[Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector

[Christine Moellenberndt]

There is also NAPA (National Association of Practicing Anthropologists), SfAA (Society for Applied Anthropology), and BAAPA (Bay Area Association of Practicing Anthropologists).  These are all anthropologists true, but some members of those organizations work in the tech sector, especially BAAPA since that IS the culture 'round these parts.

More and more companies are starting to see the use of anthropology/sociology in their research plans.  IBM has several social scientists as well.  I know Nokia has also hired them in the past; Apple has some, Cisco hires contractors. 

Generally, though, the title of "Sociologist" or "Anthropologist" is not conferred... you're a User Researcher or User Experience Researcher or something along that line.  if i could get a job in high tech where i could have "Anthropologist" on my business card, i'd be a happy camper.  (then again, if i could find a job *anywhere* where i could actually use my education that would be a plus as well...)

-Christine 
Master's Candidate, San Jose State University
(and job seeker...)

--- lists at kotamraju.org wrote:

From: Nalini Kotamraju <lists at kotamraju.org>
To: Nicholas John <nikjohn at gmail.com>,	"air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
Subject: Re: [Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:16:14 +0200

While working on my PhD in Sociology (and a little beyond), I spent a more
than significant chunk of time as a user researcher in the software design
group at Sun Microsystems (now Oracle).

You also might want to take a look at anthrodesign on Yahoo! Groups (
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign/), which is the online home
of the majority of social scientists (anthropologists, sociologists, others)
who do social science work in corporate settings. Similarly, many of the
folks on that list attend EPIC (Ethnography Praxis in Industry Conference,
http://www.epic2009.com/).

If you'd like more information, feel free to contact me offline.

---
Dr. Nalini P. Kotamraju
n.p.kotamraju at utwente.nl | +31 53 489 4970
University of Twente
http://www.gw.utwente.nl/tpc/mw/Kotamraju/
http://kotamraju.org

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies
Technical & Professional Communication Workgroup
 
PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

> From: Nicholas John <nikjohn at gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:05:02 +0300
> To: "air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Subject: [Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector
> 
> I was wondering if anyone knows anything about social scientific
> research for the hi-tech sector? (That's "for", not "on".)
> Has anyone given thought to the question of how to make a convincing
> case to hi-tech companies for investing in sociological studies of
> their fields of operation?
> Or does anyone know how common the post of "in-house sociologist" is
> among hi-tech firms?
> 
> Thanks
> Nicholas
> 
> _________________
> Dr. Nicholas John
> www.sociothink.com
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