Complex Adaptive Consumption Systems (CACS)

Anthropological take on CACS

It appears that McCracken is turning his anthropolgical eye to CACSs as an approach for understanding trends. Grant adopts the positivist optimism that trends can be predicted. I wonder: If trends reflect emergent adaptive systems, is prediction possible?

Media Fragmentation as Adaptive System

I got to thinking about this and began to wonder if media/market fragmentation might be viewed as a CAS ...

ACR 2005: CACS out of the Closet?

Fingers are crossed: Susan & I pitched a proposal to sponsor a roundtable discussion titled "Exploring the Co-Evolution of Possession Constellations, Self, and Identity.”

Purposes of the roundtable are to:

Assemble scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum that have investigated issues related to the intersection of possession constellations, self, and identity.
To Identify:

Gaps in current knowledge (persisting mysteries, blind spots) about how possession constellations, self, and identity co-evolve;
Speed bumps or barriers to progress in this area (speed bumps, barriers):

Theoretical?
Methodological?
Substantive?

Opportunities (doors ajar, windows open) for potential new directions for research in this area:

Research questions that haven't been explored or deserve further exploration;
Methodologies. To apply under-utilized methodologies that are distinctly appropriate for understanding consumption systems dynamics.
Contexts that seem especially prime for revealing the co-evolutionary aspects of consumption and self.

Consumer benefits?

Are there opportunities to advance inquiry in this area in a way that benefits consumers (to tie into the conference theme ... that I don't really get--but that's another issue).

Response to this idea has been gratifying. An exciting collection of scholars have expressed an interesst in participating. Here's the roll-call as it now stands (recognizing that I'm still waiting to hear from a number of folks):

Eric Arnould, University of Nebraska
Stacy Baker, University of Wyoming
Dwayne Ball, University of Nebraska
Terry Bristol, Arizona State University-West
Carolyn Curasi, Georgia State University
Jim Gentry, University of Nebraska
Kent Grayson, Northwestern University
Susan Kleine, Bowling Green State University
John Lastovicka, Arizona State University
James McAlexander, Oregon State University
Radan Martinec, London School of Communication
Americus Reed, University of Pennsylvania
Marsha Richins, University of Missouri
Shay Sayre, California State: Fullerton
Mike Solomon, Auburn University
John Schouten, Portland State University
Darach Turley, Dublin City University
There's room for more to gather 'round the table. Who's next?

So, we'll see how the ACR program committee rules on our proposal. What I find most exciting is that this topic appears to afford a lens that brings focus to the commonality among several seemingly dispirate research programs. If so, the resulting discussion should be electrifying. We'll see.

Long Tail

Hmm ... are long tail circumstances necessary for a CACS?

Devolab

MSU's Devolab has some interesting projects underway.

A Nice Intro to CAS, Chaos, and Jazz

Rendered as only Morris Holbrook can, Adventures in Complexity: An Essay on Dynamic Open Complex Adaptive Systems, Butterfly Effects, Self-Organizing Order, Coevolution, the Ecological Perspective, Fitness Landscapes, Market Spaces, Emergent Beauty at the Edge of Chaos, and All That Jazz provides a nice primer on key literature of which you should be aware. This article is also available in PDF Format.

Evolutionary Dynamics: Essential for understanding consumption systems?

Consumption systems are dynamic and emergent. One might say consumption systems evolve and adapt, evolving toward a maximally fit state appropriate for an individual's identity cultivation process. The papers Crutchfield and Schuster have collected in Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Interplay of Selection, Accident, Neutrality, and Function seem to offer considerable value for understanding how CACS's evolve.

Modeling Extinction: A paradigm for product failure?

It is estimated that more than 90% of products introduced to the market place fail. Employing an ecological metaphor, more than 90% of products introduced to the marketplace become extinct. Newman and Palmer's book Modeling Extinction looks to offer an intriguing angle on product failure.