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Shaozeng ZHANG
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and STS at Oregon State University
Shaozeng Zhang is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Oregon State University.12 He specializes in several areas of anthropology, including:
Research Interests
- Science and Technology Studies (STS)
- Environmental anthropology
- Applied anthropology
- Digital technology and Big Data
Education and Background
Dr. Zhang holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Irvine, which he obtained in 2014. Prior to that, he earned an M.A. in cultural anthropology from Peking University in Beijing, China in 2007.2
Research Focus
Shaozeng Zhang's long-term research has focused on Amazon forest conservation and the carbon market in the context of global climate change. More recently, he has been exploring broader environmental issues in global contexts.45
Role at Society for Cultural Anthropology
Zhang is associated with the Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA), which promotes creative research and critical conversation through its publications and events.3 While the exact nature of his editorial role is not specified in the provided information, he appears to be involved with the organization in some editorial capacity.
Recent Work
In 2022, Zhang co-authored a paper titled "'Small' analysis of Big Data: An evaluation of the effects of social distancing in the United States," demonstrating his ongoing work in the intersection of digital technology and anthropological research.1
Shaozeng Zhang's work bridges traditional anthropological approaches with contemporary issues, particularly in the realms of environmental conservation, digital technology, and big data analysis.
Highlights
Call for papers for a special issue (2024) of the journal Engineering Studies. This special issues focuses on "Interdisciplinary collaborations with engineers." See more in the attached file. Please send your paper abstract to the guest editors of this special issue, me and Dr. Kristina M. Lyons by August 20, 2023. Submitted abstracts should not exceed 500 words excluding references, and should include research questions, method, and expected results. Feel free to ask us if you have questions. We look forward to your contribution. Thank you!
The journal Engineering Studies invites submissions for a 2024 special issue focusing on social sciences and humanities scholars’ collaboration with engineers in academia, industry, or grassroots activism. We seek article manuscripts with deep theoretical engagement from social scientific and humanities perspectives based on direct collaboration in academic research, engineering design, and practice. We look forward to timely critical reflections on historical, contemporary, and ongoing collaborations to share with wider audiences and inspire future developments about the transdisciplinary potential of engineering. Can cross-disciplinary collaboration mobilize engaged methods and ethical concepts from social sciences and humanities in engineering practice (e.g. Burleson et al 2019)? How might multidisciplinary teams employ a more holistic approach to identifying and solving problems in real-world settings (e.g. Zhang et al 2018)? Would such collaboration help reconcile or further complicate competing parameters of public accountability and participatory strategies in engineering practice (Ballestero 2019; Smith 2021)? We encourage submissions from social science and humanities scholars who participate in close collaboration with engineers and take such collaboration as first-hand field experience or an ethnographic site. We solicit submissions that are accessible to readers from multiple disciplines. Co-authorship with partners in other disciplines and outside of university contexts is welcome. Please send us an expression of interest with your paper abstract on one or multiple related topics, including but not limited to the following: · Engagement with social science and humanities research methods, concepts, and ethical premises in engineering practice; · Critical participation in collaborations amid competing onto-epistemic perspectives, ethical parameters, disciplinary/professional priorities, or political orientations that include engineering fields; · Historical precedents and roots of successes and failures, as well as potentials and challenges for, transdisciplinary collaboration in engineering projects; · Ethnographic exploration of the experiences and lessons learned from engaged, activist, or community-based engineering praxis.
If you are interested in fairness in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly with applications in criminal recidivism and financial lending, we’d like to invite you to participate in testing a newly designed algorithm and its online interface! We are running a user testing survey for a joint Anthropology and Computer Science research project at Oregon State University funded by the NSF titled "Human-In-the-Loop Fairness Optimization in Machine Learning." Link to the algorithm interface and survey: https://lnkd.in/g5vUXTsb . More information about the project can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gxvq_HMs. We anticipate interacting with the interface and completing the survey should take less than one hour. You'll receive a compensation of $20 in the form of a digital Amazon gift card as a token of our appreciation for your time and insights. If you live in the U.S. and would be interested in participating, please send a LinkedIn message to me or to our research assistants, Ethan Copple and Danielle Chhabra! Thanks! #AIfairness #algorithm #HCI #appliedanthropology
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Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
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Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.