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A Week in the Life of a Digital Anthropologist
What does it mean to be human in the Digital Age? Especially with AI coming into the world? My work as a digital anthropologist.
I’m often asked what the heck does a digital anthropologist do? Is that just a made up title anyway? Along with the comment that isn’t anthropology just about studying old bones and past cultures anyway? First I’ll address what a digital anthropologist is and what we do (I’m not the only one) and a bit of a trip into the daily things I get up to.
I should point out that I am not in academia. I don’t work for or with any universities. I am a practicing field anthropologist. I have my own practice and I am a partner in a marketing agency. So I don’t hang out in a digital ivory tower. In my marketing career I brought 15 technology products to global markets, including a body scanner for the consumer retail market, which was super cool!
So what then, is a digital anthropologist? First, we have to understand what anthropology is. Anthropology os the study of what makes us human and what being human means, in ancient times to the modern day. This covers biological, cultural, social and behaviours. It’s all about understanding how different groups of people make sense of the world, organise their lives and…
