meAAns is the acronym of Multimethod Explorative Analysis (on) Architects ‘N Surroundings.
Multimethod: because we use several events and data analysis methods, both on a quantity-statistic and quality-discourse level. From mathematical correlations to language metaphors.
Explorative Analysis: explorative analysis is a process requiring the use of numerical summaries and visualisations in order to study data and identify any relation between the variables. In our case, this also means exploring – in a rigorous and methodologically correct way – the industry of furniture and design at 360 degrees, which has yet not been explored by official research.
With Architects ‘N Surroundings we define the object of our field of research, i.e. everything about architects and architecture, about the project, that is the furniture and design at 360 degrees. In furniture and design we include everything concurring to define the environment in which a person moves, may it be living space, recreational space, working space, institutional space and so on.
Means (with a single A) has three main meanings in English, describing as many aspects of meAAns project.
Means may stand for “mathematical and geometric average”, that are a core concept in statistics – as a matter of fact, means are the basis of the variance formula, and of covariance, correlation, etc. For this, it represents the numerical aspect of meAAns.
Means may also stand for the verb “meaning”, i.e. the effort of meAAns to grasp the meaning of the phenomena that we choose to study and investigate. This is also a characteristic of the discourse – semantic – emotional part of meAAns.
Means stands also for tools, utensils, that we provide to the companies with which we cooperate, supporting them in the strategic decision-making process.