This document provides an overview of key concepts in digital anthropology from the book Digital Anthropology edited by Heather Horst and Daniel Miller. It discusses six principles of digital anthropology including how the digital intensifies culture's dialectical nature. The document also summarizes several chapters that address issues like disability and the digital world, how new media is incorporated into everyday life, and the challenges and potentials of digital technologies. It emphasizes that digital worlds are as culturally relative and material as analog worlds and should be studied using traditional anthropological methods like long-term ethnographic fieldwork.
Max Weber Verstehen ( Intepretative Understanding)Deep Gurung
This slide contains the philosophy of Max Weber about 'Verstehen' or 'Interpretative Understanding' of Social Reality. Max Weber suggests a method to gain knowledge about society through 'Verstehen'. This method is very popular in Social Science Research.
Symbolic Interactionism by George Herbert MeadAnne Cortez
This lecture discusses the Symbolic Interactionism theory of George Herbert Mead. It covers the following topics: interpersonal communication, symbolic interaction, and creation of the self.
Max Weber Verstehen ( Intepretative Understanding)Deep Gurung
This slide contains the philosophy of Max Weber about 'Verstehen' or 'Interpretative Understanding' of Social Reality. Max Weber suggests a method to gain knowledge about society through 'Verstehen'. This method is very popular in Social Science Research.
Symbolic Interactionism by George Herbert MeadAnne Cortez
This lecture discusses the Symbolic Interactionism theory of George Herbert Mead. It covers the following topics: interpersonal communication, symbolic interaction, and creation of the self.
Modernization the process of social change and development with reference to ...shakirsoc
Modernization the process of social change and development with reference to economic development
by shakir ullah M.Phil sociology the university of agriculture peshawar pakistan
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to people's particular utilization of dialect to make images and normal implications, for deduction and correspondence with others.
Media Life is a course intended for undergraduate students across campus. Its goal is to make people aware of the role that media play in their everyday life. The key to understanding a "media life" is to see our lives not as lived WITH media (which would lead to a focus on media effects and media-centric theories of society), but rather IN media (where the distinction between what we do with and without media dissolves).
This article aims to present #Unplugging > Beyond Hyper-Connected Societies Workshop that will be conducted by Dr Calzada & Dr Cobo at the University of Oxford on 20th June by the support of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
Modernization the process of social change and development with reference to ...shakirsoc
Modernization the process of social change and development with reference to economic development
by shakir ullah M.Phil sociology the university of agriculture peshawar pakistan
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to people's particular utilization of dialect to make images and normal implications, for deduction and correspondence with others.
Media Life is a course intended for undergraduate students across campus. Its goal is to make people aware of the role that media play in their everyday life. The key to understanding a "media life" is to see our lives not as lived WITH media (which would lead to a focus on media effects and media-centric theories of society), but rather IN media (where the distinction between what we do with and without media dissolves).
This article aims to present #Unplugging > Beyond Hyper-Connected Societies Workshop that will be conducted by Dr Calzada & Dr Cobo at the University of Oxford on 20th June by the support of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
Sociology of the Internet and New Media.pptxSandykaFundaa
• Social Construction of Technology,
• Digital inequalities – Digital Divide and Access,
• Economy of New Media - Intellectual value;
• digital media ethics,
• new media and popular culture.
111What Is the Elephant in the Digital RoomAny hi.docxmoggdede
11
1
What Is the Elephant in the Digital Room?
Any history of the past three decades will give prominent, if not preeminent,
attention to the emergence of the Internet and the broader digital revolu-
tion. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, signs point to its being
a globally defining feature of human civilization going forward, until it even-
tually becomes so natural, so much a part of the social central nervous sys-
tem, as to defy recognition as something new or distinct to our being, like
speech itself.
To some extent, the revolution can be chronicled in the sheer amount
of information being generated and shared. In 1989, which seems like a
century ago, Richard Saul Wurman wrote of “information anxiety” created
by overload because there were a thousand books published every day world-
wide and nearly ten thousand periodicals then being published in the united
States.1 Google’s Eric Schmidt estimates that if one digitally recorded all
extant human cultural artifacts and information created from the dawn of
time until 2003, one would need 5 billion gigabytes of storage space. by
2010 people created that much data every two days.2 by 2012 the amount of
video being uploaded to youTube had doubled since 2010, to the equivalent
of 180,000 feature-length movies per week.3 Put another way, in less than
a week, youTube generates more content than all the films and television
programs hollywood has produced in its entire history.
Another way to grasp the digital revolution is by the amount of time
people immerse themselves in media. An extensive 2009 study found that
most Americans, regardless of their age, spend at least eight and a half hours
per day looking at a television, computer screen, or mobile phone screen,
frequently using two or three screens simultaneously.4 Another 2009 study,
by the Global Information Industry Center, determined that the average
2 digital disconnect
American consumes “information” for 11.4 hours per day, up from 7.4 hours
in 1980.5 A 2011 study of twenty thousand schoolchildren throughout Mas-
sachusetts determined that 20 percent of third graders had cell phones and
over 90 percent were going online. Forty percent of fifth graders and nearly
85 percent of middle schoolers had cell phones, generally smartphones with
Internet access.6 The Internet has long since stopped being optional.
In the united States, Europe, and much of the rest of the world, one need
not have a teenage child to understand that “social networks have become
ubiquitous, necessary, and addictive.” 7 To the students I teach, life without
mobile Internet access is unthinkable. When I describe my college years in
the early 1970s, they have trouble grasping how people managed to com-
municate, how anything could get done, how limited the options seemed to
be, how life could even be led. It would be akin to my great-grandparents
from 1860 Nova Scotia or eastern Kentucky returning to describe their ...
Introduction to PhilosophyFall 2017Essay Exam 2Due Date Tues.docxnormanibarber20063
Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2017
Essay Exam 2
Due Date Tuesday November 7
1000 words
Essays in Unit 2
Gilbert Ryle, “Descartes’s Myth”
John Searle, “Can Computers Think?”
David Chalmers, “The Hard Problem of Consciousness”
Here are some general directions before you read the questions. You only answer 1 prompt, but in each question you are asked to agree or disagree with the position in the reading that starts the question. In doing so you are giving reasons to agree or disagree and that must be more than simply repeating what is in the exposition.
The completed essay must be 1000 words; your discussion should be roughly 800 for the expository part and 200 words for critical assessment part. I emphasize that this separate word count is rough, so the critical assessment could be longer. But keep in mind that there must be content in any critical assessment. If it is just filler beyond 200 words, then that will not improve your essay.
Choose 1 of the following
1. Discuss Ryle’s criticism of Descartes’s mind-body dualism and how Ryle supports his criticism. Discuss your critical assessment of Ryle (i.e., reasons for agreeing or disagreeing).
2. Discuss Searle’s position on strong AI and how he defends it. Discuss your critical assessment of Searle (i.e., reasons for agreeing or disagreeing).
3. Discuss Chalmers position on consciousness and how he defends it. Discuss your critical assessment of Chalmers (i.e., reasons for agreeing or disagreeing).
Chapter 28 TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIALITY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM: CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR THE HUMAN SERVICE GENERALIST
EUGENE M. DeROBERTIS AND ROBERT SALDARINI
Human services can be characterized as a broad social movement designed to counterbalance the emphasis on rugged individualism in American culture (Cimmino, 1999, p. 13). Thus, part and parcel of the human service orientation toward helping others is the notion that human service generalists place “a portion of responsibility on society for creating conditions that reduce opportunities for people to be successful by perpetuating social problems” (p. 14). Among the myriad challenges that human service generalists address in their work are problems involving the development of the self within the social context (p. 10). As is well known, Maslow’s (1968) hierarchy of needs speaks to the importance of interpersonal relations in self-development with his articulation of needs for love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. Hansell’s motivation theory also addresses the need for a co-constitution of the self by noting that humans need intimacy, closeness, belonging, self-identity, and social roles (Schmolling and Burger, 1989). Accordingly, it is in the interest of competent service delivery for human service workers to be aware of burgeoning trends in the interpersonal dimension of our lives that pose new challenges to a healthy social climate and optimal self-development. Such trends can be found in the ever-increasing rel.
From artificially intelligent systems towards real thinking tools and human s...Jorn Bettin
From artificially intelligent systems towards real thinking tools and human scale models that improve both human and machine learning
--
In an increasingly software and data-intensive human world, the objective of human-scale computing is to improve filtering, collaboration, thinking, and learning:
1. between humans,
2. between humans and software systems,
3. and between software systems.
This objective is another way of stating the goal of developing a 'language and interaction style' that is better than any formal or informal language reliant on linear syntax.
--------------------------------------
Jorn Bettin is a Partner at S23M and loves building and working with high-performance teams. Jorn works with top-level subject matter experts and transdisciplinary teams to uncover and activate deep domain knowledge.
Jorn has a background in mathematics and his experience covers the following industries: logistics, industrial automation, healthcare, insurance, banking, legal and accounting, telecommunications, electricity, and government.
S23M’s MODA + MODE thinking tools complement Kaizen and agile techniques, enabling people and software systems to interact in the simplest possible way. MODA + MODE techniques create bridges of understanding between disciplines and organisational silos.
Jorn is passionate about open innovation and about addressing challenges that go beyond the established framework of research in industry, government and academia via the quarterly CIIC unconference. He is a co-author of a number of books on model driven product line engineering, is an expert on semantic interoperability, and has worked in methodology leadership roles at IBM in the 1990s.
Jorn is also part of Autistic Collaboration – a mutual support hub for neurodivergent individuals and ventures, and advises clients on the creation of inclusive cultures of innovation and knowledge sharing.
Global Engagement in an Interconnected WorldSummarized from a p.docxwhittemorelucilla
Global Engagement in an Interconnected World
*Summarized from a paper by the same title, authored by Dr. John Lee, Associate Professor of Social Studies, N.C. State University
Introduction
A mother sits with her son at a computer. Music fills the room as stylishly dressed kids dance on a computer screen. The scene is a house in the Western African country of Senegal where an encouraging mother is watching a music video with her son and offering her opinion of her son’s favorite new musical group, Rania. The group is from South Korea and is part of a music phenomenon called Korean Pop (or K-Pop) that fuses electronic, hip hop, rock and R&B musical forms. The young man made a video of his mother’s opinion of the group and put it on YouTube. A South Korean musical group, singing music online that emerged in black American culture, is being shared by an African boy on a global commercial video sharing network. How did we get to this point and what are the implications of this interconnected and overlapping world for this young man’s future and the future of young people in the United States?
A certain vision of the future is already here, although unevenly represented around the world. This future is cross-cultural and supported by a global economic system of multinational interests delivered through a decentralized communications network. Young people today are growing up in an interconnected world with access to information through a wide variety of mediums and devices that support the exchange of ideas and opinions. Given that these systems for communication are in constant flux and are being rapidly developed, children must prepare for a future that will look different than the world of their parents.
Trends in Youth Global Engagement
There are six trends that will shape the global engagement of Generation Z over the next decade. Each of them is outlined below.
Trend #1 – The Emergence of an Online Global Identity
Online social networks connect people and create avenues for extending our identity. Identity is connected to our physical being, but increasingly young people are crafting online identities using social networks. Manuel Castells describes this phenomenon in his recent trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Castells argues that the organization of global economics, political and social institutions prompts individuals to create meaning in their lives through collective action. This explains why networks such as Facebook have become so popular (500 million active users), so fast (Facebook went online in 2004). The attraction of Facebook is the human interaction and collective action that it facilitates. The technology is much less important than the human activities that the technologies enable. In fact, actual interfaces such as Facebook come and go rather quickly (e.g. AOL and MySpace, both with explosive growth and quick declines). These global networks allow people to be free of their “other” identities - ...
Slides from a series of talks for the IET's IoT India Congress and some associated events - SRM Chennai, PES Bengaluru, Srishti Bengaluru. I used different subsets of the slides in each talk - this is the whole deck.
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
Embracing GenAI - A Strategic ImperativePeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
2. Humanexus
(2014)
• Produced under the guidance of
Katy Borner, IUB School of
Library and Information
Sciences.
• Evolution of communication
• Speech, writing, digital media.
• Confronts the dangers and
potential benefits of
technology.
4. Questions to
consider
1
What are the risks
and rewards of the
digital age?
2
How does
anthropology help
us understand
digital cultures as
well as the
experiences of
people in their
lived experiences?
3
Is your life online
more or less
authentic than
your analogue life?
Explain.
4
What challenges
does the digital
world present,
solve?
5
How has the way
anthropology is
done changed?
5. Six Principles of Digital
Anthropology
1. The digital intensifies dialectical nature of culture.
1. From German philosopher, Georg Wilheim Hegel - dialectical thinking
refers to the relationship between simultaneous growth of the universal
and the particular that are interdependent rather than oppositional.
Internet provides us with numerous examples e.g.
https://www.wikipedia.org/
2. “Humanity is not one iota more mediated by the rise of the digital” (p. 3).
1. In this case Miller and Horst are using mediated to mean exposed and
influenced by media, Implied in their explanation that predigital or
analogue life is no less “authentic” than digital life.
2. It is simply nostalgia to say analogue life is more authentic.
3. They use the example of medieval Christians influenced by the media of
their time. Instead of websites, Reddit, or FB, they had stain glass,
architecture.
3. Digital anthropologies is the commitment holism.
4. Reasserts the cultural relativism, which counters the homogeneity of digital
worlds.
5. Digital cultures are ambiguous regarding limitlessness and unlimitedness,
bordered and bordered.
6. Digital worlds are no more or less material than analogue worlds!
6. “Disabilityin the
DigitalAge”
by FayeGinsburg
Editors Horst and Miller argue that " all people are equally cultural"
regardless if they are in the face to face world or digital world (p. 12).
Authenticity of digital world is questioned.
Digital worlds are not more or less real than analogue worlds.
Virtual v. real (p.13)
No reason to privilege one over the other.
Ginsburg addresses
Disabled people are largely invisible in analogue world and popular
media.
Make up 15 – 20 % world population.
Multivocality and agency
References Amanda Braggs “In My Language” (8 minutes).
Ideas of personhood and norms
Accessibility and design for multiple modalities.
Motives of her research
Activism
Raising a child with familial disautonomia
Argues that exposure leads to acceptance
Rethinking traditional kinship models.
Findings
“These cases help us see how the capacities of digital media enable
significant interventions in our everyday understandings of what it means to
be human for the estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the world’s population that
lives with disabilities, a category that anyone can join in a heart beat” (p.
119).
7. New MediaTechnologies in
Everyday Life by HeatherA.
Horst
3 motivations to commit to holism (p. 16).
Individual
ethnographic
global
No one lives a completely digital life - all digital needs an
analogue component.
Choice of media – smart phone, PC, tablet, etc.
Horst frames her research using Pierre Bourdieu’s concept
of habitus (patterns of everyday life).
Examines effects of modernization, urbanization,
and globalization on domestic spaces and practices.
Double articulation of technology
8. Horst’s ethnography
Five years researching.
Informants “digital natives”
Three case studies from SiliconeValley
A family with two sons whose mother rearranges their public space to monitor technology.
Spatial arrangement/negotiation of new media in the home
A family with two daughters that take ownership of their own space and negotiate their own
technology use.
Notions of the self, coming of age, and privacy.
A high school senior with a vibrant online life (Fandom) that does not mix with the analogue.
Role of media consumer producing material traditionally associated with producers and
broadcasters.
Findings: New Media signals a return focus on the home.
Taking digital ethnographies seriously does not mean privileging one space (analogue)
over the other (digital), rather necessary to understand how the spaces come together.
Focusing on the mundane reflects the importance of how media practices emerge and
change over time.
Valuing the emic perspective
9. Technology’s cultural relativism
• VOICE ANDTHE PRINCIPLEOF RELATIVSM:
• Debate and representation of digital is derived from the Imagination of scifi and
modernism that predicts a homogenized global world, without expression or
cultural uniqueness (p. 18-19).
• The Internet is always a local invention by its users.
• “Social Networking Sites” by Daniel Miller
• Trinidad & Philippines
• Liming – which refers to hanging out on a corner is a wayTrinis indigenize
Facebook.
• Shows the importance of connecting migrants and family back home.
• Showing how Facebook is changed by users, vice versa.
• SNS enable Filipino mothers and their left behind children to maintain
contact.
• Allows for increased surveillance, but sometimes leads to broken hearts.
• Separating SNS depending on network wishing to maintain ties with.
10. Challenges of
DigitalWorld
E-waste - the exploitation of raw materials,
dumping of e-waste, exploitative employment,
racist stereotypes in role-playing games, digital
inequality.
E-waste follows global and political economy -
Africa/Asia
Downloads - lessen material
waste. videoconferencing save on gas, lessens
carbon footprint.
Design imposes ideology.
Digital privileges North America and Europe leading
to English hegemony, and cultural dominance.
Ultimately many digital anthropology studies used
to legitimize corporate interests.
AMBIVALENCEANDTHE PRINCIPLE OF
OPENNESSAND CLOSURE
Allows for authenticity.
A Rape in Cyber space - explores earlier virtual
worlds where users create avatars in an imagined
gentler world than the analogue.
Avatars taken over to engage in
unspeakable sexual practices with selves
and others.
Victims felt violated, began to see
cyberspace as a threat, seeking equivalent
of cyberpolice to address violation of online
selves (p. 21).
11. Prosumer
Traditional divisions between consumer and producers break
down as creativity of consumers incorporated into the design
of product for purchase.
Digital facilities encourage consumers’ creativity: blogs, FB,
MySpace, fandom.
Producers deliberately delegate creative work to consumers
and designers must follow trends of created consumption.
Online feedback culture:TripAdviser, RottenTomatoes…
The digital is dialectical.
Main impact of digital has been to make these contradictions
more explicit or expose contextual issues of power and political
control.
12. NORMATIVITYAND
THE PRINCIPLEOF
MATERIALITY
• Impossible to be humans without artefacts (24).
• Artefacts do more than express human intention, they
also allow humans to act in the world. Material is also
present in the digital world. This relates to the 6th
principle in the book.
• Material of infrastructure
• Analysis of hard disk, ephemerality v. forensic nature it is hard
to erase data.
• “The more effective the digital technology the more we tend to
lose our consciousness of the digital as a material and
mechanical process, evidenced in the degree to which we
become almost violently aware of such background mechanics
only when they break down and fail us” (p. 25).
• Computers material environment built and engineered to
propagate the illusion of immateriality.
13. Digitalas the
Norm. Digital technology shifting our perceptions of time.
Investigate how different technologies require our attention at
different levels.
Mobile phones immediate
IMs, FB less attention, email depending on sender.
Astonishing speed at which technology innovations are taken
for granted.
When it breaks down we feel we have lost a human right or a
prosthetic arm.
14. Establishing
Cyber Norms
Speed at which people learn the rules.There may be a short moment of
uncertainty. Users help educate each other.
Kayapo video appropriating challenged the idea that tribal people are intrinsically
slow or passive or what Levi-Strauss called cold cultures (29).
The faster the trajectory of cultural change the more relevant the anthropologist
because there is absolutely no sign that the changes in technology are
outstripping the capacity to regard things as normative (30).
Boellstroff argues that the virtual and actual are not separate. Rather they are
intimately linked.
15. “Rethinking Digital
anthropology” byTom
Boellstorff
Second Life
Cloud based
Avatars
Boellstorff cites Malinowski’s classic ethnography Argonauts of theWestern Pacific “the
essential core of social anthropology is fieldwork” (p. 42).
Describes an ethnographic moment – participant observation of Becca, Richard, Susan learning
to skate.
Establishing norms.
Communication, ways of doing things.
Replicating gender norms in cyberspace
Digital anthropology is more than studying things you plug into.
Ethnography is a product not a method and takes a long time
Is flexible but not boundless.
Participant observation core of anthropology.
Interviews let people think about what they do or will do.
Shows the difference between what people say and what they do.
Provide insight into practices as they unfold.
Time is necessary for digital anthropology
Imagination required to understand the “consequences might be for social inquiry” (p. 57).
16. Conclusion
Digital location not
death of space rather
further inscription.
The virtual is a new
type of space.
Paradox of digital:
creates problems and
solves others.
Anthropological
apprehension is to
refuse to allow the
digital to be viewed
as a gimmick or, as a
mere technology.
All anthropology is
digital anthropology
because research is
Internet-mediated
and technology is
ubiquitous.
Editor's Notes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEOvBgyQoyg
How does this “Humanexus” video relate to the edited volume we have been reading Digital Anthropology?
The digital is defined by Miller and Horst (2014, p. 3) as everything that has been developed by, or can be reduced to, the binary-- that is bits consisting of 0s and 1s.
Nationalism and ethnicity developed under through changes in media by which culture circulates. They cite Christians in medieval Europe being subjected to or objectified in countless media and their intertextuality. Media would have been buildings, writings, clothing accessories.
Catholics - heavily mediated v. Protestants - rejected the materiality of Catholics (13).
Today humans are mediated through digital.
Ironically, Protestants now use digital media to proselytize.
“Real” - regarded as colloquial NOT epistemological (p. 15).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdPfRHE7zw
Amanda Braggs
Digital giving voices, a person can be present but not necessarily seen (p. 26).
Coleman argues all conventional anthropology has a digital inflection (16).
Anthropology and ethnography are more than method.
Online worlds have own integrity and own intertextuality (18).
Impact of digital is expansion of involvement but is still for most people contained in familiar points of participation.
Cultural relativism at the heart of anthropology. Closely connected to holism (18).
Bourdieu showed us a major part of what makes us human is what he called practice or habitus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vt1b5tBKcw cyber rape
Second life - users become producers and consumers. Early users adventurous but later users become mundane less creative.
Contradictory nature of digital openness
Virtual worlds made us increasingly rather than decreasingly aware of the materiality of information itself as a major component of such content (p. 26).