[Sigia-l] Microsoft, the Colonialist?

[Dave]

Ziya,

Isn't this just Contextual Inquiry? Many behavior scientists have been
doing "applied anthropology" the term used while I was an anthro-major
in Uni, for decades. Examples of its use have been case studies all
along.

Not sure what you mean by "is this a good thing?"

Every organization in the capitalist system find methods to gain
intelligence about those whom they seek to exploit, so why is this any
different than a focus group, or a goa-directed design study, etc?

One really good example of this type of work is done by Steve Portigal
who has been observing the masses of possible consumers and helping
organizations better fit their products and strategy to their reality,
for years.

-- dave

On 6/13/05, Listera <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
> To better understand the software needs of entrepreneurs, Microsoft has been
> undertaking detailed field studies of small firms all over the U.S. Its
> executives refer to this sort of qualitative research as "anthropology," a
> term that has become a popular buzzword at the company in recent years.
> 
> FORTUNE Cover Story
> Getting to Know You
> <http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/technology/articles/1,15114,10
> 62892,00.htmlZ>
> 
> In addition to the code jockeys and marketing mavens who dominate the upper
> reaches of the corporate hierarchy, Microsoft employs numerous social
> scientists, including two credentialed anthropologists, to work on projects
> such as the development of Office SBA. Their fieldwork is far removed from
> the popular perception of the anthropologist as lantern-jawed adventurer in
> baggy shorts and pith helmet, canoeing up the Amazon in search of the
> proverbial lost tribe. But there is a certain correspondence between
> Microsoft's research agenda and the work of those old-time anthropologists,
> many of whom were funded by colonial governments that needed to understand
> their native subjects in order to rule them more effectively. The modern
> version of this knowledge-power dynamic is Microsoft, a multinational
> technology colossus that hires anthropologists who study the natives in
> order to sell them more software.
> 
> 
> 
> Is this a good thing?
> 
> Ziya
> Nullius in Verba
> 
> 
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-- 
David Heller
E: dheller (at) gmail (dot) com
W: www (dot) synapticburn (dot) com