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Blog Archive
Textually.org - Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Three cheers for the website Textually.org which presents news from around the world about the latest cell phone technology and how people are adapting these technologies to their livelihood. In less than a week's worth of the postings, the website presented on speculation governing a Google phone; the functionality and aesthetics of cell phone jewelry; and how a fragrance and clothing company are using terms based on SMS phrases to market their new goods. There is a lot of information devoted towards companies and marketing and also about how people are using these technologies to better their livelihood.
The following was cut and pasted directly from Textually.org:
-- Renting cell phone minutes in Mongolia - Jan Chipchase on Future Perfect reports on how individuals rent out phone minutes in Mongolia.
-- Grameen's Village Phone Program Is providing good business opportunities for more than 260,000 Village Phone operators, mostly poor rural women, all across the country.
-- Mobile phone booths in Nairobi Childhood polio has confined both men in this video to wheelchairs. Now they have a mobile phone business thanks to their government. The introduction of these mobile fixed phones made that possible. The phone is connected to a mobile phone network in Kenya and works like any fixed phone. So every day they place themselves where they expect to attract the most customers who need to make a phone call.
-- Rickshaws connect India's poor A regional mobile phone company in India, Shyam Telecom, has equipped a fleet of rickshaws with a mobile phone. Drivers pedal these mobile payphones throughout the state capital, Jaipur, and the surrounding countryside.
-- Uganda's new bike payphones In an effort to bring telecommunication closer to Ugandans, MTN publiCom has unveiled its latest payphone innovation mounted on a four-wheeled cycle.
-- Phone Bikes in Kamapala A mobile and wireless phone kiosk in Kamapala draws its power from a car battery. Despite its bicyclesque design they were not particularly mobile - one or more tyres were often flat and they remained tethered in one place for the duration of the day.
Theses and Dissertations Published Online - Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Prior to starting my PhD a professor told me that there is an expression about writing a dissertation. "You can stick a hundred dollar bill in it and come back 10 years later to find the money still there." I do not intend to have that happen to my dissertation, which I would like to publish on the Internet. The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is great website for generating ideas and gathering various perspectives about communicating the crowning achievement of one's academic experience to a greater audience. NDLTD also provides awards for those who chose the online publishing route. Further examples of online dissertations include Alex Golub, a prolific anthropological blogger, who published his dissertation on his website. Dr. Kathleen Vaughan also published her dissertation online and it is available on her website. Many European scholars are using the Internet to publish their dissertation as well. The following blog discusses five online dissertations that may be of interest and are worth exploring.
Tech Support - Saturday, March 3, 2007
Many of us have struggled with the complexities of new ICTs. This YouTube clip, which I think is in Danish, has English subtitles and provides a comical understanding of how tech support has evolved since the European Middle Ages. Enjoy.
Human Rights and Technology - Thursday, March 1, 2007
In class today we had a guest speaker who told us about her time at Human Rights Watch (HRW). She described how HRW typically employs lawyers to do a lot of on the ground research that involves ethnography. She also mentioned other organizations devoted towards advancing human rights, including Witness.org. This group, which was started by the musician Peter Gabriel (remember the song "Sledgehammer" that came out in the 1980s) does some amazing work to promote human rights via ICTs. Its website says, that it "uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change." The organization has produced measurable results worldwide, as further described on its website:
In Defense of the Radio - Friday, February 23, 2007
Washington Post staff writer Delphine Schrank writes in today's paper how the Voice of America (VOA) is cutting its shortwave radio broadcasts and is instead moving in the direction of Internet broadcasts, satellite T.V. and FM radio. The article appears to be another example of policy makers making decisions that do not assist those on the losing side of the digital divide who are in particular need of accessing information, particularly the news. Schrank mentions how current and former VOA staff are baffled by this move, highlighting a disconnect between those who make decisions that impact the lives of millions, based solely on quantitatively data without qualitative/ethnographic data or perhaps ignoring it. The article describes VOA, as an information lifeline for many worldwide by having radio waves penetrate their tightly controlled press, where ever they may reside. Many in the U.S.A. have the luxury to use the Internet to read, watch and listen to the news around the world, where as people living in comparatively economically poorer countries often turn to the radio.
I have pasted the opening paragraph for the article below as well as the link to the entire article:
VOA Says Goodbye to Uzbek, Other Tongues
Agency to Shift Resources to Audiences in Mideast, North Korea, Somalia, Cuba
By Delphine Schrank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 23, 2007; A13
Back home on a farm in Uzbekistan, Navbahor Imamova's mother and siblings crowd around their cranky, Soviet-made radio and tune in daily to Voice of America broadcasts in Uzbek. Though frequently scrambled by Chinese martial music, the VOA journalist said, the broadcast is her family's chief source of credible, uncensored foreign news in the authoritarian Central Asian country.
Anthropology 2.0 on YouTube - Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Michael Wesch is an Assistant ProfessWesch Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University and the creator of a dynamic YouTube video titled Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us. Inside Higher Ed also reviewed the film on its website. I am thrilled to see what anthropologists are creating and how well received his movie has become. It is thought provoking and provides good exposure to the talents of anthropologists. He is doing some very interesting work and his website is worth exploring as well. At the bottom of his website you will find another video describing an interesting teaching exercise he developed called World Simulation. It is an interactive and well thought out approach to instructing anthropology and encouraging students to rethink their culture and role in the world. Click here for more information on leading this exercise.
Update: On March 6, 2007, I found an older entry on http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/
that has links to an interview with Dr. Wesch. You can find the full interview here.
Material Culture - Monday, February 12, 2007
"We are all becoming more multicultural as we have access to both material culture and ideas that disseminate around the world," says the American Anthropology Association (AAA) in its AnthrAssocationwsletter from September 1997. These words are taken from the AAA's official statement on "AAA's" as cited in the eighth edition of Applying Anthropology: An Introductory Reader by Aaron Podolefsky and Peter J. BrownPodolefskyo discuss this issue with some undergraduate students today in class, as our topic is on the role of race in anthropology. It is curious to think that people around the world have been exposed to other people's culture and ideas via the Internet, but has this exposure increased our understanding and appreciation of other cultures or has it reinforced existing biases and prejudices of what people think of each other? I look forward to hearing what students in the classroom have to say about the relationship between material culture, information sharing, multiculturalism and perceptions of race. If you have not yet seen the AAA's project on understandinAAA'se, you have to see the website, it is thought provoking and interactive. (click here)
Blogumentary - Friday, Februrary 9, 2007
I am listening to an online movie about blogs called Blogumentary while doing other work on my computer. It is interesting to think how some bloggers think about blogs. The movie discusses people around the world who developed a personal connection with a young woman who kept a blog, named Plain Layne, about her life in the Midwest of the USA. This person shared very personal things about her life and people would comment on her postings and what she should do with her life when she asked readers for advice. And then...one day, the blog was gone, like a close friend who moved away without saying good bye or leaving a forwarding address. Other bloggers discuss the power of blogs to "watch the media and the world." Examples of how bloggers scrutinize newspapers and television news, comment on what they see, which leads television and newspapers to report on what bloggers reported about them. Que interesante. Another point made in the movie is that blogs make the "news a conversation and not a monologue." By the end of the movie, viewers are shocked (or at least I was) to learn that the author of the blog that disappeared was a married man who wanted to explore the Internet through a blog so he created a fictitious character. I am left wondering about the "truthiness" of blogs.
Fibreculture Journal - Thursday, Februrary 8, 2007
The Australian-based Fibreculture Journal provides insightful perspectives into how ICTs are shaping human behavior and culture. Issue 9 of the journal contains an article titled Domestic ICTs, Desire and Fetish by Michael Arnold, Martin Gibbs and Chris Shepherd from the University of Melbourne, Australia. The authors describe their research methodology within the homes of informants, as something different from traditional ethnography. The called it "the 'Domestic Probe' - an adaption of a novel research method derived from the 'Cultural Probes' developed by Gaver and his colleagues. (Gaver, Dunne and Pacenti, 1999; Gaver and Martin, 2000; Gaver 2001, 2002, 2004; Crabtree et al., 2003). In essence, the Domestic Probe comprised a box of equipment given to the household to use in order to record and interpret their [the informants] use of domestic ICTs. The box contained: local, national and global maps to trace origins and destinations of communications; colour-coded stickers to record each ICT's user and frequency of use; digital and instamatic cameras to record snapshots of the routine and the novel in domestic life; diaries for each household member; a scrapbook for photos and jottings; additional stationary such as coloured pencils, textas, glue, sticky-tape, scissors, etcetera (see Arnold, 2004)."
I have not heard of this methodology before and I am curious if there are anthropologists who have used it and what were their results? It sounds very interesting and possess a seemingly new technological dimension to participatory action research (PAR). I have included below the references cited in the above quote. Click here to read the article in its entirety.
Arnold, M. 'The Connected Home: probing the effects and affects of domesticated ICTs,' Eighth Biennial Participatory Design Conference, Toronto (2004).
Crabtree, A., T. Hemmings, T. Rodden, K. Cheverst, K. Clarke, G. Dewsbury, J. Hughes, and M. Rouncefield. 'Designing with care: adapting Cultural Probes to Inform Design in Sensitive Settings', in Proceedings of OzCHI2003: New Directions in Interaction, information environments, media and technology S. Viller and Wyeth (eds,) (Brisbane, Australia, CHISIG, 2003).
Gaver, B. Designing for Ludic Aspects of Everyday Life, on-line document available at http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw47/gaver.html (2001).
Gaver, B. 'Home is Heaven for Beginners': Probes and Proposals for Domestic Technologies, on-line document available at http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/interliving/chi02/gaver.pdf (2002).
Gaver, B. Domestic Probes, on-line document available at http://www.crd.rca.ac.uk/equator/domestic_probes.html (2004)
Gaver, B., T. Dunne and E. Pacenti. 'Design: Cultural probes', Interactions 6, (1999): 21-29.
Gaver, B. and H. Martin. Alternatives: 'Exploring Information Appliances through Conceptual Design Proposals,' CHI 2000 (Vol. 2, 2000): 209-216.
New Open Source Book - Monday, Februrary 5, 2007
MIT Press released a new book titled "Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software"
Edited by Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam and Karim R. Lakhani (see brief bios below). The book is sold on the MIT Press website, which also provides free sample chapters of the book. It appears that the most if not all of the book is freely available. I hope this serves as a resource for the Open Anthropology movement. A synopsis of the book is cut and pasted below from the MIT Press website.
What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software that can be freely used, modified, and redistributed transformed industry and society, as some predicted, or is this transformation still a work in progress? Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software brings together leading analysts and researchers to address this question, examining specific aspects of F/OSS in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to real-life managerial and technical concerns.
The book analyzes a number of key topics: the motivation behind F/OSS -- why highly skilled software developers devote large amounts of time to the creation of "free" products and services; the objective, empirically grounded evaluation of software -- necessary to counter what one chapter author calls the "steamroller" of F/OSS hype; the software engineering processes and tools used in specific projects, including Apache, GNOME, and Mozilla; the economic and business models that reflect the changing relationships between users and firms, technical communities and firms, and between competitors; and legal, cultural, and social issues, including one contribution that suggests parallels between "open code" and "open society" and another that points to the need for understanding the movement's social causes and consequences.
Joseph Feller is Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork, Ireland.
Brian Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A. Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Global Business and Technology, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Scott A. Hissam is Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
Karim R. Lakhani is a doctoral candidate in management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, and cofounder of the MIT Open Source Research Project.
The Power of Prayer and a Satellite Dish - Sunday, Februrary 4, 2007
WashingtonPost.com posted a story today title Reaching Out With the Word -- and Technology that discussed the use of satellites among U.S.-based churches to broadcast sermons to churches around the country. Churches have been using podcasts of their services for some years now. The use of satellites appears to be growing rapidly among larger churches. I wonder what sort of anthropological studies have been done on the use of technology and relgion? The text below is pulled from the article.
"Often using technology to beam in worship services from a central location, multisite churches are spreading their "brand" to new congregations that are many miles, or even several states, away. Sometimes the branches add their own touches, such as live music, a local pastor and on-site religious education.
"The culture has changed now," said the Rev. Deron Cloud, founder of the Soul Factory, a Forestville church, who now preaches to his 4,000-member flock via a satellite hookup from a new Soul Factory branch in Atlanta. He has raised $1 million and plans to open sites in North Carolina and Alabama this year.
"People used to talk on the telephone and meet in person, but now the culture is satisfied with e-mails and BlackBerries," Cloud said. "We as a congregation made a decision that if we are going to embrace people, we must leave the four walls of the church."Nationwide, one in four megachurches, those with more than 2,000 worshipers, hold services at satellite locations, up from 5 percent in 2000. The number of megachurches with multiple sites is expected to double in the next few years, according to Scott Thumma, a professor of the sociology of religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research."
See the rest of the article here.
A Move Towards "Other Anthropologies" - Thursday, Februrary 1, 2007
An interesting story from today's Christian Science Monitor. Think of its applications for including the voices and opinions of anthropologists whose insights about the discipline have been historically underrepresented.
Aside from news reports that tend to focus on war or election scandal, Americans generally don't hear much about – or from – people in other countries. One reason may be that very little foreign-language literature is translated into English. Less than 3 percent of all books published in English worldwide are translations, according to a leading publishing database. In the United States, just a fraction of the titles that make it into English are translations of foreign novels, short stories, or poetry. Since 9/11, when Americans felt an urgency to learn more about other cultures, a number of efforts have taken root to try to bring more global literature to US audiences.
The online magazine of international literature, Words Without Borders, was founded "to address a yawning gap in literary publishing," says Alane Salierno Mason, founding editor. "We just weren't hearing enough from voices around the world." The e-zine is hosted by Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Originally conceived as a resource for publishing professionals like Mr. Mason (a senior editor at W.W. Norton) to become exposed to international authors, www.wordswithoutborders.org has since evolved to serve a larger purpose: connecting the public directly to the hearts and minds of people beyond American shores. {read the rest of the article here}
The Power of Information - Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The power of information often results from sharing or suppressing it. Historically, anthropological information has been locked away in the paper vaults of journals within a labyrinth of lexicon unfamiliar and seemingly irrelevant to many non-anthropologists. Communicating anthropology to a greater public is the core of Anthropology 2.0. Where Anthropology 1.0 witnessed anthropologists wishing to have the ear of those with the power to create positive structural changes, the post-Internet phase of our discipline allows for information to be potentially ubiquitous among those with access to a cellular mobile phone or laptop with an Internet connection. For example, the website Anthropology.net has grown to "over 1,200 registered users, 1,500 pages of content and 2,500 comments" between August 2004 and December 2006. If you visit the website today, then you will see on the left-hand column, as you scroll down the screen, a world map awash in red dots. Each dot represents cities from where people have visited the website.
In the 2005 article Other Anthropologies, Anthropology Otherwise, Eduardo Restrepo and Arturo Escobar suggest that non-western (and I argue student) anthropologists have long had opinions about the direction, theories and methods of the discipline, but had few options for expressing their voice to larger audiences for critique and comment, thereby being prevented from shaping the discipline, as a whole. The Internet allows for a balancing effect away from tightly controlled conduits of anthropological information towards widespread dissemination, authentication and communication of anthropology. However, there continues to be challenges in having anthropology departments insert into their regulations full credit for faculty members who publish in legitimate, peer-reviewed, online journals. Not all online journals are credible, but there are enough in existence for faculty, tenure and promotion regulations to be revisited with a new eye. I think this change will be widely adopted some day. When I completed my undergraduate senior thesis nearly ten years ago, one of my professors told me not to use too many Internet websites for references, because they were not regarded as credible. Today the American Anthropologist contains articles with online sources without raising questions of veracity. I only hope we do not have to wait another ten years for such a change to occur.
Bridging or Widening the Digital Divide - Monday, January 22, 2007
I communicated with a person today who works for an organization that attempts to narrow the digital divide between those with the resources and knowledge to access the Internet and those without. I learned that many patrons of this very same organization, who are primarily lower income, are suffering under the new policies of certain Florida government offices. Apparently there is a state-wide initiative for citizens to use the Internet as the primary means of requesting and submitting necessary information for government services. I applaud the intended ease, efficiency and cost-saving measures of this effort; however, due consideration should be given for government services targeted at members of society for whom the Internet is a luxury and computer skills are a goal. For example, this person cited how the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), which provides welfare-like services for those in need, is closing many of its physical locations. It is instead asking the poorest members of society to use the Internet for requesting and receiving life-sustaining services. The very same people who are trying to overcome the digital divide now have to confront new divides being made. This appears to be a public policy that has not been well thought out and can benefit from anthropological insight. If anyone has any direct or tangential information about public policies that are adversely impacting the digital divide, please post below or send my way. Thank you.
Human Suffering Statistically Represented - Sunday, January 21, 2007
One of my courses this semester is Urban Poverty with Dr. Susan Greenbaum. It is one of the few classes I have taken which transcends intellectual discourse and seeps into my self-consciousness of how I have formed opinions of the poor and the public policies that influence their lives both domestically and internationally. The class' reading selection is impressive, including Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer. He is a distinguished anthropologist and medical doctor at Harvard University who writes about a Human Suffering Index "that takes into account such factors as access to clean drinking water, daily caloric intake, religious and political freedom, respect for civil rights, and degree of gender inequality" (Farmer 2005: 270).
It is difficult for me to conceive of a quantifiable means of measuring suffering. In many hospital emergency rooms in the USA patients rank their pain from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), which the hospital staff use to determine how soon they will receive medical treatment among those in line. People who cannot communicate verbally may point to a chart in the emergency room representing their pain. Those in poverty do not have a chart, but a Swedish-based nonprofit organization, Gapminder, created something similar. Gapminder has come closer than most in visually representing the statistics of human suffering through a creative computer software program that is based on United Nations data. It is worth a look for acquiring a different perspective of global human suffering by comparing poverty within and between countries.
Three cheers for the website Textually.org which presents news from around the world about the latest cell phone technology and how people are adapting these technologies to their livelihood. In less than a week's worth of the postings, the website presented on speculation governing a Google phone; the functionality and aesthetics of cell phone jewelry; and how a fragrance and clothing company are using terms based on SMS phrases to market their new goods. There is a lot of information devoted towards companies and marketing and also about how people are using these technologies to better their livelihood.
The following was cut and pasted directly from Textually.org:
-- Renting cell phone minutes in Mongolia - Jan Chipchase on Future Perfect reports on how individuals rent out phone minutes in Mongolia.
-- Grameen's Village Phone Program Is providing good business opportunities for more than 260,000 Village Phone operators, mostly poor rural women, all across the country.
-- Mobile phone booths in Nairobi Childhood polio has confined both men in this video to wheelchairs. Now they have a mobile phone business thanks to their government. The introduction of these mobile fixed phones made that possible. The phone is connected to a mobile phone network in Kenya and works like any fixed phone. So every day they place themselves where they expect to attract the most customers who need to make a phone call.
-- Rickshaws connect India's poor A regional mobile phone company in India, Shyam Telecom, has equipped a fleet of rickshaws with a mobile phone. Drivers pedal these mobile payphones throughout the state capital, Jaipur, and the surrounding countryside.
-- Uganda's new bike payphones In an effort to bring telecommunication closer to Ugandans, MTN publiCom has unveiled its latest payphone innovation mounted on a four-wheeled cycle.
-- Phone Bikes in Kamapala A mobile and wireless phone kiosk in Kamapala draws its power from a car battery. Despite its bicyclesque design they were not particularly mobile - one or more tyres were often flat and they remained tethered in one place for the duration of the day.
Theses and Dissertations Published Online - Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Prior to starting my PhD a professor told me that there is an expression about writing a dissertation. "You can stick a hundred dollar bill in it and come back 10 years later to find the money still there." I do not intend to have that happen to my dissertation, which I would like to publish on the Internet. The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is great website for generating ideas and gathering various perspectives about communicating the crowning achievement of one's academic experience to a greater audience. NDLTD also provides awards for those who chose the online publishing route. Further examples of online dissertations include Alex Golub, a prolific anthropological blogger, who published his dissertation on his website. Dr. Kathleen Vaughan also published her dissertation online and it is available on her website. Many European scholars are using the Internet to publish their dissertation as well. The following blog discusses five online dissertations that may be of interest and are worth exploring.
Tech Support - Saturday, March 3, 2007
Many of us have struggled with the complexities of new ICTs. This YouTube clip, which I think is in Danish, has English subtitles and provides a comical understanding of how tech support has evolved since the European Middle Ages. Enjoy.
Human Rights and Technology - Thursday, March 1, 2007
In class today we had a guest speaker who told us about her time at Human Rights Watch (HRW). She described how HRW typically employs lawyers to do a lot of on the ground research that involves ethnography. She also mentioned other organizations devoted towards advancing human rights, including Witness.org. This group, which was started by the musician Peter Gabriel (remember the song "Sledgehammer" that came out in the 1980s) does some amazing work to promote human rights via ICTs. Its website says, that it "uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change." The organization has produced measurable results worldwide, as further described on its website:
- In the Democratic Republic of Congo: On March 23, 2006, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was arrested by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, namely enlisting and conscripting child soldiers. The arrest warrant follows a major advocacy drive by partner AJEDI-Ka/PES including video distribution and screenings to key ICC officials.
- In the U.S.: The State Senate Majority Leader in California introduced sweeping legislation to overhaul the State’s juvenile prison system five days after “System Failure” by partner Books Not Bars revealing rampant abuses in the system was screened at the Capitol.
- In Senegal: The Minister of Women’s and Family Affairs pledged unprecedented funding for women landmine victims, and a regional hospital is providing prostheses free-of-charge as a result of a video by partner RADDHO revealing the devastating effects of these weapons of war.
- In Mexico: Days after partner Comisión Mexicana screened “Dual Injustice” to court and Attorney General officials at the Chihuahua State level, high ranking officials were quoted in a leading national newspaper as saying the Public Ministry may drop charges against a young man tortured into confessing to the murder of his cousin, citing lack of evidence as the reason.
- In Sierra Leone: WITNESS partnered with the International Center for Transitional Justice to support local NGOs in Sierra Leone to develop and introduce a bill in Parliament that would implement all the key imperative recommendations issued by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In Defense of the Radio - Friday, February 23, 2007
Washington Post staff writer Delphine Schrank writes in today's paper how the Voice of America (VOA) is cutting its shortwave radio broadcasts and is instead moving in the direction of Internet broadcasts, satellite T.V. and FM radio. The article appears to be another example of policy makers making decisions that do not assist those on the losing side of the digital divide who are in particular need of accessing information, particularly the news. Schrank mentions how current and former VOA staff are baffled by this move, highlighting a disconnect between those who make decisions that impact the lives of millions, based solely on quantitatively data without qualitative/ethnographic data or perhaps ignoring it. The article describes VOA, as an information lifeline for many worldwide by having radio waves penetrate their tightly controlled press, where ever they may reside. Many in the U.S.A. have the luxury to use the Internet to read, watch and listen to the news around the world, where as people living in comparatively economically poorer countries often turn to the radio.
I have pasted the opening paragraph for the article below as well as the link to the entire article:
VOA Says Goodbye to Uzbek, Other Tongues
Agency to Shift Resources to Audiences in Mideast, North Korea, Somalia, Cuba
By Delphine Schrank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 23, 2007; A13
Back home on a farm in Uzbekistan, Navbahor Imamova's mother and siblings crowd around their cranky, Soviet-made radio and tune in daily to Voice of America broadcasts in Uzbek. Though frequently scrambled by Chinese martial music, the VOA journalist said, the broadcast is her family's chief source of credible, uncensored foreign news in the authoritarian Central Asian country.
Anthropology 2.0 on YouTube - Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Michael Wesch is an Assistant ProfessWesch Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University and the creator of a dynamic YouTube video titled Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us. Inside Higher Ed also reviewed the film on its website. I am thrilled to see what anthropologists are creating and how well received his movie has become. It is thought provoking and provides good exposure to the talents of anthropologists. He is doing some very interesting work and his website is worth exploring as well. At the bottom of his website you will find another video describing an interesting teaching exercise he developed called World Simulation. It is an interactive and well thought out approach to instructing anthropology and encouraging students to rethink their culture and role in the world. Click here for more information on leading this exercise.
Update: On March 6, 2007, I found an older entry on http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/
that has links to an interview with Dr. Wesch. You can find the full interview here.
Material Culture - Monday, February 12, 2007
"We are all becoming more multicultural as we have access to both material culture and ideas that disseminate around the world," says the American Anthropology Association (AAA) in its AnthrAssocationwsletter from September 1997. These words are taken from the AAA's official statement on "AAA's" as cited in the eighth edition of Applying Anthropology: An Introductory Reader by Aaron Podolefsky and Peter J. BrownPodolefskyo discuss this issue with some undergraduate students today in class, as our topic is on the role of race in anthropology. It is curious to think that people around the world have been exposed to other people's culture and ideas via the Internet, but has this exposure increased our understanding and appreciation of other cultures or has it reinforced existing biases and prejudices of what people think of each other? I look forward to hearing what students in the classroom have to say about the relationship between material culture, information sharing, multiculturalism and perceptions of race. If you have not yet seen the AAA's project on understandinAAA'se, you have to see the website, it is thought provoking and interactive. (click here)
Blogumentary - Friday, Februrary 9, 2007
I am listening to an online movie about blogs called Blogumentary while doing other work on my computer. It is interesting to think how some bloggers think about blogs. The movie discusses people around the world who developed a personal connection with a young woman who kept a blog, named Plain Layne, about her life in the Midwest of the USA. This person shared very personal things about her life and people would comment on her postings and what she should do with her life when she asked readers for advice. And then...one day, the blog was gone, like a close friend who moved away without saying good bye or leaving a forwarding address. Other bloggers discuss the power of blogs to "watch the media and the world." Examples of how bloggers scrutinize newspapers and television news, comment on what they see, which leads television and newspapers to report on what bloggers reported about them. Que interesante. Another point made in the movie is that blogs make the "news a conversation and not a monologue." By the end of the movie, viewers are shocked (or at least I was) to learn that the author of the blog that disappeared was a married man who wanted to explore the Internet through a blog so he created a fictitious character. I am left wondering about the "truthiness" of blogs.
Fibreculture Journal - Thursday, Februrary 8, 2007
The Australian-based Fibreculture Journal provides insightful perspectives into how ICTs are shaping human behavior and culture. Issue 9 of the journal contains an article titled Domestic ICTs, Desire and Fetish by Michael Arnold, Martin Gibbs and Chris Shepherd from the University of Melbourne, Australia. The authors describe their research methodology within the homes of informants, as something different from traditional ethnography. The called it "the 'Domestic Probe' - an adaption of a novel research method derived from the 'Cultural Probes' developed by Gaver and his colleagues. (Gaver, Dunne and Pacenti, 1999; Gaver and Martin, 2000; Gaver 2001, 2002, 2004; Crabtree et al., 2003). In essence, the Domestic Probe comprised a box of equipment given to the household to use in order to record and interpret their [the informants] use of domestic ICTs. The box contained: local, national and global maps to trace origins and destinations of communications; colour-coded stickers to record each ICT's user and frequency of use; digital and instamatic cameras to record snapshots of the routine and the novel in domestic life; diaries for each household member; a scrapbook for photos and jottings; additional stationary such as coloured pencils, textas, glue, sticky-tape, scissors, etcetera (see Arnold, 2004)."
I have not heard of this methodology before and I am curious if there are anthropologists who have used it and what were their results? It sounds very interesting and possess a seemingly new technological dimension to participatory action research (PAR). I have included below the references cited in the above quote. Click here to read the article in its entirety.
Arnold, M. 'The Connected Home: probing the effects and affects of domesticated ICTs,' Eighth Biennial Participatory Design Conference, Toronto (2004).
Crabtree, A., T. Hemmings, T. Rodden, K. Cheverst, K. Clarke, G. Dewsbury, J. Hughes, and M. Rouncefield. 'Designing with care: adapting Cultural Probes to Inform Design in Sensitive Settings', in Proceedings of OzCHI2003: New Directions in Interaction, information environments, media and technology S. Viller and Wyeth (eds,) (Brisbane, Australia, CHISIG, 2003).
Gaver, B. Designing for Ludic Aspects of Everyday Life, on-line document available at http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw47/gaver.html (2001).
Gaver, B. 'Home is Heaven for Beginners': Probes and Proposals for Domestic Technologies, on-line document available at http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/interliving/chi02/gaver.pdf (2002).
Gaver, B. Domestic Probes, on-line document available at http://www.crd.rca.ac.uk/equator/domestic_probes.html (2004)
Gaver, B., T. Dunne and E. Pacenti. 'Design: Cultural probes', Interactions 6, (1999): 21-29.
Gaver, B. and H. Martin. Alternatives: 'Exploring Information Appliances through Conceptual Design Proposals,' CHI 2000 (Vol. 2, 2000): 209-216.
New Open Source Book - Monday, Februrary 5, 2007
MIT Press released a new book titled "Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software"
Edited by Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam and Karim R. Lakhani (see brief bios below). The book is sold on the MIT Press website, which also provides free sample chapters of the book. It appears that the most if not all of the book is freely available. I hope this serves as a resource for the Open Anthropology movement. A synopsis of the book is cut and pasted below from the MIT Press website.
What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software that can be freely used, modified, and redistributed transformed industry and society, as some predicted, or is this transformation still a work in progress? Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software brings together leading analysts and researchers to address this question, examining specific aspects of F/OSS in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to real-life managerial and technical concerns.
The book analyzes a number of key topics: the motivation behind F/OSS -- why highly skilled software developers devote large amounts of time to the creation of "free" products and services; the objective, empirically grounded evaluation of software -- necessary to counter what one chapter author calls the "steamroller" of F/OSS hype; the software engineering processes and tools used in specific projects, including Apache, GNOME, and Mozilla; the economic and business models that reflect the changing relationships between users and firms, technical communities and firms, and between competitors; and legal, cultural, and social issues, including one contribution that suggests parallels between "open code" and "open society" and another that points to the need for understanding the movement's social causes and consequences.
Joseph Feller is Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork, Ireland.
Brian Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A. Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Global Business and Technology, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Ireland.
Scott A. Hissam is Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
Karim R. Lakhani is a doctoral candidate in management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, and cofounder of the MIT Open Source Research Project.
The Power of Prayer and a Satellite Dish - Sunday, Februrary 4, 2007
WashingtonPost.com posted a story today title Reaching Out With the Word -- and Technology that discussed the use of satellites among U.S.-based churches to broadcast sermons to churches around the country. Churches have been using podcasts of their services for some years now. The use of satellites appears to be growing rapidly among larger churches. I wonder what sort of anthropological studies have been done on the use of technology and relgion? The text below is pulled from the article.
"Often using technology to beam in worship services from a central location, multisite churches are spreading their "brand" to new congregations that are many miles, or even several states, away. Sometimes the branches add their own touches, such as live music, a local pastor and on-site religious education.
"The culture has changed now," said the Rev. Deron Cloud, founder of the Soul Factory, a Forestville church, who now preaches to his 4,000-member flock via a satellite hookup from a new Soul Factory branch in Atlanta. He has raised $1 million and plans to open sites in North Carolina and Alabama this year.
"People used to talk on the telephone and meet in person, but now the culture is satisfied with e-mails and BlackBerries," Cloud said. "We as a congregation made a decision that if we are going to embrace people, we must leave the four walls of the church."Nationwide, one in four megachurches, those with more than 2,000 worshipers, hold services at satellite locations, up from 5 percent in 2000. The number of megachurches with multiple sites is expected to double in the next few years, according to Scott Thumma, a professor of the sociology of religion at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research."
See the rest of the article here.
A Move Towards "Other Anthropologies" - Thursday, Februrary 1, 2007
An interesting story from today's Christian Science Monitor. Think of its applications for including the voices and opinions of anthropologists whose insights about the discipline have been historically underrepresented.
from the February 01, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0201/p13s02-bogn.html
World literature: Found in translation Online magazines and groups push for greater availabilty of writings from around the globe.
Aside from news reports that tend to focus on war or election scandal, Americans generally don't hear much about – or from – people in other countries. One reason may be that very little foreign-language literature is translated into English. Less than 3 percent of all books published in English worldwide are translations, according to a leading publishing database. In the United States, just a fraction of the titles that make it into English are translations of foreign novels, short stories, or poetry. Since 9/11, when Americans felt an urgency to learn more about other cultures, a number of efforts have taken root to try to bring more global literature to US audiences.
The online magazine of international literature, Words Without Borders, was founded "to address a yawning gap in literary publishing," says Alane Salierno Mason, founding editor. "We just weren't hearing enough from voices around the world." The e-zine is hosted by Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Originally conceived as a resource for publishing professionals like Mr. Mason (a senior editor at W.W. Norton) to become exposed to international authors, www.wordswithoutborders.org has since evolved to serve a larger purpose: connecting the public directly to the hearts and minds of people beyond American shores. {read the rest of the article here}
The Power of Information - Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The power of information often results from sharing or suppressing it. Historically, anthropological information has been locked away in the paper vaults of journals within a labyrinth of lexicon unfamiliar and seemingly irrelevant to many non-anthropologists. Communicating anthropology to a greater public is the core of Anthropology 2.0. Where Anthropology 1.0 witnessed anthropologists wishing to have the ear of those with the power to create positive structural changes, the post-Internet phase of our discipline allows for information to be potentially ubiquitous among those with access to a cellular mobile phone or laptop with an Internet connection. For example, the website Anthropology.net has grown to "over 1,200 registered users, 1,500 pages of content and 2,500 comments" between August 2004 and December 2006. If you visit the website today, then you will see on the left-hand column, as you scroll down the screen, a world map awash in red dots. Each dot represents cities from where people have visited the website.
In the 2005 article Other Anthropologies, Anthropology Otherwise, Eduardo Restrepo and Arturo Escobar suggest that non-western (and I argue student) anthropologists have long had opinions about the direction, theories and methods of the discipline, but had few options for expressing their voice to larger audiences for critique and comment, thereby being prevented from shaping the discipline, as a whole. The Internet allows for a balancing effect away from tightly controlled conduits of anthropological information towards widespread dissemination, authentication and communication of anthropology. However, there continues to be challenges in having anthropology departments insert into their regulations full credit for faculty members who publish in legitimate, peer-reviewed, online journals. Not all online journals are credible, but there are enough in existence for faculty, tenure and promotion regulations to be revisited with a new eye. I think this change will be widely adopted some day. When I completed my undergraduate senior thesis nearly ten years ago, one of my professors told me not to use too many Internet websites for references, because they were not regarded as credible. Today the American Anthropologist contains articles with online sources without raising questions of veracity. I only hope we do not have to wait another ten years for such a change to occur.
Bridging or Widening the Digital Divide - Monday, January 22, 2007
I communicated with a person today who works for an organization that attempts to narrow the digital divide between those with the resources and knowledge to access the Internet and those without. I learned that many patrons of this very same organization, who are primarily lower income, are suffering under the new policies of certain Florida government offices. Apparently there is a state-wide initiative for citizens to use the Internet as the primary means of requesting and submitting necessary information for government services. I applaud the intended ease, efficiency and cost-saving measures of this effort; however, due consideration should be given for government services targeted at members of society for whom the Internet is a luxury and computer skills are a goal. For example, this person cited how the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), which provides welfare-like services for those in need, is closing many of its physical locations. It is instead asking the poorest members of society to use the Internet for requesting and receiving life-sustaining services. The very same people who are trying to overcome the digital divide now have to confront new divides being made. This appears to be a public policy that has not been well thought out and can benefit from anthropological insight. If anyone has any direct or tangential information about public policies that are adversely impacting the digital divide, please post below or send my way. Thank you.
Human Suffering Statistically Represented - Sunday, January 21, 2007
One of my courses this semester is Urban Poverty with Dr. Susan Greenbaum. It is one of the few classes I have taken which transcends intellectual discourse and seeps into my self-consciousness of how I have formed opinions of the poor and the public policies that influence their lives both domestically and internationally. The class' reading selection is impressive, including Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer. He is a distinguished anthropologist and medical doctor at Harvard University who writes about a Human Suffering Index "that takes into account such factors as access to clean drinking water, daily caloric intake, religious and political freedom, respect for civil rights, and degree of gender inequality" (Farmer 2005: 270).
It is difficult for me to conceive of a quantifiable means of measuring suffering. In many hospital emergency rooms in the USA patients rank their pain from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest), which the hospital staff use to determine how soon they will receive medical treatment among those in line. People who cannot communicate verbally may point to a chart in the emergency room representing their pain. Those in poverty do not have a chart, but a Swedish-based nonprofit organization, Gapminder, created something similar. Gapminder has come closer than most in visually representing the statistics of human suffering through a creative computer software program that is based on United Nations data. It is worth a look for acquiring a different perspective of global human suffering by comparing poverty within and between countries.
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