Why haven’t there been such blog posts about the recent EASA-conference (European Association of Social Anthropologists)? Anthropologist Grant McCracken has presented a paper at the EPIC-conference (Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference) and written three blog posts, among others about his presentation (and the usefulness of ethnography):
In my presentation on Monday at EPIC 2006, I proposed that we might want to take advantage of the “extra data” effect. Ethnography is often most useful when we don’t know what we need to know. The method is good at casting the net wide. We ask lots of questions. Collect lots of data. Apply lots of theory and interpretation. Eventually, we begin to see what it is we need to see. At the end of this process we find ourselves in possession of a lot of data we cannot use. This “extra data” is an opportunity.
Read also part II and part III
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Anthropology and the World: What has happened at the EASA conference?