Category: Interview Series

Applying Computational Ethnography and Statistics to Vapor Wave: Interview with Tanner Greene (Part 1 of 2)

For my next installment in my Interview Series, I interviewed Tanner Greene. He recently received his doctorate from the University of Virginia for his research on the digital music genre, vapor wave. He primarily used qualitative means but has also taught himself Python to be able to employ quantitative textual analysis into his project. It is a good example of how to integrate qualitative digital ethnographic techniques with quantitative natural language processing.

In this first part, he discusses why he decided to study the vapor wave community and his experiences learning Python to conduct statistical analysis with.

Here is Part 2 of our interview.

Tanner’s interests straddle math and the humanities, spanning digital cultures, user metadata, and a long-dormant statistics ability he wants to revive. In his spare time, Tanner enjoys writing about music, playing video games, and dreaming about learning SQL.

Resources We Referenced:

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

Interview Series: Introduction

woman wearing blue top beside table
Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

Many people who seek to integrate ethnography and data science have told me that they feel alienated or sidelined: like they are “lone wolves” having to figure out how to combine them without anyone or any resources to help them. Those who are interested in learning how to connect the two, in particular, tell me that they feel stuck without sufficient resources or support to explore connections between them. I do not think either anthropology and qualitative research or data science (two fields I am a part of) do a very good job understanding the other.

Thus, I started this interview series to highlight the experiences of those who in some way integrate ethnography with data science. My intent is to catalog their stories and ideas to help those considering doing similar work. I will interview people from a variety of backgrounds and industries (including anthropologists, data scientists, artists, software engineers, and so on) discussing what is most significant for them in their field.  In general, though, my interviews will focus on the following questions or themes:

    1. What is it like integrating data science and ethnography (or whatever other related activities or methodologies that particular person uses)?

    2. What skills and abilities have you found helpful for such work, and what recommendations do you have for cultivating those skills?

    3. How would you recommend education institutions and employers teach and/or foster these skills?

    4. How has your joint background influenced how you view and approach the world, data science, ethnography, and/or the disciplines or fields you are a part of?

I started conducting these interviews in the fall of 2021. After a brief break, I started what I am calling my “Season 2” of interviews in the fall of 2022 with an ever evolving list of professionals. I am thankful to talk with everyone I have, and I hope you enjoy them as well.

If you would like to be interviewed or know someone else doing this type of work who you would recommend I interview, please reach out to me on my Contact Me page. Feel free to also reach out if you have any particular burning questions that you would like to see me ask.

Season 1 Interviews:Date Posted:
Maker Anthropologist in the Tech Field: Interview with Astrid CounteeSeptember 8, 2021
Data Scientist, Anthropologist, and Entrepreneur: Interview with Schaun WheelerSeptember 21, 2021
Anthropologist in Fintech: Interview with Priyanka Dass SahariaOctober 18, 2021
Data Scientist, Entrepreneur, and Artist: Interview with Emi Harry (Part 1 of 3)November 2, 2021
Data Scientist, Entrepreneur, and Artist: Interview with Emi Harry (Part 2 of 3)November 16, 2021
Data Scientist, Entrepreneur, and Artist: Interview with Emi Harry (Part 3 of 3)November 30, 2021
Anti-Corruption Anthropologist in Kazakhstan: Interview with Olga ShiyanDecember 14, 2021
Digital Anthropology and Artificial Intelligence: Interview with Scarleth HerreraJanuary 25, 2022
Season 2 Interviews:Date Posted:
Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 1 of 3)August 17, 2022
Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 2 of 3)August 31, 2022
Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 3 of 3)September 14, 2022
The Promises and Failures of Current Artificial Intelligence Technology: An Interview with Gemma Clavell at Eticas (Part 1 of 3)September 28, 2022
The Promises and Failures of Current Artificial Intelligence Technology: An Interview with Gemma Clavell at Eticas (Part 2 of 3)October 12, 2022
The Promises and Failures of Current Artificial Intelligence Technology: An Interview with Gemma Clavell at Eticas (Part 3 of 3)October 26, 2022
Applying Computational Ethnography and Statistics to Vapor Wave: Interview with Tanner Greene (Part 1)November 9, 2022
Applying Computational Ethnography and Statistics to Vapor Wave: Interview with Tanner Greene (Part 2)November 22, 2022
Trash Data Science: Garbology, Anthropology, and Spatial Data Science – Conversation with Gideon Singer (Part 1 of 4)December 6, 2022
Trash Data Science: Garbology, Anthropology, and Spatial Data Science – Conversation with Gideon Singer (Part 2 of 4)December 20, 2022
Trash Data Science: Garbology, Anthropology, and Spatial Data Science – Conversation with Gideon Singer (Part 3 of 4)January 3, 2023
Trash Data Science: Garbology, Anthropology, and Spatial Data Science – Conversation with Gideon Singer (Part 4 of 4)January 17, 2023
User-Centric Thinking in Data Science: Conversation with Anna Wu at Google Cloud (Part 1 of 3)January 31, 2023
User-Centric Thinking in Data Science: Conversation with Anna Wu at Google Cloud (Part 2 of 3)February 14, 2023
User-Centric Thinking in Data Science: Conversation with Anna Wu at Google Cloud (Part 3 of 3)February 28, 2023
Data Science and Game Design: Conversation with Clayton Sisson (Part 1 of 3)March 14, 2023
Data Science and Game Design: Conversation with Clayton Sisson (Part 2 of 3)March 28, 2023
Data Science and Game Design: Conversation with Clayton Sisson (Part 3 of 3)April 11, 2023
Data Science Storytelling: Quantitative UX Research in Google Cloud with Randy Au (Part 1 of 2)May 9, 2023
Data Science Storytelling: Quantitative UX Research in Google Cloud with Randy Au (Part 2 of 2)May 23, 2023

Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 1 of 3)

As part of my Season 2, I interviewed Matt Artz, a design anthropologist who has been recently working as a product manager in the tech space. In Part 1, he discussed his experiences making innovative software products as an anthropologist and product manager.

Matt Artz is a business and design anthropologist, consultant, author, speaker, and creator. He writes, speaks, and consults in user experience, product management, and business strategy. He creates products, podcasts, music, and visual art.

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

Resources we mentioned or other additional resources:

  • My website – https://www.mattartz.me/
  • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-artz-anthropology/
  • Anthropology in Business podcast – https://www.mattartz.me/podcasts/anthropology-in-business-with-matt-artz/
  • Anthro to UX podcast – http://anthropologytoux.com/
  • Venn Diagram – https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking
  • Book – https://www.ideo.com/post/design-kit

Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 2 of 3)

This is the second part of three in our conversation. In it, he described his work developing data science-based recommendation systems using the concepts of design anthropology, participatory research, and design thinking, and then how he uses his skills as an anthropologist to visualize and communicate results and then plan what to do going forward with stakeholders.

Matt Artz is a business and design anthropologist, consultant, author, speaker, and creator. He writes, speaks, and consults in user experience, product management, and business strategy. He creates products, podcasts, music, and visual art.

Please also see Part 1 of the interview.

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

Resources we mentioned or other additional resources:

  • My website – https://www.mattartz.me/
  • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-artz-anthropology/
  • Anthropology in Business podcast – https://www.mattartz.me/podcasts/anthropology-in-business-with-matt-artz/
  • Anthro to UX podcast – http://anthropologytoux.com/
  • Venn Diagram – https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking
  • Book – https://www.ideo.com/post/design-kit

Tech Anthropologist Working and Product Manager: Interview with Matt Artz (Part 3 of 3)

This is the third and final part of three in our conversation. In Part 3, he discussed why he decided to study anthropology for his business work and how that helped give him the skills for the work he does today.

Matt Artz is a business and design anthropologist, consultant, author, speaker, and creator. He writes, speaks, and consults in user experience, product management, and business strategy. He creates products, podcasts, music, and visual art.

Previous Parts:

  1. Part 1
  2. Part 2

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

Resources we mentioned or other additional resources:

  • My website – https://www.mattartz.me/
  • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-artz-anthropology/
  • Anthropology in Business podcast – https://www.mattartz.me/podcasts/anthropology-in-business-with-matt-artz/
  • Anthro to UX podcast – http://anthropologytoux.com/
  • Venn Diagram – https://www.ideou.com/pages/design-thinking
  • Book – https://www.ideo.com/post/design-kit

The Promises and Failures of Current Artificial Intelligence Technology: An Interview with Gemma Clavell at Eticas (Part 1 of 3)

I spoke with Gemma Galdon-Clavell, founder of Eticas Foundation and Eticas Consulting about the social implications of artificial intelligence technologies. In this first part, we discussed the policy strategies for ensuring that our data and artificial intelligence systems built on our data are good quality, safe, and accountable.

Here are Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview.

Dr. Gemma Galdon-Clavell is a leading voice on technology ethics and algorithmic accountability. She is the founder and CEO of Eticas, where her multidisciplinary background in the social, ethical, and legal impact of data-intensive technology allows her and her team to design and implement practical solutions to data protection, ethics, explainability, and bias challenges in AI. She has conceived and architected the Algorithmic Audit Framework which now serves as the foundation for Eticas’s flagship product, the Algorithmic Audit.

To learn more about Gemma’s and Eticas’s work:

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

The Promises and Failures of Current Artificial Intelligence Technology: An Interview with Gemma Clavell at Eticas (Part 3 of 3)

This is the third and final part of three in our conversation. In Part 3, she described the skills and types of people necessary to build and assess artificial intelligence teams.

Dr. Gemma Galdon-Clavell is a leading voice on technology ethics and algorithmic accountability. She is the founder and CEO of Eticas, where her multidisciplinary background in the social, ethical, and legal impact of data-intensive technology allows her and her team to design and implement practical solutions to data protection, ethics, explainability, and bias challenges in AI. She has conceived and architected the Algorithmic Audit Framework which now serves as the foundation for Eticas’s flagship product, the Algorithmic Audit.

Here is Part 1 and Part 2 of our interview.

To learn more about Gemma’s and Eticas’s work:

For more context on my interview series in general, click here.

Maker Anthropologist in the Tech Field: Interview with Astrid Countee (Interview #1 in the Interview Series)

For my first interview in the Interview Series, I interviewed Astrid Countee. She is a business anthropologist and technologist with a background in anthropology, software engineering, and data science. She currently works as a user researcher at the peer-to-peer distributed company Holo, as a research associate at The Plenary, as an arts and education nonprofit, and as a co-founder of Missing Link Studios which distributes the This Anthro Life podcast. 

If the audio does not play on your computer, you can download it here:

Astrid Interview AudioDownload

Over our conversation, we discussed the following:

  1. Astrid’s work as a technologist and anthropology
  2. Strategies for how to develop programming and data skills as an anthropologist
  3. Astrid’s experiences developing and using statistical and data science tools in her work
  4. The importance of maker anthropology

Our conversation touched on a variety of exciting topics, which I hope to follow-up on in more detail in the coming months. I hope you enjoy.

To learn more about Astrid and her work, see her LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/astridcountee

Here are the various items that she mentioned during the conversation:

Thanks, Astrid, for being willing to share your insights.

Next Interview in the Interview Series: https://ethno-data.com/schaun-interview-1/

Data Scientist, Anthropologist, and Entrepreneur: Interview with Schaun Wheeler (Interview #2 in the Interview Series)

For my second interview in the Interview Series, I interviewed Schaun Wheeler. Schaun is co-founder of Aampe, a startup that embeds an active learning system into mobile apps to turn push notifications into part of the app’s user interface. Before he co-founded Aampe, Schaun was the data science lead for the award-winning Consumer Graph intelligence product at Valassis, a U.S. ad-tech firm. And before that he founded and directed the data science team at Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City. Then before that, Schaun was one of the first people to champion the use of statistical inference to understand massive unstructured data at the United States Department of the Army. Schaun has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Connecticut.

If the audio does not play on your computer, you can download it here:

Schaun-Interview-AudioDownload

Over our conversation, we discussed the following:

  • Schaun’s experiences as both a data scientist and anthropologist
  • His utilization of anthropology within data science to decipher the right problem before launching into data science solutions
  • Recommendations for how anthropologists can develop data science and programming skills
  • His experiences starting a new data science consumer and market-research based company

To learn more about Schaun Wheeler and Aampe, check these out:

LinkedIn (the best way to contact him): https://www.linkedin.com/in/schaunwheeler/

Medium: https://medium.com/@schaun.wheeler

Twitter: https://twitter.com/schaunw

Aampe website: https://www.aampe.com/

Aampe blog: https://www.aampe.com/blog

A User Story, The Data Science Children’s Book: https://www.aampe.com/blog/a-user-story

More Detailed Walkthrough: Clip #1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL03WDMCL2PHjRd8Y8USzvVkcIyQM57FMU and Clip #2: https://youtu.be/kwk_Ot8orPY

Previous Interview in the Interview Series: https://ethno-data.com/astrid-interview-1/

Anthropologist in Fintech: Interview with Priyanka Dass Saharia (Interview #3 in the Interview Series)

For my third interview in the Interview Series, I interviewed Priyanka Dass Saharia. Priyanka Dass Saharia is an anthropologist working in tech startups, mostly seed to early venture stage in their product development. These companies broadly fall under the rubric of tech-based initiatives that aim to accelerate positive social, environmental and governance change. To do this, she routinely employs a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. In addition to anthropology, she has also studied economics and sociology in both India, where she grew up, and the United Kingdom, where she currently resides.

Over our conversation, we discussed the following:

  • Priyanka’s experiences as an anthropologist in tech, including her current work in fintech
  • Strategies for socially and environmentally equitable entrepreneurial investment
  • Skills anthropologists might need when working in tech and suggestions for how to develop them
  • Recommendations for how anthropologists can cultivate their quantitative thinking

To learn more about Priyanka Dass Saharia, check these out: