A Postcard from the Field: China
While China is ever more in the spotlight and speculation grows around how the pandemic will shift our world order, we are interested in how behaviors and values are evolving and mutating. How have, for example, habits and social interactions changed – and which changes are likely to persist?
Streaming Consciousness: What I learned from reading Virginia Woolf during COVID-19
During COVID-19, many people are searching for meaning in literature set during times of war, disease, and dystopia. Jonny Lowndes shares insights gleaned by reading by Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
To understand what’s next, look to our ‘deep structures’
Be careful not to focus too much on the immediate changes when planning for a post-COVID world. This crisis might lead to deeper, more disruptive shifts in our societal structure — shifts that should be at the core of any business strategy.
Covid-19: Now is the Time to Reinvent the Sales Model in Healthcare
The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to rip the band-aid off dysfunctional healthcare systems.
A Postcard from Copenhagen
As Denmark opens up after COVID-19 restrictions, we are watching out for early signals that show how people may permanently adopt some new social behaviors – and quickly default to other deeply ingrained ways of life.
The Routledge Companion to Anthropology and Business: Contextual Analytics
Building contextually informed algorithms requires collaboration between human science and data science teams who are willing to extend their frame of reference beyond their core skill areas.
Field Guide for a Crisis: Capturing the shifts in social behavior that will shape the next normal
Clients have come to us asking for clues to the ‘next normal,’ and for ReD’s take on the social shifts that are most relevant to business. Like all our projects, we are taking a beginner’s mind in our response. As we embark on an exploratory study of social change, the questions raised in this letter are a sample of our working field guide.
After billions invested, why are payments still so boring?
When it comes to payments, the world of social science has much more to offer than nudges and dopamine-rushes. There are profound and durable human mechanisms to tap into – revealing opportunities for loyalty, relationships, and growth every provider aspires to capture.
The Moonshot Tech Challenge of Our Era is Context
A ReD paper based on work conducted with Facebook Reality Labs offers reflections on why context matters and how to study abstract concepts in everyday life.
Prepping for Working in Quarantine? Think Like an Anthropologist
We have been examining how group behaviors in specific social and physical contexts change with remote working.
Five Mistakes Businesses Are Making About The Smart Home
As businesses scramble to understand the digital revolution of the home, they have misunderstood many of the realities of modern domestic life.
Hybrid Methodology
The not-too-distant future may bring more ubiquitous personal computing technologies seamlessly integrated into people's lives, with the potential to augment reality and support human cognition. For such technology to be truly assistive to people, it must be context-aware.
Journal of Cancer Survivorship: The value of immunotherapy for survivors of stage IV non-small cell lung cancer
In this groundbreaking study of cancer patients treated with immunotherapy for stage IV cancer, ReD has illuminated the particular state of patients who survive longer than their initial prognosis. These patients are able to achieve a state of normalcy, despite having a terminal condition.
CES 2020: Groundhog Day for Getting People Wrong
In our tech practice, we monitor CES each year for provocative and disruptive innovations that might force us to rethink the tech landscape our clients live in.
Phenomena Episode 3: On Collaboration
This podcast explores which problems require interdisciplinary collaboration and how teams with radically different world views can get it right.
Phenomena Episode 2: The Truth Is Out There
This podcast explores “selection bias” by interviewing a conspiracy theory debunker and a conspiracy theorist.
Phenomena Episode 1: What is a Generation, anyway?
How should companies understand cultural signifiers in order to capture the spirit of a generation?
The Future of Privacy
We’ve seen the discourse around privacy work its way from the headlines to the dinner table, and through our fieldwork we’ve listened to everyday families discuss what it means for them.
Waking up the sleeping customer
The key to being a proactive insurance provider is to be present in the many moments when people’s uncertainties are activated.
How analytics matter
Martin Gronemann and Sebastian Barfort look at how to integrate data and analytics into your organization to make a lasting impact.