[Sigia-l] Microsoft, the Colonialist?

[david broschinsky]

No - I think this is the opposite of Contextual inquiry.

With Contextual inquiry, the practioner goes in with the understanding
that they are there to learn "as an apprentice".

An anthropologist comes to the scene with a completely different set of
assumptions it seems to me.  How many anthropologists do you know that
go study more advanced civlizations?  They are they to learn, but there
is certainly the understanding from their point of view that they are
more advanced.  I think this makes it much more difficult to understand
exactly what the user is trying to accomplish.

Granted both are taking notes, but I think it's a world of difference in
attitude.

daveb

Dave wrote:
> 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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> 
> 
>