Book review: “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You” by Sam Gosling

This is a non-fiction book, authored by Professo of Psychology Sam Gosling. It draws on vast research by Gosling and others about how we are connected to the places where we live (e.g., the country or region where we end up settling) and those that we inhabit (our bedrooms, offices, desks…). The book unpacks how … Continue reading Book review: “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You” by Sam Gosling

July 2023 round-up

July was such a fun month! I am sure that that feeling was largely influenced by my 2-weeks’ holiday with the kiddo, which included a haphazard (but heartfelt) celebration of his 16th birthday. Though, that feeling also came from working on a handful of exciting projects, on the other half of the month. https://www.instagram.com/p/CvGRpnlIONP/ On the research … Continue reading July 2023 round-up

[Miscellany] Lack of originality, lack of empathy, and the upside of competition

This is another one of those blog posts where I put together some interesting stories that I have come across, recently. I will go chronologically (i.e., by date in which that blog post was published). Same old, same old One of the worries about generative AI is that it will result in the end of … Continue reading [Miscellany] Lack of originality, lack of empathy, and the upside of competition

From metaverse games to serious customer insight

Enthusiasm for the metaverse as a business asset seems to have cooled down a bit. OK, a lot. At least, judging by Google searches for the term. Nonetheless, if there’s one area where the Metaverse is still promising to deliver business value is in terms of generating customer insight. The combination of technologies such as … Continue reading From metaverse games to serious customer insight

June 2023 round-up

And, just like that, half of 2023 is gone. Woosh. Though, to be fair, I am very glad that the GCSEs are done with. Over. Behind us. Check. This month we also celebrated child 1’s birthday, and child 2’s ice-hockey tournament with England’s U16 team. Very sadly, I also learned that someone I had been … Continue reading June 2023 round-up

New research grant: The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation

I am delighted to share the news that I am part of group that has just secured funding from ESRC’s InterAct initiative. The project is entitled “The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation” and aims to identify the factors that lead consumers to adopt new Everything as a Service (XaaS) models of consumption of … Continue reading New research grant: The role of consumers in driving UK manufacturing’s digital transformation

Rethinking existential risk from AI

In a recent interview on Lex Friedman’s podcast, Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was asked whether he worried about the existential threat presented by the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. He replied: “My own view is that, where we really need to be careful is on the development of autonomy, and how you think about that… … Continue reading Rethinking existential risk from AI

Implications of open vs closed metaverses for users and developers

In the June issue of MISQ Executive, Mary Lacity, Jeffrey K. Mullins and Le Kuai reflect on the evolution of Metaverse. The paper, which takes the form of an interview, is entitled “Evolution of the Metaverse”, and can be found here. Me, as ProfAbobora, on Roblox Since last summer, I have been doing some work about … Continue reading Implications of open vs closed metaverses for users and developers

May 2023 round-up

May was busy. There were several big things happening at the same time, and I constantly felt being pulled between different demands on my time and attention. As much as possible, I tried focusing only on the task at hand, rather than let myself feel overwhelmed about everything that had to be done. This is … Continue reading May 2023 round-up