Synthesis of Thought

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

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))

This is part 6 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea,” can be found here and part 2, “Literature Review,” can be found here, part 3, “Research,” can be found here, part 4, “Transcription”, can be found here, and part 5, “Analysis,” can be found here.

All right, the data collection is done, interviews have been transcribed, and you’ve done your analysis- now it’s time to write up your reports!

For the actual writing, I use Microsoft Word, but you can use what ever you prefer.

Now, your efforts in maintaining Yep with all of your initial literature reviews will pay off for you now. Once you’ve discovered whatever was to be found in your data, it will make referencing the existing literature much easier.

But really this is the stage where all of your preparation and organization will pay off for you. All of the mind maps, wikis, and notes that you’ve been maintaining will make the actual write up easier and it process will go a little quicker for you.
Another piece of helpful software for this stage is End Note, which helps with the organization of bibliographies.

The write up isn’t your last step in research- you must publicize your work. There are many ways to go about this and the internet is the most useful resources for you. Part 7 is coming soon!

This is part 5 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea,” can be found here and part 2, “Literature Review,” can be found here, part 3, “Research,” can be found here, and part 4, “Transcription”, can be found here.

For now, I only have to software recommendations for analysis. I use Atlas.ti for coding interviews - this doesn’t cover the “analysis” part per sey, with Atlas.ti you still do the actual analysis, but the codes make it easier. Atlas.ti is not free, it’s $175 for a student copy and it’s only compatible with Windows. There is a free demo version available, and I have used this for one project. Once you get into big amounts of data the free demo is useless because it limits the amount of codes you can use. Regardless of this, I do like Atlas.ti because it is somewhat easy to use once you get the hang out if and you are able to run a lot of useful reports once the documents are coded.

For quantitative data I’ve used SPSS. SPSS is not free, but it is compatible with both Mac and PC. You can purchase a student version for under $150. ((if you buy it on Amazon make sure you buy a NEW copy because the license can only be used twice)) I’m not particularly found of SPSS, but I think it has more to do with my dislike for quantitative data than the actual program
During analysis, I began (sometimes continue) to make notes of themes, hunches, etc. At this point I’m usually writing things out by hand and then I type it up. Wikis, mind maps, and plain old text files are useful at this stage.

A reminder that the podcasts from the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropoogy will be taken off the website on July 31, so if you are interested in downloading the files make sure you do it by July 31. Here is a shortcut to a blog post that has shortcuts to all of the podcasts and blog posts. shortcut to all podcasts.

I posted about this last night, Shelley Batt’s from Retrospectacle is being threatened by Wiley with legal action over the reproduction of a chart and a graph in one of her blog posts. It’s totally ridiculous, but what is really awesome is to watch the comments of support for her pour in. Boing Boing even picked up the story! I submitted the story last night after I noticed someone suggesting that everyone submit it so that it would be sure to catch Cory Doctorow’s attention. The “thanks” at the bottom of the post says “to everyone who suggested this”- I’d be interested to know how many people did. She has a lot of supporters and I admire her for standing up about this complete injustice!

Watch the internet buzz about the story