the unobservant anthropologist

everything from random babbling to intellectual thoughts mixed with anthropology, technology, and culture

Posts Tagged ‘Anthropology’

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Tentative schedule of 2008 SfAA Podcasts

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on April 1, 2008

(x-posted at www.SfAApodcasts.net)

I’ve posted the tentative schedule of the 2008 SfAA Podcasts. I say it’s tentative because timely publication of the blog posts and audio is dependent on the speakers to an extent- I need them to submit their bio info for the post as well as electronic versions of the papers and PowerPoints (this is optional, but I encourage it). It’s also tentative because I may publish podcasts early if I have extra time to work on the editing. I chose the order based on the ease of coordinating with speakers and the amount of editing involved with the audio files.

Here is the (very) tentative schedule of podcasts for the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society of Applied Anthropology (SfAA).

14 April 2008 Presidential Plenary Session in Honor of John van Willigen: The Art and Science of
Applied Anthropology in the 21st Century

17 April 2008 Preparing Applied Anthropologists for the 21st Century, Part I

21 April 2008 Preparing Applied Anthropologists for the 21st Century, Part II

24 April 2008 Working with Governmental Agencies, Part I

28 April 2008 Working with Governmental Agencies, Part II

5 May 2008 The Scholar-Practitioner in Organizational Settings

8 May 2008 For Love and Money: Employment Opportunities in Medical Anthropology (SMA)

12 May 2008 COPAA International Invited Speaker

15 May 2008 Embodied Danger: The Health Costs of War and Political Violence (SMA)

22 May 2008 Mobile Work, Mobile Lives: Cultural Accounts of Lived Experiences

26 May 2008 Practitioners Rise to the Challenge: A Discussion of Methods in Business
Ethnography

29 May 2008 The Flawed Economics of Resettlement and Its Impoverishing Effects: What Can Social Scientists Do?

2 June 2008 Visualizing Change: Emergent Technologies in Social Justice Inquiry and Action,
Part I: Digital Storytelling and PhotoVoice

5 June 2008 Visualizing Change: Emergent Technologies in Social Justice Inquiry and Action,
Part II: Participatory Mapping and Visual Arts

12 June 2008 SMA Plenary Session: The Political Construction of Global Infectious Disease
Crises

16 June 2008 Anthropology Engages Immigration Reform

19 June 2008 Anthropology of the Consumer

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American Anthropological Assoc. (AAA) launches a podcast series

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on April 1, 2008

This is from the AAA eNews for April 2008:

“Tune in regularly to our bi-weekly podcast for news and updates on the AAA. To listen to the podcast, visit the AAA website and look under the “New Features” section on the homepage. To download the most recent podcast, please visit this site.

To subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, please visit this site“

While I’m sure they will not be quite as awesome as the SfAA podcasts, I can admit I am a bit biased towards the SfAA podcasts ;)

I’ll be interested to see how ‘successful’ the AAA’s podcasts are. One thing I noticed in their announcement was they didn’t provide an explanation about what a podcast is, etc. If I’m having trouble making these concepts accessible within the SfAA I can only imagine that the AAA will face similar struggles.

Regardless, I appreciate the AAA’s move into the 21st Century- I doubt they’ll do any sessions from the conference though…

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My SfAA presentation (about the online course research)

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on March 20, 2008

While in Memphis I will also be co-presenting a paper with Christina Wasson about our online-on-campus research that we’ve been working on for just over a year. The session is on Friday morning (F-10) 8:00-9:50 am in the Nashville room and is entitled “The Scholar-Practitioner in Organizational Settings.” Our paper is titled “Theory and Praxis in an Educational Setting: Building Community Online.”

Here is the session abstract from Crysta Metcalf
“In this session we introduce and model the concept of the “scholar-practitioner,” practicing anthropologists who explicitly draw on theory in their work and contribute to theory development. Although such an integration of theory and practice has long existed, it has been gaining greater recognition in recent years, especially as more and more anthropologists are applying our discipline in organizational settings. The members of this panel draw on their experiences in both academic and organizational settings, presenting case studies and examples in order to explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in working toward the advancement of anthropological theory in applied practice.”

I’m excited about this session because I am co-presenting with my advisor and many of the other women on the panel are the ones that I’ve followed their work for the last four years. It’s quite an honor :)

I’ll upload a copy of the paper post-conference but I can let you in on a little secret…
it will be recorded for the SfAA Podcasts. I guess I’ve done a good job in finding my way into cool panels because this is the second year that my session was selected for the podcasts. I do oversee the selection of sessions but the sessions are picked from suggestions submitted by lots of people.

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SfAA Podcasts in Memphis, TN

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on March 20, 2008

I’ll be headed to Memphis on Tuesday, March 25th for the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA). While there the SfAA Podcast team will be recording seventeen sessions (tba soon) and the Friday night awards for another round of the SfAA Podcasts!

If you’re a fan of the SfAA Podcasts (and why wouldn’t you be?) and want to show your support head over to the website and download one of our nifty badges (directions are there on how to do it).

If you’re headed to Memphis for the conference then make sure to stop by our info table near registration on Wednesday to pick up some of our cool swag. Sticker Giant is sponsoring the project so we’ll have some awesome stickers and other goodies for you.

And you can keep up with me and/or the SfAA Podcast project on Twitter :)

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Developer-centric tech conferences as a (design) researcher

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on March 19, 2008

Back in February I attended the Future of Web Apps (FOWA) in Miami and BarCampMiami held in the same venue. My boyfriend is a developer so he wanted to attend this conference. I decided to go with him since it was semi-close to home and I wanted to learn more about the tech industry.

Essentially, my experience at FOWA was doing participant observation of the developer side of the tech industry. A large part of the speakers and materials covered was over my head since I have a limited knowledge but I learned a lot. I did walk away learning like I knew a bit more about their processes but more importantly I feel like I gained insight into their world. The majority of the talks focused on the development process and excluded user-centered research, or mentions of users in general. To be fair, the audience was likely interested in the former more than the later. I commented to someone that FOWA felt very developer-centric and lacked a focus on users. Their response was something to the effect of “users aren’t part of the process.” To be sure, they *should* be.

BarCampMiami was useful in that the presenters only focused on the basics of what they were discussing, i.e. OpenID, OAuth, etc. I actually learned about the subjects they presented rather than gained insight into the tech industry.

Last week I attended SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX and BarCampAustin. My experience at BarCampAustin was similar to that of Miami and I learned a lot (and had fun, BarCampAustin rocked!). SXSW was a different experience from FOWA for me though. In addition to gaining insight into and about the development process of web apps, software, etc. I became inspired by listening to the developers talk about their research.

This process of listening to people talk about their experiences to gain insights in/for research is nothing new if you’re familiar with anthropology. In listening to the developers, etc. discuss their research I discovered/thought of many ways that anthropological research could help their processes and goals. This is good knowledge to have when you’re looking for internships (me ;) or if you want to do consulting work.

All and all, I really enjoyed FOWA, SXSWi, and both BarCamps. Given that most practicing/applied anthropologists will have a professional counterpart (for tech design research it’s designers/developers, for medical anthropology maybe it’s doctors, for educational anthropologists it’s teachers, etc.) and I believe that attending your counterparts’ conferences, etc. will be very valuable for you to be able to communicate with that communicate.

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

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on March 19, 2008

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

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on March 14, 2008

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

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 9, 2008

(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?

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on January 8, 2008

(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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What my Twitter network means to me

Posted by Jen Cardew Kersey on December 12, 2007

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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