The Human Show
Innovation through Social Sciencesubscribe
Have you ever wondered whether technology and/or the people that engage and/or work with it are “evil”? Or pondered how social scientists study human behaviour and how they can – through their applied work – enhance design and/or innovation?
In the following podcasts we ask social scientists and practitioners from all over the world to consider the same question:
“What is the nature of people’s relationship to communicative and interactive technology? What is the role ethics, power, agency and trust play in the making and performance of that relationship?”
Through industry perspective pieces, we also explore the businesses that influence that relationship through product design and/or innovation and consider the role social science plays in supporting their work.
Amy Sheppard, Xero: What is an insight, how to build great design teams & what she looks for in a researcher role – The Human Show Podcast 9
Amy Sheppard has an extensive experience in the design space, having been in leadership positions in design across companies such as Deloitte Digital, Australia Post and Johnson & Johnson. She is currently the Head of Design for Xero (beautiful accounting...
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Susanna Helen Trnka: The many ways in which people make medical technologies work for them; how to approach building multifaceted medical apps; what’s next for a student of anthropology – The Human Show Podcast 8
Susanna Helena Trnka holds a PhD from Princeton University in social anthropology and has studied the body, citizenship and subjectivity. Her specific interests include (amongst others) illness experience; new medical technologies and patient-doctor...
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Nimmi Rangaswamy: Stories from India on mobile internet & Facebook use of slum youth; technology as a force for good; the access & (corporate) ethics of technology – The Human Show Podcast 7
Nimmi Rangaswamy has an extensive experience in the technology space that spans both academia and the business sector. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems, Indian Institute of Information Technology, IIIT, ...
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Kevin Lee: Working with insight across organisational silos and on being human inside a company role – The Human Show 6
Kevin Lee is a design executive with an extensive experience in Design & Brand Strategy, UX, Product Design and Co-Creation and an MsC in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon. He has held global design positions with top 500 global brands (such as...
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Crystal Abidin: Influencers, Youth Online and the Intersections of Social Media and Traditional Media – The Human Show Podcast 5
Crystal Abidin has a PhD in Anthropology & Sociology, and Media & Communications and done extensive research into the practices of internet celebrity. She studies the online practices of youth on various social media platforms and also examines the practices of...
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Shikha Desai, Microsoft: Learning about Product Design, AI and working with social scientists – The Human Show Podcast 4
Perspective Industry Piece Shikha Desai is a Principal Designer for intelligent experiences across Office apps for Microsoft Seattle HQ, with an extensive experience of understanding both user and business needs. She leads design teams within Microsoft to think...
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Nick Seaver: Understanding Taste, Algorithms and Context in Music Recommender Systems – The Human Show Podcast 3
Nick Seaver is a cultural anthropologist who works as an assistant professor at Tufts University where he also teaches in the Science, Technology, and Society program. He is a co-chair of the American Anthropological Association’s Committee for the Anthropology...
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Sam Ladner: On the emotional bonds we build with Software, Hardware and each other – The Human Show Podcast 2
Sam Ladner holds a PhD in sociology and has studied work, technology, and organisations in both academic and applied settings. She worked as a Senior UX Researcher both for Microsoft and Amazon, wrote extensively about applying ethnographic research methods in the...
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Danya Glabau: From patients to users and the fears and hopes of managing ones health – The Human Show Podcast 1
Danya Glabau is a medical anthropologist and the founder of Implosion Labs, an ethnography-driven research and consulting group focused on health and technology. She teaches as an Adjunct Instructor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and a Core Faculty...
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