A Visible City

This past weekend the London Zoo put people on display (dressed in fig leaves for modesty) in order to "demonstrate the basic nature of man as an animal and examine the impact that Homo sapiens have on the rest of the animal kingdom." Kind of good to remember that we are in fact just another part of the animal kingdom.

This month's Business 2.0 has a small article about Umbria Communications, which has developed software to troll blogs for product opinions. Interesting concept, and they seem to be making some good money doing it. But, I am also not so quick to trash focus groups, or to consider blogs an equal replacement for them. While my background means I obviously have a great affinity for observational methods of user research, I try to approach projects keeping my entire toolkit in mind: that may be ethnography, interviews, tag-alongs, and yes even focus groups and surveys. The thing to keep in mind each that each of these tools has a use (just like I tell my husband when he uses the wrong thing in the kitchen--like the time he used the vegetable brush to scour the grease off the vent). Focus groups, while vilified by some anthropologists, can be great if the group interaction will contribute to the desired outcome. They are not, however, a cheap replacement for 10 separate interviews ...

Conversation just had over the cube wall with my coworker Darryl began with him asking me my perception of email I receive that says "Dear Alex" but continues with generic content--basically bulk email that has been "personalized" with my name (apparently he had just received one). I gave a fairly generic answer, in that I see it as bulk mail, don't pay it much mind, etc. Then asked him. Darryl said it annoyed him when bulk emails use his name--it is a ruse and he sees around it. BUT, if a piece of bulk paper mail doesn't have his name, he feels it is rude, basically because it should. So the perceptions of the two media are different, at least in his case and I imagine many others (I just throw almost all of them away, though slightly more amused when they get my name wrong). Others?

A recent study shows that Asians and Americans really do see the world differently, based on eye movement and what people focus on when they describe pictures. I didn't find this particularly suprising, and of course agree with the researchers that the differences are learned and cultural (though I am not sure I entirely believe their explanation for the origins of those cultural differences). Americans focus on the foreground, or the most prominent object in a scene, while Asians take in the background and see the whole picture and how the object relate to one another. These particular differences forced me to reflect on my own perceptions as an observer and anthropologist--I would like to believe that I see that whole picture, but if I am honest, I probably do see that prominent bit first, then have to remember to register the background too.

Must get over the death of my fish and back to anthropology--archaeology even! Research by Erik Trinkhous shows humans began wearing shoes 30-40,000 years ago, enabling migratory expansion into colder climates, something we apparently couldn't do if our tootsies froze. And nonetheless I still find most shoes terribly uncomfortable. I miss Arizona where I could wear sandals year round (up here in New England my little toes do indeed get cold).

Well that's all three :-( Guess we will go to the pet store for more victims tomorrow.

Today I am reflecting more on ichthyology than anthropology. Our big event last weekend was setting up an aquarium--10 gallon, freshwater tank. Did a bit of research beforehand, mostly consisting of asking people with some existing knowledge what we should do, but arguably, not very much prior investigations, other than when I was a kid we had several aquaria in the house (not to mention dogs, turtles, birds, snakes--we were pretty well supplied with pets). So, a week ago Saturday we got the tank, set it up, got the water in. Next day went to get fish, relying on the guy at the Petco who assured us our choices were OK for a starter tank. Get home, introduce them to the tank, Kurt decides to read up some more on our new friends. Learn one is in fact not such a friendly species and might torment the others--so back to the pet store for a fish exchange. At that point, we did more web research, which I have to say is more confusing than anything else--a case of too much information and som...

Seems I was prescient with yesterday's post that referred to gossip. See this article from today's New York Times for more on why it is, in fact good for us. Did you hear...?

This article caught my eye today. Of course as a Pitney Bowes employee I pay attention to most things that have to do with mail. This one also hit a current side interest of mine, the symbolism of stamps, which I am researching in my oh so ample spare time. With so many US soldiers overseas, their loved ones are using the placement of stamps on the envelopes to communicate messages back and forth. This is something that has always existed with stamps, but is not so common now that personal letters are going to email. However, war means more handwritten letters, and more messaging through stamps. One of the more interesting bits is the fact that the messages aren't always clear to the recipients. One of the people quoted said, "I think it took several letters before my girlfriend realized that the upside-down stamp wasn't a mistake." Fun stuff. Oh yes, and PS (blatant trolling for information) I would love any info anyone has on stamps (or images on stamps) and their ...

This article was sent to me the other day by a co-worker, with a bit of a wink to a new form of user observation. The Jerk-O-Meter apparently analyzes how people are talking on cell phones, and uses that data to determine if they are really paying attention. If not, they might get a little reminder message...or in an alternate version, you could get a message telling you whether the person on the other end of the line is really tuned in. Don't think it will replace anthropologists anytime yet, but I do wonder what it might do for relationships.

A couple of months ago a wrote about virtual communities , and mentioned a working moms bulletin board. My visits there are infrequent at best, and while I have been known to post, it is not often. But I recently realized that when I do navigate there, I am reading other people's problems...and while it is not exactly entertainment, but there is a bit of "thank goodness I don't have issues like these" going through my head. And a desire to read on to know the details behind these stories. I will also admit that this realization will probably make my visits to this bulletin board less frequent than they already are. At the same time, I have a belief (based in my anthropological background, I like to say) that gossip is a natural part of human existence. Maybe that is what celebrities are good for--so we can gossip about people who aren't our friends, family, and co-workers. Maybe there is evolutionary advantage in gossip, as some argue, in the thought that know...

I just got around to reading David Brooks's New York Times column from a couple of days ago. In it he makes the argument that cultural geography (in his definition basically studying why people in different places are different) is now un-PC but in his opinion more and more necessary. He writes: "Not long ago, people said that globalization and the revolution in communications technology would bring us all together. But the opposite is true. People are taking advantage of freedom and technology to create new groups and cultural zones. Old national identities and behavior patterns are proving surprisingly durable. People are moving into self-segregating communities with people like themselves, and building invisible and sometimes visible barriers to keep strangers out." I don't think trying to understand this is limited to cultural geography (anthropology, anyone?) but it is an interesting stance, and makes me wonder. Which is more powerful, globalization o...

One of the interesting things about visiting my parent's house is that you never know what you will find...if I ever wonder why I studied archaeology I just have to start excavating the bookshelves and counters of my childhood home. Don't get me wrong, the house is kept clean--just everything else is kept too (sorry Mom if you are reading this, but you know it is true)! This time I found a letter my sister wrote home from summer camp in the early 70's. And on top of bookshelves in the den was an envelope, in my handwriting, filled with all the letters I wrote to my parents when I lived in England in the early 90's. Actually, I will probably never have such keepsakes--my coworker Deb, whose daughter is living in Japan this year, gets frequent emails but I don't think anything handwritten, so who knows how we will be communicating by the time Julian is old enough for such adventures. Every time I visit I also debate what to bring back with me. I pull a pile of book...

On vacation this week, staying with my folks in Fort Worth, TX. My mom very kindly babysat Julian overnight to give us a bit of "real" vacation, so we stayed at the Gaylord Texan (brought to you by the same people who created the Opryland hotel , where I attended a conference a few year ago. Before we went a couple of friends in Fort Worth said they would be curious to see what I thought of the place as an anthropologist, since it claims to be a sort of indoor recreation of Texas...it is and it isn't. Yes, there are recreations of an oil rig, the Alamo , the San Antonio riverwalk , and Palo Duro Canyon . But the lush tropical vegetation inside isn't quite what you really see (and Texas does have several ecological zones, many with some very nice plants). So, it is Texas in the same way Las Vegas hotels are the places they purport to be, admittedly without the casinos--which probably makes the Texan more appealing. We certainly had fun walking around, hanging out at...

Finally getting around to testing out Blogger's new photo tool . Much easier to upload pictures than with Hello , not that I really have many pictures to share (I figure most of the rest of the world isn't too interested in baby shots). So you get the red panda from the Syracuse zoo . Hey, it was this or the penguins.

Well, not exactly. But I do now have a lovely webcam hooked up to my computer, along with VSkype and Spontania4IM . So all technologically up to date with my social tools...and yet who to talk to? Must get others hooked up as well I suppose...

We have been watching Michael Palin's Himalaya . I've been a fan of his travel series since I lived in England while Pole to Pole was broadcast, and a friend also turned me on to Around the World in 80 Days (which is still the best of the lot). Himalaya doesn't have the consistency of the journey of some of the other series. In the televised version he suddenly gets from one place to the next and you know you have missed something, though the advantage of the website is that you can read the full travel journal. However, I was totally enthralled, and after each episode I found myself online, either reading more details in the journal or looking up information on places and cultures I knew nothing about. There is a huge saltwater lake called Namtso at 15,000 ft. on the Tibetan Plateau? The Naxi in Yunan have a 1000 year old hieroglyphic language? Yes, I have spent a lot of time studying India (admittedly the south) but really know next to nothing about Nagaland . ...

While my own anthropology training actually did not include much linguistics, I have always been fascinated with the subject. And, in the last two days I have seen two articles that sparked my thinking. The first article was on the Oneida Nation of New York, whose language was dying with the elders. The tribe worked with Berlitz to develop an intense curriculum, then paid several members to learn the language. Those first students then became the instructors for others, and they are working to teach the language in the schools (and, just as important, have the kids care about learning it). The second article was about Ethnologue , which is an amazing resource on the world's languages. According to the latest edition, there are 6,912 living languages in the world--an increase over the 6,809 in the 2000 edition. An interesting contrast to the reported death of languages. Of course, Ethnologue is not so concerned with how many native speakers there are, and the lines between what is...

Interesting research project ...An anthropology undergraduate bought paint samples in a range of shades from light to dark. She then had other students order them from lightest to darkest and place a dividing line between "white" and "black." She found that where people placed the line varied widely. She concluded that this was an indication of "the arbitrariness and subjectivity of racial categories." One can certainly argue that paint and skin color are not necessarily comparable, but the results are interesting (though as an anthropologist I certainly don't need convincing about the arbitrariness and subjectivity of race). I wonder if one could repeat the experiment, with pictures of skin as opposed to paint swatches? I am sure the results would be the same, but what other impressions people carry with them change when you only see a small piece of a person?

My dad just sent me a Gilhoolie , a nifty device for opening jars we always had around the kitchen when I was a kid. He found it at the Vermont Country Store , and it of course came packed with a catalog. I don't often take the time to go through catalogs, but its been a long week, and I finally got unpacked from all the trips, so I settled into a comfy chair and started to flip through. They have quite the eclectic mix...clothes (and underwear!) that your grandma and grandpa wore--even the rubber swim caps with big flowers on them. Oldies but goodies like Pears and Lifebuoy soaps. Candies from my childhood like banana splits and teaberry gum , and even Little Golden Books and magnetic Scotties . I am currently feeling a great need to stop in one of their stores next time I am in Vermont...or perhaps even a special trip. Amazing how comforting that spark of distant recognition is!