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2014/2015  BA-BIMKV1015U  Naming & Framing: Creative wordmaking as a vehicle for innovative thinking and product development

English Title
Naming & Framing: Creative wordmaking as a vehicle for innovative thinking and product development

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 20
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for BA in Intercultural Marketing Communication
Course coordinator
  • Viktor Smith - MSC
Secretary - Tine Silfvander - ts.iadh@cbs.dk
Main academic disciplines
  • Business Law
  • Business psychology
  • Philosophy and philosophy of science
  • Business Ethics, value based management and CSR
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Communication
  • Management of Information and Knowledge Management
  • Marketing
  • Experience economy and service management
  • Organization
  • Language and Intercultural Studies
Last updated on 14-04-2014
Learning objectives
The participants should gain a clear understanding of the basic theoretical and methodological concepts and principles presented during the course and hands-on skills in evaluating and performing creative wordmaking for commercial and/or organizational purposes as practiced in case-based excercises in class.
Course prerequisites
The course has been developed in the "join us" spirit of the new CBS, and welcomes students from all of CBS. It contributes new insights and tools that are relevant to students specializing both in marketing communication, organizational communication, and cross-lingual business communication.
Examination
Naming & Framing: Creative wordmaking as a vehicle for innovative thinking and product development:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Group exam, max. 3 students in the group
Written home assignment in groups. The final course paper must address a real-life case proposed by the students and approved by the teacher.
Students must individualise their contributions to the assignment.
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Maximum 15 pages regardless of group size
if written individually: Maximum 10 pages
Assignment type Case based assignment
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter Term
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Re-take: Same as ordinary exam.
Course content and structure

What were HIV virus and iPods before they became known as... exactly that?

“Having a name for it” is not just a matter of putting labels on objects and phenomena in the infinite variety of reality. It is a matter of identifying and making sense of such objects and phenomena, and in some sense, indeed, of creating them.

Most research into words and their meanings is focused on existing words and what they mean to us now, or – a bit closer to our current subject – on how children figure out the meaning of words that the rest of us have already learned. In this course, we take a somewhat different approach, focusing on how new words are created and gradually come tomean something still more specific to still more people encountering them in their everyday lives – until the point where most of us would say that we “know” the word and are quite familiar with the thing or phenomenon it denotes.

We will rely on selected insights gained in the latest empirical research in the fields of experimental psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology and knowledge management, as well as more goal-oriented research into the creation and consumer acceptance of names for innovative commercial products, and the need for linguistic innovation e.g. in the coruse of EU legal integration. A key focus is the interplay between the built-in semantic potential of the word itself and the additional stimuli that affect our online sense-making and gradual concept formation when encountering it in running discourse, such as other texts and images on the package of novel products.

 

The course will supply the participants with new knowledge and operational tools for contributing constructively to such team enterprises as product idea development and implementation, and to meet the need for lexical innovation in the course of such activities as translation and organizational communication management.

The teaching activities are divided between Viktor Smith and Henrik Selsøe Sørensen (with one or more guest lecturers)

Teaching methods
The course combines theoretical lectures with hands-on, case-study exercises that reinforce the participant’s practical language management skills. Results are presented in the shape of oral group presentations for peer discussion and feedback.

NB! Creative wordmaking is essential to areas of human activity spanning from product development and marketing over political communication, to legal disputes, and to culture and arts. The course presents a set of theoretical and methodological tools applicable across such areas, yet the final choice of empirical focus for group cases and the final exam paper will to a wide extent depend on the suggestions and input of the individual participants in view of their lines of study and general interest.
Further Information
teaching schedule: tuesday 11.40-14.25, week 36-41,43,48.
changes in schedule may occur.
Expected literature

Aitchison, J. (2003). Words in the mind. An introduction to the mental lexicon. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Benches, R. (2006). Creative compounding in English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Gill, T. & Dubé, L. (2007). “What is a leather iron or a bird phone? Using conceptual combinations to generate and understand new product concepts”. Journal of Consumer Psychology 17(3): 202-217.

Smith, V.; Møgelvanh-Hansen, P.; Hyldig, G. (2010). “Spin versus fair speak in food labelling: A matter of taste?” Food Quality and Preference 21(8): 1016-1025.
 

Last updated on 14-04-2014