Synthesis of Thought

Happy Birthday Synthesis of Thought! A look back at the last two years

March 19, 2008 · 1 Comment

This blog is two years old today! A year ago today I wrote a blog post reflecting over this blogs first year, so I thought it would be fun to do another “52 weeks, 84 posts later” post.

I’ve been some what inactive with posting the last two months, but I actually miss blogging so I’ll be making an effort to do so after the SfAA Annual Meeting next week. That’s something that has changed for me in the last year- I really enjoy blogging and feel like I have stuff to write about.

When I started this blog I really wasn’t sure what to write about. I was living in Southern Georgia working as a textbook manager at a college bookstore during my year off in between undergrad and grad. I was about to attend the Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Vancouver, Canada and with the strong encouragement from my boyfriend I started this blog in the hopes of the SfAA giving me something to write about. When I left for Canada I hadn’t really thought about grad school and I came home with the idea of applying to the University of North Texas.

Now, I’m in the middle of my fourth semester at UNT and applying for summer internships. UNT requires students to do a practicum in lieu of thesis, so I’ll be looking to do my practicum during the rest of 2008 and graduate in 2009. It’s fun for me to look back through old blog posts to see the evolution of my focus, building of confidence in my posts, and to remember the places I’ve been and things I’ve done. When this blog started I didn’t even know I’d be in grad school. I had NO idea that I’d start the SfAA Podcasts. I’m not even sure I knew where I’d be living.

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CFP NASA (National Assoc. of Student Anthropologists) E-Journal

March 14, 2008 · No Comments

Below is an announcement from NASA:

The National Association of Student Anthropologists (NASA) will launch its first online publication, The NASA e-Journal, under the banner of the 2008 American Anthropological Association conference theme: “Inclusion, Collaboration, and Engagement.”

We seek scholarly submissions from undergraduate and graduate students worldwide about the application of anthropological theories and methods outside of academia or across disciplines for the purpose of exploring, problematizing, or addressing social problems. Have you worked in an internship, co-op or another job as a student anthropologist and wish to reflect on how you relied on your anthropological training? Perhaps you collaborated with students from other disciplines at a volunteer organization and seek to describe the value you added from an anthropological perspective? Is there a paper you submitted for a service-learning class where you addressed a social problem using anthropological methods? Have you done fieldwork in a community where you sought to create positive social change in the process of gathering data? Tell us about it! Scholarly articles should be 1,000 words in length and will be subject to a double blind review process.

We also welcome innovative commentary submissions to the e-Journal. Commentaries are opinion or avant-garde pieces of work which are the original work of the authors. These submissions are to express the next generation of anthropologists’ ideas, goals and beliefs of the direction our discipline should head, be it locally, nationally or globally. We seek a plurality of voices on this issue and intend to raise awareness among fellow students as well as more established anthropologists about the direction our discipline is heading. Commentary submissions might include such mediums as written pieces (1,000 words in length), photo stories (10 photos + 1,000 words of commentary in length) and videos/YouTube© clips (10-minute maximum in duration + 1,000 words of commentary in length)

Submission Guidelines:

Please submit a full 1,000 word manuscript for consideration by midnight EST on April 21, 2008 along with any accompanying materials.

* Authors should complete their submissions according to the AAA style guide (http://aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.htm).
* Submissions should be saved in Microsoft Word “.doc” format with the file title being the first author’s last name and first initial. (example: HebertM.doc)
* We invite authors to provide drawings, graphs and maps to enhance the visual component of each article. These should be included as separate attachments in the email. Graphics should be saved as “.jpg” format. The file name should be the first authors last name, first initial and then the number of the photo. (example: HebertM1.jpg) Please also include reference in your text where graphics should be placed by inserting the above identifier in the text.
* Videos should be provided as a link (if located on a site such as YouTube) or included as a graphics file in a readily viewable format such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player.
* Please send submissions to the e-Journal editorial team with the subject heading “NASA Manuscripts – Vol. 1” at nasaejournal@gmail.com.

Authors will be notified regardless if their work has been selected for publication or not. We look forward to publishing submissions for Volume 1 of the NASA e-Journal in the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009.

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Deadline for SfAA Podcast team member applications extended to February 1, 2008

January 28, 2008 · No Comments

(x-posted at SfAA Podcasts)

That’s right, we’ve extended the deadline until Friday. We’re looking for a few more people to join our team and we’ve expanded our search to include recent graduates (graduated from grad or undergrad in 2007).

Here’s the original post about the team member application:

The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Podcast team announces six openings for team members to participate in an ongoing podcasting project at the 2008 SfAA Annual Meeting, March 24 - 29, 2008, in Memphis, TN. The primary responsibility will be to audio record sessions and publicize the SfAA podcasts at the SfAA Annual Meeting. Interested individuals will be asked to dedicate 15 hours to the project between February 15 and April 30, 2008. All team member positions have identical duties and are open to any student, undergraduate or graduate, who will be attending the 2008 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Memphis, TN March 24 - 29, 2008. Previous experience in audio recording or podcasting is not necessary as there will be training involved.

The SfAA Podcasts project began at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Tampa, Florida, managed by Jen Cardew. This year the project will be co-managed by Jen Cardew and Diana Harrelson. The goal of the 2008 SfAA Podcast team is to record 15 selected sessions, to be published to the web as free podcasts, making the meeting accessible to students who cannot travel as well as to members of other disciplines. Please visit this page for more information.

The deadline for applications is January 28, 2008 February 1, 2008. The application process is described in this PDF document:Team Member Application

Please help us spread the word about the available team member positions and link back to this page!

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!!

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The application for applying to be a member of the SfAA Podcast team is now available!!

January 9, 2008 · No Comments

(x-posted at SfAApodcasts.net)

The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Podcast team announces six openings for team members to participate in an ongoing podcasting project at the 2008 SfAA Annual Meeting, March 24 - 29, 2008, in Memphis, TN. The primary responsibility will be to audio record sessions and publicize the SfAA podcasts at the SfAA Annual Meeting. Interested individuals will be asked to dedicate 15 hours to the project between February 15 and April 30, 2008. All team member positions have identical duties and are open to any student, undergraduate or graduate, who will be attending the 2008 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Memphis, TN March 24 - 29, 2008. Previous experience in audio recording or podcasting is not necessary as there will be training involved.

The SfAA Podcasts project began at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in Tampa, Florida, managed by Jen Cardew. This year the project will be co-managed by Jen Cardew and Diana Harrelson. The goal of the 2008 SfAA Podcast team is to record 15 selected sessions, to be published to the web as free podcasts, making the meeting accessible to students who cannot travel as well as to members of other disciplines. Please visit this site for more information.

The deadline for applications is January 28, 2008. The application process is described in this PDF document:Download file

Please help us spread the word about the available team member positions and link back to this page!

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!!

Download file

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What sessions would YOU like to see recorded at the Memphis, TN meeting?

January 8, 2008 · No Comments

(x-posted at SfAA Podcasts and in the SfAA Ning Community)

I’ve started a discussion about which sessions people would like to have recorded at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the SfAA in the SfAA Ning Community SfAA Podcast group. Membership to the SfAA Ning Community is free and open to everyone.

Here is a copy of the post (PLEASE RESPOND AT SfAA Podcasts OR the Ning Community):

Hello everyone!

We decided not to host a poll of the www.SfAApodcasts.net website but we’d still like to hear what sessions you would like to have recorded!

Here’s your assignment: Go through the SfAA preliminary program (available here: http://sfaa.net/sfaa2008.html) and pick what sessions you’d like to have recorded at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Please consider:
*Topic is “hot”
*Topic is of widespread interest to many people
*Famous speakers

You can vote for your own session to if you want. SUGGESTIONS ARE DUE JANUARY 18. You can post them here or email them to me (jencardew@gmail.com). Please include the session number, e.g. S-46, and the session title.

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New group - Ethnographic Praxis (EP) - training students with skills they will need outside of academia

January 4, 2008 · No Comments

While I am not an active leader within this group (because let’s face it, I have *too* much on my plate), I will be participating in it and I think it is a great initiative! This is the group that came of of a BoF session at EPIC that I wrote about here.

This is an email sent out (and re-posted with permission) by Amy Goldmacher:

Hello–

This is an invitation for any interested parties to join a Google group dedicated to strengthening the relationship between industry and academia. This group was conceived at the EPIC 2007 “Birds of a Feather” session and we are calling it Ethnographic Praxis (EP). The Google group will be the virtual space for communication (and we are open to suggestions on how best to maintain a robust resource and connection for EP). You will not receive a glut of emails from us; we will post items to the group page so that you can check at your leisure. To join, please email me directly at solidgoldmacher [at] gmail [dot] com and I will send you an invitation to the Google group.

To date, we have come up with the following four action items:

1. Define the purpose of the Ethnographic Praxis (EP) Google group as: a space for people from any discipline who are interested in transitioning from academic ethnography to the practice of ethnography in industry, including students who want to work outside academia and practitioners who have a vested interest in helping train and provide opportunities for future practitioners.

2. Create a topical interest group (TIG) within EPIC to focus on facilitating the relationship between academia and industry.

3. Develop a set of ethnographic standards (to be defined) that has EPIC’s “seal of approval” for ethnographers who want to get more experience in classical anthropological methods.

4. Organize and advertise in-person meetings and/or sessions at other non-EPIC conferences dealing with issues of the practice of ethnography.

And three news items:

1. For those who are attending the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) meeting in Memphis, we will arrange an informal session at the conference for any interested parties to participate in furthering the purpose of EP and plan for EPIC 2008 (time and place information to follow). We also encourage people from other disciplines attending other conferences in the near future to organize opportunities to connect—it would be great to do this in multiple disciplines.

2. Also at SfAA, please consider attending a two-part workshop called “Ethnography in the Corporation” on Friday, 3/28 led by Gitte Jordan and Julia Gluesing. Part I will explore how corporate projects differ from academic investigations and examine how industrial researchers adapt conventional anthropological methods to the different circumstances and requirements that arise in business settings. It also will include do’s and don’ts about negotiating client relationships and presenting findings to clients. Part II is a simulation designed to give participants the opportunity to apply through case examples and exercises the methods and best practices they learned in Part I.

3. Mark Dawson of Ethnography.com recently announced that Jennifer Jones of California State University-Fresno is the first student to be awarded a matching travel grant to attend the 2008 EPIC in Denmark. This year the grant was non-competitive and awarded by recommendation of Fresno State faculty members. It is hoped that this grant will be an annual event and be awarded on a competitive basis next year, and that other partnerships between industry and academia will develop!

We look forward to productive communication in the Ethnographic Praxis group!

Sincerely,
Amy Goldmacher, Wayne State University
Marlo Jenkins, Wayne State University
Christine Miller, Savannah College of Art and Design
Jim Mullooly, California State University-Fresno
Melissa Zlatow, Arizona State University

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What my Twitter network means to me

December 12, 2007 · 7 Comments

There has been much buzz around Twitter, what Twitter means, what Twitter is, etc. in the last day. (Twitter is a microblogging social network site.) Yesterday @jowyang did a great blog post about this and it sparked a firestorm of of chatter on Twitter, blogs, etc. One thing that came from it (and I believe that’s what Jeremiah intended with his post) was a surge in people adding new Twitter friends. Someone in my friend list coined the term “friend ninja” to mean following someone because another friend said hello to them and another friend later shortened it to “FNJ.”

I thought I’d give my two cents about Twitter today. It’s something I’ve been meaning to write, but I’m feeling inspired after what another friend called “Twitter Tuesday.” I’ve illustrated as many points as I could in this post with links back to either specific tweets (posts on Twitter) or Twitterers. Now, I’ve written before about Twitter(here, here, here and here) but I haven’t shared too many thoughts about it.

For months I’ve realized that Twitter is of incredible value to me:

  • Since I work and go to school online I’m home by myself all day, everyday, and there are days that I don’t leave the house. Twitter keeps me company.
  • Also a result of working from home, I sometimes become uninspired or I feel like I’m becoming stagnant. Twitter inspires me.
  • Sometimes I run into problems or need to discuss an idea. Twitter becomes a dialog.
  • I can talk about anthropology with people (something I don’t get to do all that often ;)
  • When a new invitation-only beta launches and I need an invite, Twitter becomes my entry in.
  • Twitter has really become a source of news. I don’t pay quite as much attention to my RSS now, I read Twitter.
  • I learn about new events and meetups, both local and nationally.
  • I’ve made face-to-face friends on Twitter and I’ve become friends with people that I hope to meet someday.
  • I’ve gotten to know face-to-face friends better through Twitter.
  • Twitter has also become a way for me to update my family about my life because they now check Twitter everyday :)
  • It’s also a pragmatic tool; your favorite tweets can be reference in iTweet from the iPhone. When I’m standing in front of the beer case at the grocery or at a new bar, I look at my “Good beer:” tweets that I’ve favorited ;)
  • When I travel my friends also offer me recommendations of where to eat or what to do if I’m in a city where they are familiar with.

I have a poor memory (hence my organizational skills!) but I’ve always had a knack for remembering tidbits about people (hence I’m an anthropologist). While I sometimes find it hard to keep track of my ever-growing number of friends, I do remember bits and pieces about almost everyone of my Fritters (Twitter friends). (added Dec 13 - some of my friends call their Twitter friends ‘tweeps‘ - I love it!) I like to hear their stories; the events, their thoughts, the day-to-day, etc. It’s all interesting to me (even the boring parts). On Twitter I’m exposed to people I would never otherwise know; parents (can you believe I do not have face-to-face friends with kids?), older people, younger people, real estate people, PR people, publishers, social media specialists, teachers and students, international friends (my feed is never quiet, someone is always up somewhere), and the like. It’s amazing!

This diversity is both intentional and unintentional. Since Twitter has added the tracking feature I track things I’m interested in as well as things I’m becoming interested in (like HCI). But, for the most part, my friend list has developed organically and unintentionally.

In 2007 we had two (with) Twitter births, a Twitter wedding, a Twitter suicide threat, people making true friendships (by the traditional definition), people being diagnosed with cancer, people changing jobs, hacks to work around Twitter faults, trends & memes, third party apps, and so much more. I’m looking forward to seeing if Twitter will continue to thrive in 2008 or if it will be out (sorry- I’m watching Project Runway as I write this!).

Find me on Twitter: @jencardew
I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, comments about Twitter and leave your Twitter name in your comments (which I have to moderate because my blog is loved by spambots).

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A halirious example of HR not knowing their audience

December 7, 2007 · No Comments

This was posted to an anthropology listserv this morning. It’s a job position for a TV host for a show that will explore international tattoo culture. I just starting laughing hysterically when I read it- did the person that wrote this think about it or re-read it before they sent it out? It specifically says “looking for anthropologists…” in the beginning- did they not think of how anthropologists may react to it? Have they never met an anthropologist?

I really don’t feel like much comment is needed, but I underlined and made bold the parts that I found to be funniest:

“Subject: Seeking Anthropologists or Journalists or Travel Writers to
Host New TV Series Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 16:15:40 -0500 From:

New York Documentary Television Production Company is seeking
anthropologists or journalists or travel writers to host a new
documentary TV series for a major cable network about tattoo culture
around the world. We are looking for someone who is attractive, smart,
a guy’s guy, adventurous, engaging, inquisitive. Someone who’s up for
anything, not afraid to get dirty, be in dangerous situations. Having
a tattoo is a plus! This is someone who is driven by curiosity and can
share the experience — be it in Russian prison tattoo parlors or
Puerto Rican gangs — with an audience. He’s not in it to get tattooed
but is a seeker with real world experience. This is an opportunity to
host a primetime cable tv series. Must be willing to travel. This
could turn into a full-time job. If you fit this description, please
film yourself answering the following questions. Personality is key so
have fun with this, while imparting intellect and curiosity. 5-10
minutes max. Shoot outdoors if possible. Waist up so I can see your
face. Going for an outdoorsy look, not clean-cut, not too edgy. Please
email your clips
,
[Must be received by Monday, Dec 10, 2007]

1. Your name, where you live
2. Your bio in brief - professional, education, hobbies
3. Travel experience — where have you been overseas? Most memorable
experience.
4. Show us your tattoos [if you have any]. Give a brief explanation of
2 of them. Why are you interested in tattoos? Or why are you interested
in investigating cultures around the world?
5. What are you most passionate about? Give us a one-minute tutorial on
the subject.
6. Have the camera follow you to go “interview” someone (could be
someone a few feet away). Ask that person a few questions about a topic
they know about.
7. Eat something spicey, sour, gross and react - tell us what it tastes
like, feels like. Make us feel like we’re experiencing it too.

Tape can be submitted via email, or hard copies on DVD, VHS, or Mini-DV
formats. Materials will not be returned.

Must be received by Dec 10, 2007.

Thank you.

– FIGHT QUEST –
Friday, December 28, 2007 at 10PM
Discovery Channel (Following MAN VS. WILD)”

((I took out the identifying information, but I can forward you the email if you like. BTW I’m not one for telling others what to do (did you notice my silence on the HTS issue?) BUT I don’t think any self-respecting anthropologist should respond to this… unless you truly believe you could change their views (and you probably can’t))

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The “graduate experience” and UNT’s online master’s program in anthropology

December 6, 2007 · No Comments

Since I’ve never attended graduate school in an on-campus program, much of what I see as the “graduate experience” comes from hearsay and others’ experiences. Part of my hesitation about enrolling in the online master’s program was about if I’d get the “graduate experience” (whatever that is).

Well, a year and a half into the program I feel like I can say I am getting it- at least a part of it.
As I’ve written about in the past, I’m a research assistant for my advisor in the department. I’ve had two opportunities to present at conferences so far from this research and publications are in the works. So, this is part of the “experience.”

UNT and the department of anthropology have made efforts to extend other parts of graduate school to the online students also though. Many on-campus students are presenting their practicums this week and next. At UNT students do a practicum (applied project with a client) instead of a thesis. The department is recording these presentations and will upload them for the online students to view. Some presentations will also be available in real-time via a teleconference line and Live Classroom (which is sort of like a desktop sharing app). I thought this was a neat idea.

Another thing that the on-campus graduate students have done for the online is to hold the graduate anthropology club meetings in a room that has a speaker phone and Live Classroom. The online students can attend the meetings virtually along side the on-campus students. This is cool because most of the time students will do short presentations about topics and discussion will follow.

Lastly, the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) at UNT makes presentations available in real-time via Live Classroom. In about an hour I will be attending a talk by Darrell Hull from the College of Education speak on this topic:
“An experimental design study was conducted to examine participant interaction toward social knowledge construction and negotiated meaning in asynchronous online discussion. Different instructional methods were examined that show significantly enhanced group discourse processes. The presentation will focus on the measures used to examine this phenomenon and a Vygotskian theoretical framework that supports the interventions and measures used for the analysis.”

(I’m attending because of our online-on-campus research)

I’ve been rather impressed by UNT’s and the department’s efforts to include online students.

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Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC) blog by Tony Salvador

December 6, 2007 · No Comments

One of the keynote speakers at the EPIC conference in October was Tony Salvador. Apparently, many people had questions for Tony after his talk (which was great!) so he has started a blog called ‘Ask Tony!‘ over at the EPIC website. It seems that readers will have an opportunity to post questions for Tony which he will answer in a blog post.

EPIC publishes the conference proceedings on their website. The 2007 proceedings have not been finalized on the site yet, but I received a paper copy yesterday so I’m sure they are making progress online as well.

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