The lovely folks over at Little Miss Geek, who run an initiative designed to inspire more women and girls to get into technical careers, allowed me to write a post for them on why humanities students make great geeks. Digital technology pervades all aspects of our lives and careers, a trend that looks like it’s … Continue reading
Tag Archives: anthropology
Seams: Private and Public in Digital Lives
Last Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to hear Genevieve Bell, anthropologist, future-thinker, and director of Intel Corporation’s Interaction and Experience Research, speak. It was a really compelling talk with lots of big thoughts. There was a small one I wanted to pick up on, though: in a discussion about seamless technology integration, Bell told … Continue reading
RegentTweet: Theoretical Questions on ‘Lifestyle’
Let’s talk about ‘lifestyles’. Yesterday I found myself invited to a “lifestyle and shopping event for professional bloggers” called RegentTweet organised by some clever marketers over on Regent Street. I signed up for a chance to attend through London Girl Geek Dinners, a group which should be pretty self-explanatory. I didn’t think I’d get selected … Continue reading
Space for Anthropology: the new Star Trek movie
I have no qualms in stating that I love Star Trek. I’m a fan of rambling summer blockbusters generally, but Star Trek–Star Trek is a whole universe. And my favorite thing about the Star Trek universe is that it is founded on an idea of learning. More than that: Starfleet, at the heart of Star … Continue reading
Shake It Up
In the past few days I’ve been noticing more and more stories about the sudden emergence of the ‘Harlem Shake’ as a protest movement (in the most literal sense) across the Middle East. The Verge has a particularly good analytical piece on its development. Much commentary focuses on the bizarre or trivial nature of choosing … Continue reading
Fitzrovia Radio and Cantina
It being the last weekend of the London Wonderground festival, I thought I would stock myself up until next season by going to two shows one after the other. The delectable Fitzrovia Radio Hour, upon whom I have written many times before, were first with a new show fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe. I was … Continue reading
Anthropological Anxieties
I’ve been watching Grayson Perry’s series on the English class boundaries around ‘taste’ (titled helpfully ‘In the Best Possible Taste’). His research was ultimately aimed towards creating six large tapestries, but as the techniques he’s using to do the research are largely anthropological in nature it brought home for me again some of the anxieties … Continue reading
Crocheted IA
Last Wednesday night I headed out to London IA, a social networking event for people working in Information Architecture, User Experience Design and other related fields. I don’t work precisely in this area, but I’d like my work to involve more direct interaction with users. Research on people’s experiences is what I’m trained to do, … Continue reading
Computing Anthropology
Lately I’ve been spending a LOT of time at the computer. The vast majority of my life, in work and entertainment, has revolved around this screen recently, in exactly those kinds of scenarios that writers like Faranheit 451 and Brave New World and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? got all worked up about. This … Continue reading
This Milestone is Made of Diamonds: The Belly Dance Anthropologist Officially Earns that PhD
My dear Skirts and devoted readers everywhere, I am very pleased to share with you the news that my thesis revisions have been accepted and I will very soon hold a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies! I found out on Monday and wanted to make sure the administrative paperwork was well under way before … Continue reading
Caitiewrites 