not by their plenitude.
The elements of signification function due not to
the compact force of their nuclei but rather to
the network of oppositions that distinguishes
them, and then relates them to one another.
By turning around this impossible thing, and
which no doubt I also resist, the "I" constitutes
the very form of resistance. Each time this
identity announces itself, each time a belonging
circumscribes me, if I may put it this way,
someone or something cries Look out for the
trap, you're caught. Take off, get free,
disengage yourself
Jacques Derrida
13
Identity cannot be a static essence
The system of signs is constituted solely by the
differences in terms, and not by their plenitude.
The elements of signification function due not to
the compact force of their nuclei but rather to
the network of oppositions that distinguishes
them, and then relates them to one another.
The system of signs is constituted solely by the
differences in terms, and not by their plenitude.
The elements of signification function due not to
the compact force of their nuclei but rather to
the network of oppositions that distinguishes
them, and then relates them to one another.
1. Context defines our behaviour
By turning around this impossible thing, and
which no doubt I also resist, the "I" constitutes
the very form of resistance. Each time this
identity announces itself, each time a belonging
circumscribes me, if I may put it this way,
someone or something cries Look out for the
trap, you're caught. Take off, get free,
disengage yourself
By turning around this impossible thing, and
which no doubt I also resist, the "I" constitutes
the very form of resistance. Each time this
identity announces itself, each time a belonging
circumscribes me, if I may put it this way,
someone or something cries Look out for the
trap, you're caught. Take off, get free,
disengage yourself
2. Identity is fluid
14
Identity is a project
"To be is to do Socrates
"To do is to be Jean-Paul Sartre.
"Do be do be do Frank Sinatra.
Kurt Vonnegut
15
Research Personality Models
OrthodoxMode
METHOD
Search Mode
Tactical issues separately
Strategic issues holistically
APPLICATION
16
Research Personality Models
OrthodoxMode
The British Crime Survey
A diagnostic evaluation of why the Nicole and
Papacommercials worked so well
METHOD
Should Unilever sell Birds Eye and Walls and
buy some lesser-known brands in China?
Synthesis of all data held on patients to give a
health of the nation summary
Search Mode
Tactical issues separately
Strategic issues holistically
APPLICATION
17
Research Personality Models
OrthodoxMode
Structured, detail-focused approach
Holistic, considered approach
METHOD
Discrete, creative approach
Wide-ranging, toggling approach
Search Mode
Tactical issues separately
Strategic issues holistically
APPLICATION
18
Research Personality Models
OrthodoxMode
Holistic, considered approach
Structured, detail-focused approach
METHOD
Wide-ranging, toggling approach
Discrete, creative approach
Search Mode
Tactical issues separately
Strategic issues holistically
APPLICATION
19
Research Personality Models
OrthodoxMode
METHOD
Search Mode
Tactical issues separately
Strategic issues holistically
APPLICATION
20
Can we teach an old dog new wings, horns?
21
We need to adapt to survive
Be more confident in our presentation abilities
Widen our consultancy toolkit
Continue to develop crafts and techniques
Be able to toggle between modes more effectively
22
Prepared by Nick Coates

• May 2006