Popular Culture Blog

Popular culture is the essence of life as we know it. It is the stuff by which we measure our normalcy. Popular culture encompasses many things including art, music, literature, past times, hobbies, religion, food, transportation, and almost everything else we interact with every day. We can be either advocates or adversaries of a popular culture phenomenon but we are affected, nonetheless.

In my current job as a Research Data Coordinator with Abbott Nutrition, I work in the Research and Development Division. One would think that this would not require any knowledge or application of popular culture but it does. As a service organization, we are wise to study our market (now a global one) and find out what it is that would improve the lives of our customers through nutrition. Today’s customer is much more savvy and expects not only a trusted infant formula or adult nutritional beverage, they want attractive packaging that is convenient, easy to open, and earth friendly. Knowledge about trends in popular culture allows us to meet or exceed these expectations. It also gives us a common ground with which we can connect with the customer, our peers, and our vendors.

For my artifact, I have chosen a periodical table of instant messaging abbreviations. This artifact represents the new era of communication that is faster, sleeker, and more fun. There are now many acronyms that a person writing an instant message can use to speed up the tedious work of typing a message. This comes in handy especially on the tiny keyboards of cell phones. Some of these abbreviations are more casual and some are now widely accepted in the work place.