2008-04-04

Cyber EthnographyClass Presentation

Owen Wiltshireo.wiltshire@gmail.comnodivide.wordpress.com

Sharing Knowledge – How the internet is fueling change in

anthropology.

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Decolonizing Anthropology

Once upon a time, in a masters program not so far away, came a call for revolution...

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Decolonizing Anthropology

Vassos Argyrou, in “Anthropology and the Will to Meaning” (2002) writes:

“The academic game is the game of knowledge (and ignorance) which inextricably, if not always intentionally, is also a game of power. The only way to put an end to this game (the only way under the conditions of domination, that is) is to play it better than the players themselves.”

So how have new communication technologies changed the way the game is played? Are power dynamics changing? Are new forms of social capital rearranging the field of anthropology?

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Decolonizing Anthropology

“If I want to know what is “new” in anthropology, then I would tend not to look to well established chairs, with established axes to grind, with their well worn routines, speaking out of the same old journals, to the same old audiences, in the same old way.” - Max

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Decolonizing Anthropology

So where do we look? Blogs, websites, youtube?Open Access Journals -> found more easily online.Other journals? Books? Even places outside anthropology? Multidisciplinary research?

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Decolonizing Anthropology

But why is this? For this research I will be looking at

How content on blogs, and other online publishing formats are exploring and proposing new kinds of research and discussion. How community boundaries change online – is it more interdisciplinary? How do anthropologists engage new perspectives? How, and with who, do they collaborate online?

Where do we find this “new” anthropology? Which journals? Why not in traditional journals?

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Entering the “Field”

Created a public blog – nodivide.wordpress.comThe blog has worked as a place for me to announce my presence, and my research intent to the community. One thing anthropology teaches you, and that is particularly effective in the blogsphere, is the power of citing people. My blog is dominated with references to other blogs, and these generated responses and interest back to my own project. I also wrote on other blogs asking for feedback. I tried to invite people to participate, collaborate, and if they wanted to - rip into the project idea.

This allows me to be transparent with my research purposes, and it is working to develop relationships for further collaboration. The blog serves as a community resource for my project – allowing criticism and concerns to be voiced, as well as inviting others to contribute. (and even if not doing it so successfully it at least makes it possible).

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Narrowing the Field

The Peer Review Debate – “Filtering production”. Are there better ways to control and filter for quality? Are filters needed at all? How are new social ranking mechanisms like del.icio.us, or those on facebook and youtube, providing new ways of reviewing material? Where does traditional peer review fit in?

The Free Access Debate – Should all anthropological publishing be freely accessible? What are the problems with doing this?

The Language/Content Debate – Is academic language accessible? Would you write using the same language, and with the same content for a professor as you would on your blog? Why the difference?

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The Political Economy of Publishing in Anthropology

In anthropology, there are “prestige journals” which are considered the most important places to publish ideas if one wants to get tenure.To compete in anthropology, it is important to get published in these particular places. (Or you can earn 17cents on the dollar as a part time teacher – and join the picket line outside.)“The symbolic capital associated with the Internet and Internet Publishing is fairly low. It should be a political cause for academics to heighten it, both through using the Internet for one's own publications and by increasing the prestige of the Internet by using it actively.” - Thomas Eriksen in an interview with Lorenz Khazaleh

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The Political Economy of Publishing in Anthropology

Peer review arguably works to create broad disciplinary respectability and authority, by filtering out unrefined, irrelevant, uninteresting material.

But these journals are locked down by capitalist publishers, who demand rights over the use of the material.

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The Open Access Movement

Anthropology students at Concordia do not have complete access to Anthro Source material, let alone all the academic journals.

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The Open Access Movement

As it is now, no libraries are able to maintain a full list of journal subscriptions even though new technologies have greatly simplified the distribution and access to knowledge (ie. searchable databases),

This brings us an interesting paradox: Anthropological production increases, and access to the material decreases (since the costs to access the material have been steadily increasing).

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The Open Access Movement

Willinksky (2006) discusses the open access principle:

“...a commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of this work as far as possible, and ideally to all who are interested in it and all who might profit from it ...

So there is a growing movement to increase public engagement, to cross disciplinary boundaries, and to reformulate and make accessible anthropological material.

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The Open Access Movement

Should all anthropological publishing be made freely available online?

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Writing Anthropology, Publically

Will simply making information free, make it more accessible to the public? How else is it being changed?

New publishing mediums – websites, blogsphere, list serves, -> do away with peer review, but fight for prestige? Where do these sites fit into the symbolic distribution of capital in anthropology? The “reputation economy”.Attempts to generate public interest (See Wesch's youtube videos) -> Does generating public interest require a fundamental change to anthropology? Does the language need to change? The topics?

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Writing Anthropology, Publically

“With new options come new challenges. The benefits of opening up scholarship to a wide range of voices must be balanced against moral obligations to protect our informants. The rapidity of online publishing must be squared with the painstaking demands of peer-review. The hopeful possibilities of an open democracy of online fora must be tempered by a recognition of technical, linguistic, and social barriers to participation.”

- Kerim Friedman on the upcomming “Remixing Anthropology” conference.

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Manufacturing Prestige

“The scientific field is a field of forces whose structure is defined by the continuous distribution of the specific capital possessed...” (Bourdieu, The Peculiar History of Scientific Reason. 1991)

Would anyone take me seriously if I didn't include some Bourdieu?

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Writing Anthropology, Publically

Kimberly Christen discusses her upcoming presentation on the Remixing Anthropology blog:

“Within these new scenarios for collaboration and exchange come questions (and anxieties) about the properness of sharing—what information can be shared? What should be shared?”

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Wrap Up – Things to think about

How is “the game of anthropology” as Argyrou calls it, played online? How are structures of power changing with the open access movement and self publishing? What is the role of publishers for anthropology online? Is self publishing a threat to them? Are traditional, locked down journals threatened? How does the online anthropology community engage public interest? Why? Does doing anthropology in public, require certain changes in behavior? Ie: do you feel comfortable writing “informant” in public? Publishing class assignments? (ie need for shelter, privacy)

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So what am I researching again?

New audiences, new routines, and new ways of speaking in anthropology.

How the open access movement, and self publishing on websites and blogs change the way anthropological material is shared and ranked -> Building prestige online.Why write in public? Is it still the same game Vassos talked about? Are we fighting for prestige in a new space? In the same way? How a blog can provide research transparency, open access field notes, engagement and collaboration, and a chance to speak back at the anthropologist.

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And if we have time...

I might try to answer the question “Why should anthropologists publish in traditional locked down journals?” to develop a counter perspective.How ethnography can be a collaborative exercise, built not only on field work and field notes, but through simple conversation.

2008-04-04

Cyber EthnographyClass Presentation

Owen Wiltshireo.wiltshire@gmail.comnodivide.wordpress.com Sharing Knowledge – How is

the internet fueling change in anthropology?