Anthropologist, CTO
Is it really that strange to think that an anthropologist would be the best choice for a Chief Technology Officer? According to Susannah Fox, the CTO for HHS…
Tag: Design
An Engineering Anthropologist: Why tech companies need to hire software developers with ethnographic skills
Note from the Editor, Tricia Wang: I’m very please to announce that the next contributor in the Co-designing with machines edition is Astrid Countee (@ianthro), an anthropologist, software de…
The human-side of artificial intelligence and machine learning
Note from the Editor, Tricia Wang: Next up in our Co-designing with machines edition is Steven Gustafson (@stevengustafson), founder of the Knowledge Discovery Lab at the General Electric Gl…
The hidden story of how metrics are being used in courtrooms and newsrooms to make more decisions
Note from the Editor, Tricia Wang: The next author for the Co-designing with machines edition is Angèle Christin (@angelechristin), sociologist and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Data & Soci…
Why do brands lose their chill? How bots, algorithms, and humans can work together on social media
Editor’s Note: The fourth contributor to the Co-designing with machines edition is Molly Templeton (@mollymeme), digital and social media expert, Director of Social Media at Everybody …
Mindful Algorithms: the new role of the designer in generative design
Editor’s Note: Next up in our Co-designing with machines edition is Che-Wei Wang, (Alicia Dudek (@sayway), is a designer and architect who runs CW&T, a design study with his partner…
Lou and Cee Cee prepare for fieldwork in the future: a world where robots conduct ethnography
Editor’s Note: Kicking off our Co-designing with machines edition is Alicia Dudek (@aliciadudek), Innovation Insight Lead & Design Ethnographer at Deloitte Digital Australia. Using …
Co-designing with machines: moving beyond the human/machine binary
Letter from the Editor: I am happy to announce Welcome to the The Co-Desinging with Machines edition. As someone with one foot in industry redesigning organizations to flourish in a…
The dos & don’ts of Cultural Appropriation
In “The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation” (2015, The Atlantic), author Jeni Avins argues that cultural appropriation can actually be a positive thing. Heavily focused on the…
Critiquing Anthropological (textbook) Images
Google images: “anthropology textbooks” from Dori Turnstall Think about the typical cover images of anthropology textbooks. Most likely, you are thinking about exotic images of non-Western p…
This is what we do to dreamers
Let’s say you are starting a startup and today you are standing in front of a venture capitalist. With impatience in his voice, the VC says, “Tell me again…
Dark Value, a new book published today
I wrote this brief book in 2015 and promptly put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Then a couple of days ago (May 3, 2016), Virginia Postrel posted…
The ‘wicked grin’ test (as a new creative measure)
How do you know when something in our culture is really good? I think it’s when it makes us grin a wicked grin. This is one of those: Dave Chappelle does…
Coming to #SCA2016: Infrastructures of Collaboration
I am excited to announce with my co-organizer, Amy Robbins, that our panel for the biennial meeting of the Society for Cultural Anthropology has been accepted and is…
Exploring Boundaries: From Access to Female Sexworkers to the Question of Research
When designing a research project, a researcher’s initial plans are often interrupted by what data we actually can access. Whether negotiating political structures, cultural taboos, necessary permissi…
Lemon Difficult: Building a Strategic Speculation Consultancy
Joseph Lindley works with design fiction in order to facilitate meaningful speculation about the future. In between he likes to make music, take photographs and combine the other two…
Happy #WorldAnthropologyDay! Celebrate with these great episodes! #WorldAnthroDay
Happy World Anthropology Day! To celebrate #WorldAnthropologyDay we here at TaL have curated some of our favorite past episodes covering how we approach anthropology and where we see…
Don’t panic: the smart city is here!
Ding Wang, in her own words, ‘has a special interest in pursuing degrees whose names consist of two random words’ (specifically Tourism Management, Design Ethnography, and now Dig…
Everybody’s an Ethnographer!
Dhruv Sharma has a background in anthropology, has worked in various countries as an ethnographer, and also holds a master’s degree in design ethnography from Dundee University. His doctoral …
What’s the matter with Ethnography?
Robert Potts is a filmmaker, lecturer, designer, and PhD candidate at the HighWire Centre for Doctoral Training who takes special interest in a diverse range of subjects including shared narr…
Anthropology without Borders? Bringing the Study of People to the People
Join TAL as they explore the meaning and movements behind the buzz words that shape anthropology when it reaches beyond the classroom. Applied, Public, Design, and Open Anthropology.…
Taking Risks in Teaching Anthropology, Part I
This is the first of a two-part blog post in which Suzanne Z. Gottschang from Smith College outlines the benefits of integrating a real-world assignment into her introductory…
What on Earth is Post Disciplinary Ethnography?
This post is part of the Post Disciplinary Ethnography Edition. ‘Jargon free’ text is the name of the game according to the Ethnography Matters style guide, so titling…