Guest Speaker: Zoe Olivia John

Tomorrow, 17 May 2012, Thursday, Lecture Theatre A, 10am

We’re very pleased to have Zoe Olivia John, co-founder of Brighton-based sustainable design research studio, Engage by Design, is going to talk to students about responsible design from a business and management point of view. When she is not teaching part-time at WSA, Zoe works with brands to integrate sustainability into their practice and also heads up The Designers Accord. All welcome!

WSA Guest Speaker: Alex Galloway on the Cybernetic Hypothesis

Photo: Leslie van Stelten via The Village Voice

Tuesday 15th May @ 4pm in seminar rooms 8-9 Graphics Building, WSA

In an essay from 2001, the French collective Tiqqun speaks of what they call the cybernetic hypothesis: “[A]t the end of the twentieth century the image of steering, that is to say management, has become the primary metaphor to describe not only politics but all of human activity as well.” The cybernetic hypothesis is a vast experiment beginning in the overdeveloped nations after World War II and eventually spreading to swallow the planet in an impervious logic of administration and interconnectivity. What are the origins of the cybernetic hypothesis, and what are its futures?

This workshop offers a media archeology of cybernetics through an exploration of nineteenth-century chronophotography, the history of the pixel, developments in computer modeling, bit arrays and grid systems, and that most enigmatic cybernetic device, the black box. Instead of contributing to the many heroic histories of cybernetics that already populate the cultural imagination, this workshop aims to uncover an alternative history of digital systems via an examination of the aesthetics and politics of control.

Alexander R. Galloway (NYU) is a writer and computer programmer working on issues in philosophy, technology, and theories of mediation. He is author or co-author of three books on media and cultural theory, and his new book, The Interface Effect, will be published this fall by Polity.

The talk will be chaired by Dr Jussi Parikka, Senior Fellow at the Winchester Centre for Global Futures in Art, Design & Media

This talk will be of special interest to students or staff with interests in visual culture, new media, IT, and cyberculture.

WSA Guest Speaker: Victor Burgin

no title, From Fiction Film, 1991 (src:tate.org.uk)

Super duper exciting guest speaker at WSA this Friday, 3pm, Lecture Theatre A!

read more about it here.

James Armstrong: People don’t always mean what they say!

This afternoon we had James Armstrong, Market Intelligence Manager for Philips Consumer Lifestyle, sharing with our students practical tips on how to do market research - it was a really helpful insight into the fuzzy craft of figuring out what people want, which is very different, as James warns, from what they say. When asked why did you buy an iPhone, for instance, most respondents will list attributes they think demonstrate the wisdom of their purchase - “it’s got great functions, it’s fast, it’s reliable” (stated importance) - rather than admit that they bought the iPhone because they think it’s super cool or because their mates have one (derived importance). In market research industry they call this sort of behavior post-rationalisation.

What I found most interesting about the lecture is that it does throw commonly-held beliefs about certain markets out the window - for example, many pundits claim the Chinese market is pragmatic, i.e. it is mainly led by pricing - this is patently untrue; how would you explain the luxury goods boom in China then? A poorly designed piece of research will produce findings to confirm pricing as the number 1 attribute for a product when really, customers often make purchase decisions based on irrational attributes.

Our students are going to be pre-testing their advertising ideas via focus groups or, as James tells us, upstream, concept validation research, in the next couple of weeks and it will be interesting to see how skilled they are in teasing out derived importance rather than post-rationalized responses from their participants. As James said, remember Rudyard Kipling’s poem!

Guest Speaker: James Armstrong

“practical market research tools to discover what customers really want”

On the very first day of semester two, I am pleased to announce we have a guest speaker, James Armstrong. He is the Professional Market Intelligence Manager at Philips, and former Associate Director of Client research at top global marketing research firm, Taylor Nelson Sofres, is going to tell us about market research in practice.

Based in Amsterdam, James has been doing research from the client side for a number of years. In this session, he will be sharing his experiences and perspectives about market research, addressing particularly its pitfall in the attitude-behavior gap: that people don’t do what they say they will do!

This is particularly pertinent to the practice of communications research since advertisers are always desperate to find out what consumers think and what they will do in future. In practice, marketing research is a subtle “crystal-ball” art that follows no hard and fast rules and requires, believe it or not, as much creativity and quick thinking as it does rigor. Client market research has always had a bad rep among advertising agencies - James is going to offer a voice from the other side of the fence. Should be interesting!

IPA Advertising School 2012 – work placement presentation!

Hey you’all, there’s a promising sounding presentation going on by the IPA, happening at Uni of Southampton highfield campus. Check it out:

WORK IN AN ADVERTISING AGENCY OVER THE SUMMER. What?! You’ve never thought about working in advertising? Even better!

The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Ad School offers students a chance to apply for an 8 week expenses paid placement working in one of London’s top advertising and marketing agencies in July- Aug 2012.


Come and meet the guys from top UK agencies involved, on Friday January 20th 2012 at 11:00 in room 1039, building 2. It is your chance to get more information about how to apply and introduce yourself to the team behind the scheme.

No specific qualifications required – except for the ability to generate great ideas!


Book to attend via the Career Destinations Events Calendar

N.B.  Building 2 is located near the main bus stop on campus - the Highfield Interchange.  Please contact Career Destinations on 023 8059 6900 if you need any help with directions.

Guest Speakers: Rob Peart & Alex Moshakis

This afternoon, Rob Peart - Art Director at New Studio London and Alex Moshakis - Editor of It’s Nice That came to WSA to share their thoughts on the creative industry with our MA students. WHEE!

Links to Paul Caplan’s talk at WSA!

For those who missed Caplan’s wonderful session - please click on the image to take you to his blog post about the talk and links to his slide and listen to the full audio! [Thanks Paul!]