Serendipity Science: An Emerging Field and its Methods

Description

This volume brings together for the first time the diverse threads within the growing field of serendipity research, to reflect both on the origins of this emerging field within different disciplines as well as its increasing influence as its own field with foundational texts and emerging practices.  The phenomenon of serendipity has been described in many ways since Horace Walpole initially coined the term in 1754 to categorize those discoveries that happen by “both accidents and sagacity”. This book offers a sampling of perspectives from experts in serendipity research from organizational studies, management theory, information science and library studies, psychology, literature, computer science, social science, ethics, and the history and philosophy of science. Considerations about the importance and role of serendipity are being raised now across science (both empirical and theoretical) as well as practice (from art and innovation to leadership and governance), with ever more eyes looking closer at its significance in human history and the likelihood it will play a key, while unpredictable, role in forming our future. Serendipity Science represents an emerging, and also important and potentially necessary field of study, if we are to deal well as a society with our complex times and uncertain future. Foreword Preface Excerpt from a Letter from Horace Walpole to Horace Mann, 28 January 1754 Contents Editors and Contributors List of Figures 1 Introduction—A Science of Serendipity? What does Serendipity Science look like? Chapter 2—Exploration of “Serendipity” in the Mongolian Language, by Borchuluun Yadamsuren Chapter 3—Serendipity and Knowledge Organizations, by Toby Burrows and Deb Verhoeven Chapter 4—Serendipity in Management and Organization Studies, by Miguel Pinha e Cunha and Marco Berti Chapter 5—Serendipity in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Innovation, by Christian Busch and Matthew Grimes Chapter 6—Serendipity and the History of the Philosophy of Science, by Samantha Copeland Chapter 7—Serendipity and Ignorance Studies, by Selene Arfini Chapter 8—Serendipity as a Design Principle of Digital Environments: Theoretical Distinctions, by Urbano Reviglio Chapter 9—Serendipitous Cognition—The Systematic Consideration of the Accidental Genesis of New Ideas, by Wendy Ross Chapter 10—Serendipity, Luck and Collective Responsibility in Medical Innovation—The History of Vaccination, by Martin Sand and Luca Chiapperino Chapter 11—Serendipity Across Contexts: From Offices to Post-conflict Settings, by Michael Soto Chapter 12: Epilogue, by Sanda Erdelez References 2 Exploration of “Serendipity” in the Mongolian Language Adoption and Diffusion of the Word Serendipity in English The Role of Dictionaries in the Spread of the Word Serendipity Exploring the Meaning of the Word Serendipity in Mongolian Language Coining the Term for Serendipity in Mongolian Serendipity Case Study in Contemporary Mongolia References 3 Serendipity and Knowledge Organisation Serendipity and the Physical Library Serendipity and Information Retrieval Serendipity and the Information-Seeking Process Serendipity and the Environment Serendipity, the Web, and Social Media Knowledge Organization and the Web Serendipity and Spatial Representations Beyond the Knowledge Hierarchy Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI) Conclusion References 4 Serendipity in Management and Organization Studies The Place of Serendipity in Management Organization Studies How Organization Counters Surprise and Bulldozes Serendipity Embracing Serendipity Exposing the Organization to Serendipitous Emergence Responding to Serendipitous Opportunities Future of Serendipity in Organization Studies Conclusion References 5 Serendipity in Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Innovation—A Review and Conceptualisation Introduction How Biases of Conventional Decision Making Constrain Serendipity Step 1: Serendipity Triggers Step 2: Bisociation Step 3: Enactment Discussion Conclusion References 6 Serendipity and the History of the Philosophy of Science The Context of Discovery Serendipity as a Bridge From the Hunt to Heuristics An Epistemology of Serendipitous Discovery Concluding Comments References 7 Serendipity and Ignorance Studies The Serendipity Machine and Why It Could not Work Not Just a Happy Event Rational, Willful, and Aching Ignorance Before and After the Accident The Embodied and Distributed Aspects of Discovery The Body Matters: Epistemic Feelings and Discovery Distributed Serendipity: Interdisciplinarity and Disciplinary Jars Concluding Thoughts References 8 Serendipity as a Design Principle of Personalization Systems—Theoretical Distinctions An Introduction to Digital Serendipity A Brief History of Digital Serendipity Digital Serendipity and Its Nuances Serendipity from a Theoretical Perspective Serendipity as a Design Principle Serendipity as a Capability Two Routes to Design for Digital Serendipity Hyper-Personalised Serendipity Pseudo-Personalised Serendipity Individual and Political Serendipity: Two Sides of the Same Coin Individual Serendipity Political Serendipity Discussion Conclusions References 9 Serendipitous Cognition—The Systematic Consideration of the Accidental Genesis of New Ideas References 10 Serendipity, Luck and Collective Responsibility in Medical Innovation—The History of Vaccination References 11 Serendipity Across Contexts: From Offices to Post-conflict Settings References 12 Epilogue References Index