User-generated content v. professional content on the web

A few recent articles discuss the swings between user-generated content and professional content on the web and emerging hybrid forms as well...

In "Revenge of the Experts" from Newsweek.com (March 6, 2008):

• Google is testing "Knol", a Wikipedia-like site (with ads) that uses 'authoritative' authors.
• BigThink.com is the "YouTube for ideas" backed by former Harvard president Larry Summers (see previous post, Jan 7 2008).

In "The Experts vs. the Amateurs: A Tug of War Over the Future of Media" from the Knowledge@Wharton newsletter (March 19, 2008), experts at Wharton express different views on where the pendulum sits in the swing between user-generated and professional content on the web.

This merging of media forms has implications for research, education, business...

Personal lives of professors...

The personal lives of professors are increasingly made public on Web sites, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and even campus television. “Professors Strike Back” has become a popular series on mtvU, broadcast to over 7.5 million college students, in which professors respond to criticism from students posted on RateMyProfessors.com. This article in today's NY Times, "The Professor as Open Book", looks at a variety of reactions to the trend from university professors.

Behavioral economics, chimps and raisins...

"In the Game of Business, Playing Fair Can Actually Lead to Greater Profits"

This business ethics article from a recent Knowledge@Wharton newsletter discusses research in the area of "behavioral economics" that supports the notion that playing fair may actually be more profitable than greedy behavior.

For example, the "ultimatum game" involves an experiment in which one player is given a sum of money to divide in any way with another player. Under most circumstances, the player does not divide the sum 99%/1% -- in part reflecting a desire for fairness. Behaving 'unfairly' usually makes us feel bad about ourselves. A similar experiment with chimpanzees and raisins found that chimps behave in a more "economically rational" manner. They were willing to accept any division of raisins, as long as they got at least one....

This may provide some ideas for further or related research in the areas of behavioral economics, consumer behavior, organizational behavior....

Management - keeping up....

Many U.S. business schools offer management newsletters, online magazines, working papers, business interviews, and other quality information freely over the web. Some require free registration to access the site and/or receive newsletters by email. These can be great for keeping up with what's going on in the academic world of business research. I've posted from some of these in the past but here's a list of a few to try:

"Capital Ideas". An online magazine from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Also links to working papers.
http://chicagogsb.edu/capideas

"Columbia Ideas at Work". From the Columbia Business School - an online magazine; research briefs; and a research archive with faculty publications.
www0.gsb.columbia.edu/ideasatwork/

"Harvard Business School Working Knowledge". Focused on the research and publications of Harvard faculty.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/

"Knowledge@Wharton". Covers a broad spectrum of resources, including business trends, interviews with business leaders, research from Wharton faculty and more. Free registration to receive email delivery of newsletter.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

"Knowledge@Emory". A collaborative effort between the Goizueta Business School at Emory and the Wharton School. Free registration enables access to full text of articles.
www.knowledge.emory.edu

"Universia Knowledge@Wharton". A joint project of the Wharton School and Universia, an organization over 600 Ibero-American universities, this site is available in English, Portugese, and Spanish.
http://wharton.universia.net/

"Stanfordknowledgebase". From Stanford Graduate School of Business - news, research papers, case studies, interviews, podcasts and more from Stanford faculty and outside. Monthly email newsletter requires free registration.
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/knowledgebase.html

Marketing: Chinese v. U.S. consumers - pricing strategies

"A Great Bargain or a Big Rip-off? Consumers' Perceptions of Price Fairness in the U.S. and China"

This article from the Knowledge@Wharton newsletter highlights a recent study of U.S. and Chinese consumers. The researchers asked undergraduate students in the U.S. and China to rate their sense of price fairness in several variations of a specific scenario. Variations included different products, locations, and time of purchase, as well as new versus returning or loyal customers. The researchers looked at the similarities and differences in U.S. and Chinese consumers' perceptions of price fairness; some possible cultural interpretations of these differences; and the implications for pricing strategies in China.

... these findings suggest that Americans may be less accepting of dynamic pricing at this point because "fair is fair" as they see it. "In China, there may be more room to maneuver" in setting different pricing levels, she said, because consumers tend to view pricing fairness in terms of how they fared in comparison to "in-group members," or friends versus strangers.....

"Marketers have paid increasing attention to the potential of dynamic pricing -- or individual-level price discrimination -- as technology and the Internet increase its prevalence," the researchers conclude. But they say their findings suggest that at least for now, "fairness concerns may limit consumer acceptance of such pricing practices and may do so differentially across cultures.....

fake bag, fake student, fake class?

Last year, students in the "Strategic Public Relations" course at Hunter College in NYC, organized a "Break the Chain of Counterfeiting" public event. Sponsored by the IACC-International Anti Counterfeit Coalition and COACH, the event and course were centered around a student "Heidi Cee", who is ultimately revealed as fictitious, and the search for her missing COACH handbag, which turns out to be a fake. The purported goal was to educate students about the dangers of counterfeiting. The blog from the course includes a link to the youTube video.

PRWatch.org from the Center for Media and Democracy covered some of the recent discussion about the course..... potential conflict of interests and a variety of ethical concerns and issues...

Shareholder resolutions on toxic chemicals - mutual funds voting records

GreenBuzz, the online newsletter of GreenBiz.com, reported on a new study of the voting records of mutual funds on shareholder resolutions targeting toxic chemical use (including toxic toys and pet food from China, etc.). Co-authored by the Investor Environmental Health Network and the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, "the report examines proxy voting records of 64 major families of mutual funds on15 toxics-related shareholder resolutions. Most funds routinely vote against these resolutions, though there are some prominent exceptions."....

Code of Ethics for Study Abroad...

The Forum on Education Abroad recently released a Code of Ethics for Education Abroad. Follow the link on this page to download a copy of the 17-page report in PDF format.

The report is released at a time when the ethics of study abroad programs at U.S. universities has received some negative attention. (See, for example, the January 21, 2008 NY Times article reporting on an ongoing investigation by the NY attorney general's office; also an earlier August 13, 2007 article.)

The Forum on Education Abroad was created in 2001 to meet the needs of the education abroad profession and it is currently housed on the campus of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The Code of Ethics "will become part of the Forum’s Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad, which forms the basis for the Forum’s Quality Improvement Program (QUIP)."

The Forum also sponsors an annual conference, presents undergraduate research awards, and produces a variety of publications.