Ecology as if people (and power) mattered

Designing as if trust mattered

Historically, builders of CSCW tools have not focused on the creation of trust among users as a critical design goal. Yet, high levels of trust produce a number of benefits, including reduced coordination and communication costs. These benefits are particularly salient and desirable for geographically distributed workers. Therefore, to the extent that support for geographically distributed work...

Recasting Economics As If the Climate and Global Ecology Really Mattered

The current paradigm of global economics with exponential and continuous economic growth is unsustainable as far as Earth system ecology is concerned. To support the Earth system and boost sustainable development, a functional and operational linkage between global ecology and economics should be established – which we term ‘carbonomics’. The simple basis of ‘carbonomics’ is that the more fossi...

Health care as if health mattered.

THERE IS CONSENSUS ABOUT THE NEED FOR FUNDAMENtal change in the US health care system and there has beenattentiontotheimportantproblemsofinadequate access and increasing costs. But the most serious shortcoming—that the nation’s health system is not designed to maximize health—has been overshadowed. Individuals in theUnitedStatesreceiveonlyabouthalftherecommendedmedical services. Only 43% of ind...

Capitalism beyond harmonious equilibrium: mathematics as if human agency mattered

Narrating a world of flux entails moving away from equilibrium-oriented thinking toward considerations of emergence, uncertain futures, and unintended consequences. This is not the exclusive domain of the qualitative theory construction and analysis that has dominated such thinking in sociospatial theory: it is also involved in mathematical theory construction. It requires a relational approach...

Studying Oil, Islam, and Women as if Political Institutions Mattered