This month was super-busy on the work front, with lots and lots of marking (dissertations), teaching, and planning for the next semester. Still, I managed to submit the journal article I was working on at the end of last month, and made good progress on two other projects. So, it was a good month, overall.
These are some of the highlights for November.
Researching
This month was all about digitalisation in SMEs, in particular interviewing managers in micro, small and medium organisations in retail, services, tourism / leisure, manufacturing, and agriculture / fishing.
This is a project with Sarah Quinton and two of the visiting fellows at Oxford Brookes University, and we are collecting data in the UK, Spain, Italy and Malta. Do let me know if you would like to get involved. Your organisation needs to be an SME as defined by the EU, and have a digital external presence (e.g., a website).
Writing
Phew. This has certainly been a busy writing month. I worked on a paper about co-creation in R&D, and reviewed chapters for a book on the Dark Side of CRM due out next year. I also put the final touches on a small bid, and edited the co-creation entry in Wikipedia.
Teaching
I wrapped up teaching on the market insight and consumer behaviour module, and ran a session for a colleague’s class on using Social Media in job search.
Learning
I attended the “Turning Data into Strategy” event, organised by White.net and learned a lot about how marketing practitioners derive insight from our online behaviour, and use it to inform targeted action. Conveniently, the presentations are available here. I also learned about this great little resource about the customer profiles of various products and brands: YouGov Profiles. A big thank you to Dan Bianchini for sharing this great resource!
On a completely different area, I have been learning a lot about the universe and its components. How? Well, the 7 year old and I have been reading, first, George’s Secret Key to the Universe and, now, George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt, at bedtime. These books are authored by Lucy and Stephen Hawking, and are a great mix of fiction and non-fiction, adventure and information. We started reading these books quite randomly, but the timing was quite fortunate as on November 12th, Philae detached from Rosetta, and landed on a comet. It generated really interesting dinner time discussions. What an amazing time to be alive!
What were November’s highlights for you?
Ana Canhoto 
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