Blurred boundaries everywhere. And still blurring…

Ever since we started to write down the conference theme, reactions from colleagues and peers would go from a shrug to a sound “wow!”; others wouldn’t bat a lash hearing about it while some ran up and down the faculty buildings warning everyone about this cool conference to come next March 2010.


What are in fact those blurred boundaries? Where can we see them? Are they a good thing? And if so, how can we take advantage of them?


The blurred boundaries we set out to discuss are in fact a much broader phenomenon than the one currently under contention in business, economics and management studies. A simple internet search reveals blurred boundaries to stem daily from anything from science & technology achievements to political configuration.


Two examples. First: videogame technology has progressively been at the core of a public debate about the balance between reality and fiction. Virtual worlds such as Second Life provide their gamer community with an alternative life online (check http://secondlife.com/). The reader is probably now thinking that the boundaries between such different things as reality and fiction as played on a computer screen would never be mixed by any sane human being. Yet recent neuroscience research results point to the fact that the human brain tends to replicate emotions, regardless of their societal utility (check Marco Iacobini’s Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect with Others). This means that, in the limit, every emotion experienced virtually will eventually be turned true by its observer’s actions. It doesn’t get blurrier than this…



Second: information and communication technologies (ICT) have changed the way we communicate. Furthermore, the recent emergence of different communication media such as blogs, twitter or online communities (known as social media) added extra dimensions to communication as well as distorted the boundaries between who is talking and who is listening. Social media is nowadays used to complement market research by such giant corporations as BMW or IBM; university students grade their lecturers online, providing an alterative and independent evaluation system; virtual worlds such as facebook are increasingly more used to invite people to parties, share picture or announce children birth. Where’s the virtual world if not already inside our lives?


The examples are countless. And not only are the boundaries already blurred as they keep on being less and less noticeable and therefore blurring. This is happening!


Come and join us to discuss blurring boundaries business, economics and management next March 19th, 2010 in Nyenrode Business Universiteit.