'shopping' website - followthethings.com is an open access research output designed to resemble an online store. It is the result of a collaborative online scholar-activist project whose principal investigator, designer and co-ordinator is Ian Cook

Cook et al, I

followthethings.com is an open access research output designed to resemble an online store. It is the result of a collaborative online scholar-activist project whose principal investigator, designer and co-ordinator is Ian Cook. Begun in August 2008 and opened in October 2011, it defines, curates and publishes research on the 'follow the thing' genre of scholar-activist work created by academics, filmmakers, artists, journalists, NGOs, activists and others. To date, the site has published research on 57 examples of this work (plus 18 original examples of scholar-activist work, and 5 republished newspaper articles). Each of its example pages is - in terms of word length, research quality and referencing - equivalent to an academic research article or book chapter. Its pages are ‘crowd-researched’ by undergraduate students and interns at Exeter and Brown Universities, but each one is ‘edited’ by Ian Cook - i.e. re-researched, re-organised and re-formatted, often considerably - to bring it up to publication standard.'shopping' website - followthethings.com is an open access research output designed to resemble an online store. It is the result of a collaborative online scholar-activist project whose principal investigator, designer and co-ordinator is Ian Cook

Open Research Exeter

followthethings.com	  	  Ian	  Cook	  	  Department	  of	  Geography,	  University	  of	  Exeter,	  Exeter	  EX44RJ,	  UK	  	  Abstract	  Who	  makes	  the	  things	  that	  we	  buy?	  Few	  of	  us	  know.	  They	  seem	  untouched	  by	  human	  hands.	  Occasionally	  there's	  a	  news	  story,	  a	  documentary	  film,	  or	  an	  artwork	  showing	  the	  hidden	  ingredients	  in	  our	  coffee,	  t-­‐shirts,	  or	  iPads.	  They	  often	  'expose'	  unpleasant	  working	  conditions	  to	  encourage	  more	  'ethical'	  consumer	  or	  corporate	  behaviour.	  followthethings.com	  is	  this	  work's	  'online	  store'.	  Here	  you	  can	  find	  out	  who	  has	  followed	  what,	  why	  and	  how;	  the	  techniques	  used	  to	  'grab'	  its	  audiences;	  the	  discussions	  and	  impacts	  that	  this	  has	  provoked;	  and	  how	  to	  follow	  things	  yourself.	  	  Home	  page	  screenshot	  (23	  July	  2016)	  	  	  	  Date	  of	  first	  publication:	  October	  2011	  	  URL:	  http://www.followthethings.com	  	  Bibliography	  	  Cook	  et	  al,	  I.	  (2014)	  Organic	  Public	  Geographies	  and	  REF	  Impact.	  Acme:	  an	  international	  e-­‐journal	  for	  critical	  geographies	  13(1),	  47-­‐51	  [in	  English]	  Cook	  et	  al,	  I.	  (2014)	  Fabrication	  critique	  et	  web	  2.0:	  les	  géographies	  matérielles	  de	  followthethings.com.	  Géographie	  et	  Cultures,	  91-­‐92,	  23-­‐48	  	  [inFrench	  |	  in	  English]	  Cook	  et	  al,	  I.	  (2016)	  Les	  géographies	  du	  numérique:	  on	  en	  veut	  encore!	  |	  More	  digital	  geographies,	  please.	  Justice	  Spatiale	  |	  Spatial	  Justice	  10	  [in	  French	  and	  English]	  Cook	  et	  al,	  I.	  (2016	  forthcoming)	  followthethings.com:	  analysing	  relations	  between	  the	  making,	  reception	  and	  impact	  of	  commodity	  activism	  in	  a	  transmedia	  world.	  in	  Söderström,	  O	  &	  Kloetzer,	  L.	  (eds)	  How	  social	  science	  shapes	  society.	  Université	  de	  Neuchâtel.	  	  

followthethings.com

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Open Research Exeter