Individual 4737172: A Short Story

By Janet Sayers

‘Individual 4737172: A Short Story’ is a fiction story inspired by a competitive call for fiction to support the struggle for Net Neutrality. In the near-future, an old woman is given a robot cat and makes a surprising decision about her future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janet Sayers
• Release date: Nov 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463970935

Janet Sayers

Associate Professor Janet G Sayers is an experienced educator and researcher. She writes about story-telling and narrative in business and has developed many unique resources that can be used in classrooms around the world.

Book preview

Individual 4737172: A Short Story

by Janet G. Sayers

Number 5 in the 'Interface: Cases, Essays and Stories for Use in Business Education' Series

Copyright 2018 Janet Sayers,

An OCTOPUS publication

Smashwords Edition

‘Individual 4737172: A Short Story’ is a fiction story inspired by a competitive call for fiction on Net Neutrality.

In the near-future an old woman is given a robot cat and makes a surprising decision about her future.

Proceeds from the competition went towards the fight for Net Neutrality, which is ongoing. Other sources of inspiration were Dr. Sayers' research interest in Wearable Technologies, and being a participant in a research trial involving her mother, where non-invasive monitoring devices were installed in her home as part of an 'ageing in place' initiative. She now uses this story to show students how to weave a social concern into a fictional narrative involving business.

The book series ‘Interface: Cases, Essays and Stories for Use in Business Education' is developed from real classrooms and from the research of Associate Professor Janet G. Sayers. Cases, essays and stories can be adapted for use in any educational setting: primary, secondary or tertiary.

Other books in the ‘Interface’ series:

Number 1: Babe and Intercultural Communication

Number 2: Waiting and Seinfeld

Number 3: Apologizing for Erebus

Number 4: Les Mills International: A World-Class Service

Individual 4737172

There she is. The old-old woman. Her face looms at us and we can see every popping vein on her cheeks and enlarged pore of her nose. Every crease in her skin and