Scaling Ethnography for Policy and Practice: What Works and Lessons Learned: Part I

CHAIR: MORRIS, Richard W. (MGI)

BRUNA, Sean (WWU) An Ethnographic Look Inside a Federal‬‭ Initiative‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

MILLER, Christine Z. and SIGHN PUNI, Tirath (SCAD) Scaling Up: From Small Starts to Big Impacts

TELLIEL, Yunus Doğan (WPI) Translational Anthropology: Scaling Ethnographic Inquiry in‬ Human-Computer Interaction

MORRIS, J.S.K. (UWisc), LOUIS, C.N. (CNL), and MORRIS, Richard W. (MGI) A Tool for Scaling Ethnography to Support Decision Makers in Public Education

ZHENG, Mandy (SCAD) Digitalized Afterlife: A Study on the Management of Digital Preservation

 

For centuries ethnography has offered insights into culture, human behavior, language, social systems, and technology. Yet, they have often encountered barriers in translating their findings into policy and practice. In contrast, other disciplines (engineering and medicine) have proven methods for moving know-how into practice. Here the transfer of ethnographic findings into practice will be treated as a problem of scaling to practice, i.e., showing what applies to one or a few may also apply to many. Participants will report lessons learned and what works from their direct experience in scaling ethnography for business, education, public health, and product development.

 

BRUNA, Sean (WWU) An Ethnographic Look Inside a Federal‬‭ Initiative‬. In this presentation, a Senior Advisor at a federal agency explores the role of scaling from individual subject matter science to national policy and provides recommendations for anthropologists who wish to have their research inform national policy. Using a national initiative he led as a case study, he presents the strategic coordination of various components - research by scholars, national organizations, congress, career staffers, and representatives of multiple federal agencies, among others - to move from individual science to policy. While not ethnographic in the formal use of the term, he argues that the initiative's success stems from the application of ethnographic insights into the “field” of policy.

 

MILLER, Christine Z. and SIGHN PUNI, Tirath (SCAD) Scaling Up: From Small Starts to Big Impacts. This paper explores how student-led multidisciplinary collaborative projects with community actors can scale to have impact far beyond the classrooms in which they were initiated. We argue that applying a transdisciplinary approach that melds theoretical frameworks and methodological practice from anthropology with design’s communicative powers can boost the impact of “classroom projects” to resonate within networks over time. The temporal dimension is important to consider in thinking about scaling. Over time and through the strength of loose ties concepts and practices forged through transdisciplinary perspectives achieve scale in unanticipated ways.

 

TELLIEL, Yunus Doğan (WPI) Translational Anthropology: Scaling Ethnographic Inquiry in‬ Human-Computer Interaction. This paper focuses on challenges and possibilities of scaling ethnographic inquiry in two U.S.-based collaborative projects on human-computer interaction: the development of 1) an algorithm-based resource exchange platform for nonprofits and 2) of a large-scale program on (generative) AI literacy for faculty in higher education institutions. I have collaborated with industrial engineers in the first project and computer scientists in the second. Drawing on my fieldwork in these two projects, the paper shows that ethnographic inquiry can be used to create mobile and adaptable protocols for translation between different types of knowledge within the context of human-computer interaction.

 

MORRIS, J.S.K. (UWisc), LOUIS, C.N. (CNL), and MORRIS, Richard W. (MGI) A Tool for Scaling Ethnography to Support Decision Makers in Public Education. This paper shows how data gathered via participant observation can be refined and strengthened with parallel statistical analysis. An ethnography of STEM education in public schools of Maryland, Texas, and the District of Columbia over a three-year period is presented as the source of observations and potential insights which are in need of refinement and testing. These ethnographic insights are then evaluated in iterative fashion using principal component analysis (PCA), a method of multifactorial statistical analysis which can deepen understanding of context (co-occurrence) and salience (causality). This paper demonstrates how using ethnography and statistical analysis can enhance the conduct of ethnography and enable the transfer of qualitative research findings into practice.

 

ZHENG, Mandy (SCAD) Digitalized Afterlife: A Study on the Management of Digital Preservation. In today's digital age, people have on average 240 online account storing their personal data and information. However, there’s no standardized process for dealing with these digital accounts after death. The increase in online activity has created daunting obstacles in managing and maintaining a user's digital legacy. A systematic solution is urgently needed. This study explores the complexity of and necessity to manage digital legacy through a user-centered design approach. The study aims to raise awareness among users, organizations and society about the importance of digital heritage and to develop an effective, standardized framework for users to manage their digital assets.

Speakers

• Richard Morris, MGI
• Sean Bruna, Western Washington University, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology (on leave)
• Christine Miller, Savannah College of Art and Design, Professor of Design Management
• Yunus Doğan Telliel, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Assistant Professor
• J.S.K. Morris
• Mandy Zheng