Public Anthropology #openthread

One of the greatest changes the Internet will bring to anthropology is how we Interact with the general public and serve our subject communities. In this thread we’re reflecting on what public anthropology will become.

What is the best way to use Internet platforms and new tech to bring anthropology to the public?

• Help educators teach children using better tech tools
• Teach people to communicate better
• A better understanding of the way people engage with and through technology so we can create better relationships and tools
• More thoughtful understanding of the variation and cultural impact of online life
• Greater public awareness to understanding other cultures
• Create access
• Share ideas and findings to the public (disseminating knowledge)
• Get anthros into public eye, info policy debates, create public intellectuals
• Raise key questions of ethics and policy for public debate and action
• Broader network of dialogue partners from various fields / backgrounds
• We empathize (with people and animals) and care better when we grasp what anthro is about
• Give people real, right answers about humans and culture that are readable, accessible, and not ethnocentric and reductive
• Public collaboration
• Academia 2.0
• Impact policies concerning digital development in education / business / networking worldwide
• Sharing the value of social research and social theory for broad publics
• Public anthro can show the world that anthro does provide value
• Demonstrate what we know. Anthro is relevant
• Make publics more knowledgeable so appreciation for anth increase and education increases
• Recognition of value of anthro methods and findings. Usefulness
• Open our consciousness on lives, livelihoods, wider understanding
• Anthropology as accessible way of knowing understanding the world
• They’re constantly increasing with the digital world, why would they invest so much time if it’s not relevant to the public?

 
What are the criteria we will use to develop best practices for using Internet platforms to bring anthropology to the people? That is to say, how will know if we are effective in reaching our public online?

• Give your best practices
• Copy what exists and works
• Achievable project
• Circulation data
• Analytics
• Google analytics
• Ask our publics
• Gather data
• Its effective if there is participation and awareness
• Page views
• Use existing digital measures, figure out which make most sense
• Dispersion, now often linked, big data
• Volume of online blog contact / search
• Develop general profession online standards to survey blog readership regularly
• Track not only page view metrics, but also conversations that result
• Is it facilitating dialogue? Do people care?
• Set goals/ outcomes in advance, then ask if we are meeting them
• Responsiveness, i.e. comments likes shares, particularly sharing and commenting as well as watching it evolve
• Go create research agendas with networked publics – open up debate on relevance, allow parasitic interpretation
• Information / findings available online can be open to public feedback and collaboration
• Making access to internet to all public, otherwise it is not possible especially in 3rd world countries
• Shaping conversations in various media, i.e. are our perspectives being picked up by others… science, journalists