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Interview with Michael Wesch: How collaborative technologies change scholarship

Published on February 19, 2007 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, cyberanthropology, globalisation, internet, technology, Us and Them

(via del.icio.us) After his video about collaborative tools on the web (like blogs, wikis etc), Michael Wesch has become the most talked about anthropologist on the internet. In an interview with John Battelle’s Searchblog, Wesch explains his interest in what geeks call web 2.0:

For me, cultural anthropology is a continuous exercise in expanding my mind and my empathy, building primarily from one simple principle: everything is connected.

(…)

For me, the ultimate promise of digital technology is that it might enable us to truly see one another once again and all the ways we are interconnected. It might help us create a truly global view that can spark the kind of empathy we need to create a better world for all of humankind.

He made his first website in 1998 and saw “a tremendous potential for transforming the way we present our research”. Since then, he tells us, he has had a passion for exploring the latest technologies and how they an be used to communicate ideas in more effective ways.

Farther down in the comment field he explains:

The radically collaborative technologies emerging on the Web create the possibility for doing scholarship in the mode of conversation rather than argument, or to transform the argument as war metaphor into something that suggests collaboration rather than combat.

Personally, I prefer the metaphor of the dance and that we are all here in this webscape dancing and playing around with ideas. The best dancers are those that find a way to “lose themselves” in the music – pushing the limits of the dance without fear of tripping or falling because they know that it is all part of the dance.

>> read the whole interview on John Battelle’s Searchblog

>> watch the video

As said, his video was widely debated, for anthropological comments see among others: mike wesch rocks the video essay (Savage Minds), Mike Wesch’s Web 2.0 video makes waves, expands our understanding of this digital phenomenon (Anthropology.net), Anthropologists on Web 2.0 (TechnoTaste) and Internet 6 or Web 2.0: Video Edition (Disparate, Alexandre Enkerli)

His video is part of his work at the Digital Ethnography working group at Kansas State University.

Last year, Wesch was guestblogger at Savage Minds and blogged about new teaching methods.

Paper by Erkan Saka: Blogging as a Research Tool for Ethnographic Fieldwork

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2006 – The Year of Open Access Anthropology?

The Internet Gift Culture

(via del.icio.us) After his video about collaborative tools on the web (like blogs, wikis etc), Michael Wesch has become the most talked about anthropologist on the internet. In an interview with John Battelle's Searchblog, Wesch explains his interest in what…

Islam in Morocco: TV and Internet more important than mosques

Published on December 10, 2006 by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, internet, media, religion cosmology, technology

Another example of how religious and cultural practices change: A soon to be released survey of religious practices in Morocco will show that the majority of Moroccans prefer to pray alone, and use audiovisual media and the internet for information on their religion, according to Magharebia.com:

About 65% of those interviewed pray on a regular basis and a significant portion of Moroccans practise their religion in an individual manner, rather than collectively. As for sources of religious knowledge, the survey has demonstrated the ever-growing role of satellite channels, audiovisual media in general, cassettes and the Internet. These channels have become essential sources, taking the place of traditional written sources, to the level of 85%.

The survey also picks up on the shrinking role of institutions providing religious teaching in the acquisition of religious knowledge. These institutions, such as the family, the mosque, the school, the brotherhood etc., do not play the role they used to play in giving Moroccan people a grounding in religion.

As for the status of women, the survey highlights the ever-growing role of women in the field of religion.

The survey was carried out by three Moroccan researchers — sociologist Mohamed El Eyadi, political analyst Mohamed Tozy and anthropologist Hassan Rachik — who were assisted by a team of field workers.

>> read the whole story in Magharebia.com

What does it mean to be Muslim in a secular society? Anthropologist thinks ahead

Islam: Embracing modernity while remaining true to their traditions and core beliefs

Book review: Mahmood Mamdani: “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim”

Islam in Europe: Mainstream society as the provider of conditions

Islam Is Gaining a Foothold in Chiapas

How Islamic cassette sermons challenge the moral and political landscape of the Middle East

Lila Abu-Lughod: It’s time to give up the Western obsession with veiled Muslim women

Open Source Fieldwork! Show how you work!

Published on December 1, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, cyberanthropology, fieldwork / methods, Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing, technology

Andreas Lloyd from the University of Copenhagen extends our notion of Open Access Anthropology and writes:

Now that I’ve officially finished my fieldwork, and with all the talk going on about Open Access Anthropology, I thought I’d try my own little Open Access experiment. I’ve decided to publish the question guide I’ve used for my fieldwork under the GPL. I’ve even indented and commented them in proper code fashion (or, at least, as far as I’ve been capable of emulating it). Also, at suggestion of one of my informants, I’ve answered my own questions (…)

In Opening the source, he explains:

Traditionally, anthropologists guard their questions and approaches fairly carefully as it does say a lot about how they think and act as anthropologists. A question guide can in this way be seen as the source code for one of their basic methods – the interview.

Lloyd has done fieldwork in the Ubuntu open source community and published several papers on technology and anthropology

>> visit Anders Lloyds blog

New Open Access Anthropology Website, mailinglist, chat and t-shirts!

antropolohgi.info special Open Access Anthropology

Open Access Anthropology – news archive

Andreas Lloyd from the University of Copenhagen extends our notion of Open Access Anthropology and writes:

Now that I’ve officially finished my fieldwork, and with all the talk going on about Open Access Anthropology, I thought I’d try my own…

Paper by Erkan Saka: Blogging as a Research Tool for Ethnographic Fieldwork

Published on November 6, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, internet, journal articles / papers, Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing, technology

Erkan Saka, one of the most active blogging anthropologists, has published his paper Blogging as a Research Tool for Ethnographic Fieldwork that he presented at the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers in Brisbane six weeks ago.

The paper is a good introduction into the topic. It was inspired by recent discussions on anthropology blogs.

His main points:

Blogging occupies an interesting place between the personal and the public. The moment one starts blogging, s/he becomes public.
Blogging brings immediate feedback; not only from the limited scholarly circles but from a wider public/audience which in turn exposes exposes the ethnographer to a much more effective issue of accountability.
Moreover, blogging urges to see motives in a more regular sense, thus creates a strong sense of regularity that forces the ethnographer to produce on a regular basis which in turn produces a constant appeal to narrate what would normally remain fragments of field notes.
Finally, blogging might be a remedy to the anxiety of being in ‘after the fact’ that is shared by many anthropologists. Blogging takes place in the present tense while actively engaging with ‘the fact’, with the emergent phenomena unlike the later edited institutionally accepted monographs most of which become outdated.

In this paper, Erkan Saka also compares blogging to traditional journalism and reviews relevant literature on blogging.

>> read the whole paper

UPDATE: An updated version of this paper was discussed in the Media Anthropology Network.

antropologi.info survey: Six anthropologists on Anthropology and Internet

Anthropologist Kerim Friedman: Welcome to the Blogsphere: Stop Yelling at the TV and Get Online!

More and more academics use blogs

Ethnographic study on bloggers in California & New York

Why blogging matters: Handbook for global bloggers is out

Anthropology Newspaper – Overview over blogging anthropologists (and some others)

Second generation migrants blog more about race and ethnicity

Published on October 31, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, cyberanthropology, fieldwork / methods, globalisation, internet, migration, technology

Anthropologist Jesse de Leon shares some of his results from his field work among Filipino bloggers and their expression of Filipino identity on blogs.

He found five major categories of Filipino bloggers: Cosmopolitans, the Philippine Elite, Im/migrants, Second Generation Diasporic Filipinos, and Younger Filipinos in the Philippines. They blog about different topics. The way he used linking in his research has especially caught my attention. You somehow express your identity the way you use links on your blog.

Jesse de Leon writes:

Second Generation Diasporic Filipinos rarely link to blogs written by the preceding groups nor leave comments. More than the other groups, these Filipino bloggers discuss race and ethnicity. Im/migrants also discuss such things, but these topics seem especially relevant to the Second Generation, judging by how much they blog about race and ethnicity. I’ve noticed the same in my interviews.

Finally come Younger Filipinos in the Philippines. Generally, they don’t link to blogs written by Second Generation Diasporic Filipinos, even though they’re the same age and often have similar interests. They’re far more likely to link to blogs written by the other groups.

>> read his whole post on Sarapen

He has also published his first outline of his thesis. Very impressive. I wish I was so organised… (sometimes at least…)

Anthropologist Jesse de Leon shares some of his results from his field work among Filipino bloggers and their expression of Filipino identity on blogs.

He found five major categories of Filipino bloggers: Cosmopolitans, the Philippine Elite, Im/migrants, Second Generation Diasporic…