Anthropologists at Work: Ethnography in American Corporations

Before I was a Mommy, I worked as a Business Analyst, Project Manager and Business Ethnographer. The interview I posted below is reminiscent of my Masters' Thesis
which I submitted in 2004. (the title of this post links to it if anyone is interested)
I think I began work on it at least 8 years earlier (1996?) but again, to quote the late John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans" I know I met, married my husband and moved three times before the thesis was finally submitted but at least I did it.

So here are my words that are now echoing throughout business these days. I just wonder what my next steps should be.

Business Ethnography

Michael Krigsman's interview with Natalie Hanson, Corporate Anthropologist gives a good introduction to how IT can use Ethnography.


http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=906

Thanks Natalie and Michael... I couldn't have said it better myself.

Applying to College

A Lightbulb Moment
In addition to my three one year olds, I have a seventeen year old stepson. He has spent summers and vacations with me since he was five so my concerns and cares for him have been that of a second mother or as I like to call it - THE MOTHER OF THE NEW YORK HOUSE. He is at that awful stage where he knows his future is going to unfold in a short time and doesn't really want it to happen. He is fighting it tooth and nail. He is a baby yet - not much more mature than the girlies in some ways - but he is living in a grown man's body. It is confusing for me in talking to him. I can only imagine how confusing it is for him.

Since his entry to the ninth grade, his Dad and I have been trying to get him to pay attention to school and start to think about what he needs to do to go to a good college. We are perhaps overzealous in this matter but that is a function of how over-educated we are. He went through high school doing as much as he had to in order to get by, despite getting the riot act read to him regularly by his father and myself. It was part laziness, part fear of success, part 'its-not-cool-to-be-smart' and part something else that I still do not understand. For me it was frustrating and painful to see someone with so much potential avoiding success. Well, this past year he finally woke up - a bit late I would say, but better late than never. So he now knows that his grades the first trimester have to really shine - There will be no - "Pass me, I'm a senior" or taking jewelry making to finish up high school. He has a full course load.



He arrived for probably his last summer vacation with us in June and has spent the summer eating, sleeping (there should be an Olympic event in Beijing just for him), working out at the gym, playing hockey in a local men's league(he managed to arrange this from his other home in the midwest, proving that he is very capable when he wants to be), listening to his iPod, and watching TV. Yes, I described the characature teenager. I don't remember being like this but I guess I must have been...



All summer we have been pushing him to make his penultimate list of college choices, so he can start making application before he goes back to school. We explained that applying to college can be a full time job and since he has left himself in the position of having to work hard the trimester when the applications need to be done, he should get an early start. This of course has been met with major push back from him. We hired an essay coach to help him with his essays. That was met with a fight but after he spoke to her, he realized that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. So at least he has started the essays.

This morning he mentioned how fast the summer has passed - that it was almost August. That clicked in my head that college applications are usually available August 1 for the following year in order to give applicants 3 months to fill out the application by the Nov 1 deadline for early decision. I suggested that he just open the application files at the list of schools he has selected and fill in the forms. It takes a whole lot of time even with the Common Application to fill out your name, address, school name and address, parents names, etc. for more than one or two schools. His list is about 7 -10 schools for now. He kept insisting that he couldn't do that until he completed his first trimester because he wanted to show the schools that he could do better and was applying himself. This battle has been waging since June when he arrived here in NY. Finally, I showed him on the common app website and on another college website that he could enter the information without sending his grades. I had to clearly state that it would be illegal for his High School to send a copy of his transcript without him specifically requesting that they send his grades. In this information age, he thought that his information would be laid bare to all the schools instantly once he opened an online application dialogue. This was his lightbulb moment...it was only when I read him the directions from the websites that he finally agreed that I was right. He COULD fill out the forms without having his transcript sent.
I feel like my battle has been won but I am still exhausted...

You Can't Please Everybody or Sometimes Anybody

Part observation on human nature and part rant

As my bio suggests to those who do not know me, I had a very busy full life before I got pregnant with my daughters. I was in graduate school, getting my PhD in Anthropology. I was teaching as an adjunct at Montclair State University AND at Hunter College. I also did some IT/Management consulting as the work came along. I was a busy person.

One of my activities was the formation of a local association of Practicing Anthropologists, NYAPA. It came about when I was at the American Anthropological Association (http://www.aaanet.org/) meeting in 2005. The national group, NAPA (http://www.practicinganthropology.org/about/), had a booth and was handing out literature about local practitioner organizations. I innocently asked, "Is there one in New York City?" I figured there had to be one because of all the business, medical research, international organizations that exist in New York. I got a funny answer - "Well, there used to be a group but there isn't one now. Would you like to help organize one? We can get you lists of national members by zip code." In my innocence, I said "Sure".

So I sent out flyers to the entire mailing list and each of the local graduate programs in the area asking them to post them on bulletin boards and their own elists. Our first meeting was held in conjunction with the Society of the Anthropology of North America (SANA) meetings. http://sananet.org/ A bunch of people gave presentations on their work and we held an organizational meeting right after. We had two or three more meetings after that, with me being the driver/organizer and then I got pregnant. . . . .
I was on bed rest for about 4 months (Feb - May 2007) and then the babies were here so I have been pretty much out of commission until very recently. In my absence, there was no activity - perhaps one meeting that I had arranged for from home. Well, in February, I woke up to getting back to the real world and decided to try to revive this group. So in February/March, I put out a call for suggestions for office space or meeting places (cafes, restaurants, etc.) and for someone else to help out with the arrangements - take over in other words.

Let me make this clear - this organization is NOT an ego trip of mine that I MUST do everything. I would be more than happy, even grateful if someone else would do something. If we held officer elections today and I wasn't elected, I would feel satisfied that I had taken the organization to where it needed to be - all grown up and independent. Now that isn't to say I wouldn't feel sad if I weren't elected or honored if I were... just that I don't have any particular attachment to driving the organization's activities myself.

Well after much discussion in March, nothing happened because I moved and there was no clear place to hold the meeting. The same thing happened again in May - lots of talk but absolutely no action on anyone's part. I tried a third time and this time someone suggested a place - NOTE - only ONE person suggested a venue out of over 4o people. So since that was the only suggestion, we went with it and tried to have a networking meeting last week. Well, we did have a networking meeting of 6 people when 10 RSVP'd. Two cancelled that day - after all people do have a life!!!!
We met at a place that could accomodate a large group without much trouble. It wasn't very expensive - we ordered wine and it was still $20 a person for dinner - a manageable amount even for a student, especially in Manhattan where buying a deli sandwich and a soda can be over $10.
The only thing that I didn't count on was the indifference of the Host at the restaurant. Apparently, there were people who showed up that couldn't find us. They asked the host and he said we were somewhere (this was after he told us where to stand). Yes, it was a crowded, loud, touristy restaurant. But it was relatively quiet when we sat down and we actually got to talk about our lives and our work. It was a good exchange for those of us at the table. All left saying we should do this again in September.
Well, the aftermath was not so rosy. Since then, I have gotten several irate and bordering on nasty emails about not being able to find our group. The gist of the messages has been that the organization was too disorganized and that they would not even dream of trying to go to another meeting. There was also a complaint that they offered their help to the "organization" several times and never heard back. At first I felt really awful that people showed up and couldn't find us. I still feel bad about it - the environment should be welcoming and accessible for idea exchange.

Now as the complaints are coming in, I am getting a little defensive myself. I am volunteering to help organize this. (note the operative word HELP) There isn't some paid staff to do all the work. It is me... and me alone. Criticism that is usually lodged at a nameless, faceless organization is coming directly at me and it is hurting my feelings. OK, so now what do I do? Well the only thing I can do is chalk it up to human nature, grow a thicker skin and get on to planning the next meeting...

Mirror Project

Since I have triplets, I follow all things multiple. This was a recent improv project in NYC.





http://improveverywhere.com/2008/07/06/human-mirror/

Shopping again

I know that I only seem to post about shopping but that seems to me the major activity around here. All I do is shop and laundry and cook and eat. No wonder people in the burbs are fat! (I still have 15 or so baby weight pounds to lose but that is a whole other post)

So what did I do so far today?
I took the list off the fridge and then I went through it assigning each item to the store that I thought I could find it in - Costco, Mrs Green's (the organic market) or ShopRite. Now I am wracking my brain, should I go to Costco before ShopRite or should Costco wait until Thursday. My overriding question is - what if Costco doesn't have waxed paper? or deoderant? or shaving cream? Then I will have to go back to the supermarket.
I long for the days when shopping was something you did on the way to something or on the way home from some activity. Now, it is my day's activity...
How did this happen to me?

What happened to movies? What happened to museums? What happened to real life?
I know I have three babies (14 month old triplet daughters) but shopping is not the only thing there is in life. On Sunday to make my 17 year old stepson less bored, we took him to the mall in Stamford. This was after we passed up looking at the galleries in Silvermine. We chose athletic shoes and sold out iPhones over art!!!! This is not who I am or at least who I was?

My husband said to me this morning when I told him I was going shopping to buy myself something pretty. After searching for kosher organic chicken and meat, I don't have the cycles to look for clothes or shoes or even a purse. I miss going down the block and just picking out food at the Kosher Marketplace. If they didn't have it or if I felt frugal, I would walk the extra two blocks and go to Supersol and then pick up bagels (real ones not the H&H hyped ones) and cheese at the Bagel Basket. I would treat myself to a cinnamon bun if I felt like splurging. Then there was always a Fresh Direct order or a quick run to Food Emporium for everything else and then if I forgot something, I could go to PriceWise....at any time of the day or night.

All this would be done while walking - with a stroller or without... I miss walking. There is not much to see in this development - yes the houses are pretty. There is a whole lot of nature and the circles under my eyes are much better and Syd doesn't cough so much anymore. In Manhattan, you could always go for a walk and see things and people you never saw before. Here you see deer, wild turkeys and little turklets... cute but how many can you see before the novelty wears off.

There was never a time to feel alone. You were never alone. Not that I feel alone here but I do feel lonely. My world has contracted to an inner circle of mostly toothless, wordless little people. I love them with all my heart but I miss the rush of seeing something new and feeling in touch with the world at all times. It is making me very nervous.