A Mother’s Experience of Asylum: Conflicting Temporalities, Belonging, and Evolving Care Relations

Palmer

2022

Int. J. Innov.

Objective of the study: We seek to understand two aspects of a business accelerator: first, how an accelerator influences early product development, and second, how an accelerator impacts participants during and after acceleration.Methodology/approach: We conducted an ethnography of a rapid prototyping program in video game development. Methods included 810 hours of participant observation, 58 interviews, and hundreds of analyzed material artifacts.Originality/Relevance: We add insight into the impact and outcomes of an accelerator program across multiple scales: spatial, temporal, and product. Our study is one of the first to examine a formal video game development accelerator.Main Results: Accelerator participants created 42 prototype games, two companies received additional funding, but no games were released within one year of the program. Product scales changed over time from expectations, to prototypes, to final games. The spatial-temporal scale of the accelerator was open to interpretation. Participants and observers held two main spatial-temporal perspectives (present-local and future-global) that changed over a one year time period.Theoretical/methodological contributions: First, we conceptualize an accelerator as a dual competitive place where participants and observers engage in dueling and evolving spatial-temporal perspectives over time. Second, we develop the concept of an accelerated digital product scale to explain the process of evolvement from an accelerator product to a potential final product.Social/Management contributions: We conclude the impact of an accelerator is more complex than the structure or the output. The accelerator may rapidly generate ideas or prototypes, but this does not guarantee a quicker final product release.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The impact of video game prototyping in an accelerator as viewed via spatial, temporal, and product scales

Palmer

2022

Int. J. Innov.

“…The authors lived in Northern Ireland for two years around this time. The second author conducted tangential research related to everyday post-conflict life (see Lubit, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dual institutional work of Lyra's Walk: partisan violence and peace protest in Northern Ireland

Lubit

2023

JOE

Self Cite

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore peace protest as a form of institutional work aimed at supporting one institution and disrupting another.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilized walking ethnography (28 miles in 18 h while conducting 25 walking interviews) and digital media analysis (news reports, social media and electronic communication).FindingsWalking participants engaged in multiple types of institutional work aimed at maintaining the Good Friday Agreement and disrupting partisan violence. The institutional work left no lasting impact on either institution.Originality/valueThe paper conceptualizes two competing institutions and situates the dual institutional work of Lyra's Walk in the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland. The study contributes to understanding formality and multiplicity in institutional work research.

“…Further study is needed to further explain the relationships and processes taking place. Finally, we wonder about the suffering difference in accelerated environments to extremely nonaccelerated situations, such as asylum-seekers stuck waiting years on decisions (Lubit, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suffering, recovery and participant experience in a video game development accelerator

Palmer

Gharib

2022

JOE

PurposeThe authors aimed to explore how involvement in a creative development accelerator impacted participants. In particular, the authors considered the role of suffering in the acceleration process.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an ethnography of a rapid prototyping program in video game development. Data collection included participant observation (162 h before, 186 during and 463 h after the main prototyping), interviews (23 formal and 35 informal) and artifact analysis (presentations, documents, games).FindingsAcceleration led to individual suffering via burnout, lack of sleep, overwork and illness. In turn, participants required varying periods of recovery after participation and diverged in their longer-term reaction to the experience. The authors make two contributions. First, the authors deepen empirical understanding of the embodied impact of participation in an organizational accelerator. Second, the authors develop a theoretical process model of suffering in an accelerator program based on time and initiation.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper focused on a single iteration of a program based out of an incubator in the United Kingdom (UK) Suffering was discovered as part of a larger study of the program.Practical implicationsBusiness and technology accelerators are becoming a popular way to organize work. This research suggests that accelerator structures might lead to unintended and negative participant experiences.Originality/valueThis research challenges the assumption that accelerators always benefit, or at least not hurt, participants. The authors add to the limited attention paid to suffering in organizations. The authors conclude the impact of an accelerator is more complex than usually portrayed.