Sticky notes against corporate hierarchies in South Korea: An ethnography of workplace collaboration and design co-creation

Abstract

This article deploys ethnographic methods and actor-network theory (ANT) to investigate how sticky notes challenge the historical hierarchies of South Korean corporate culture. After sketching challenges of workplace collaboration in South Korea, we present an ethnography of a co-creation workshop at a food company. To detail how sticky notes support collaborative inquiry, we approach them as active nonhuman actors and analyze the workshop progression through the four moments of ANT's sociology of translation—problematization, intéressement, enrolment, and mobilization. We conclude that stickies enable an effective silent ideation by hushing domineering senior participants and amplifying opinions from junior and mid-career participants. Finally, implications are drawn for stickies' mediating ability in culturally specific collaborative practices.