Cultural immersion (was Re: [Sigia-l] Re: Blasphemy: Ontology is Overrated?

[Katherine Bertolucci]

Hi Everyone --

Thanks, Andrew, for your great phrase, "cultural immersion."  That
describes the "think like your client" process very well.  You also
point out a challenging situation.  Popular culture forms much of our
awareness of espionage, so you have to unlearn the thrillers and then
relearn the reality.

As for the personality characteristics of IAs, any group that includes
someone named Ziya, Nullius in Verba, does not qualify as staid.

Thanks,

Katherine Bertolucci
Isis Information Services
P O Box 627
Phoenix, AZ  85001
602-258-2035
katherine at isisinform.com
www.isisinform.com

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 04:22:05 +1000
From: Andrew Boyd <andrew_db at bigpond.com>
Subject: Cultural immersion (was Re: [Sigia-l] Re: Blasphemy: Ontology
    is    Overrated?
To: Katherine Bertolucci <katherine at isisinform.com>
Cc: sigia-l at asis.org
Message-ID: <4288E4CD.40806 at bigpond.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi Katherine,

I'm not sure what the correct term is for what you have done, but
'cultural immersion' springs to mind. I like it. I've done the same.
Working within the Defence/Intelligence community meant more to me than
reading Le Carre and Clancy and wearing a trenchcoat, it meant taking an
interest in cryptology, communications technology, remote systems, and
heterogenous data exchange. From a philosophical viewpoint, I believe
that it is not worth doing something that you can't immerse 100% in.
Like the hippies say... "If you can't do it with love, don't do it, man!"
:)

I know that the anthropologists have debated this point to death, so I
won't rabbit on about it, just say "Better to be in than out".

Cheers, Andrew

Andrew Boyd
Business Development Manager
Daily Basis P/L
Phone 02 6282 9797 or 02 4885 1357
Mobile 0412 641 074
Email andrew at dailybasis.com.au
or andrew_db at bigpond.com

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 16 May 2005 17:58:27 -0400
From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Subject: Re: Cultural immersion (was Re: [Sigia-l] Re: Blasphemy:
    Ontology    is Overrated?
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BEAE8FC3.B7FF%listera at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="US-ASCII"

> interest in cryptology...
> wearing a trenchcoat...
> trawling the Mendocino spas for new clients...

And who said IA was staid? :-)

Ziya
Nullius in Verba