In his keynote address at the 4th Global Business Anthropology Summit, Matt Artz highlighted the impending shift in the business landscape caused by the rapid emergence of AI technology. His central argument emphasized the critical need for the field of business anthropology to embrace a "digital turn" to maintain its relevance within this new context. This digital turn would involve a pivot toward digital anthropology across all focus areas, including organizational culture, marketing, advertising, consumer research, and UX, among others.
Despite the inherent challenges, Artz noted the significant opportunities that this digital turn could provide. These include the chance to develop novel theories and methodologies, broaden the reach of business anthropology, improve our communication abilities, and help us stay relevant. With swift action, he argued that business anthropology could continue to offer valuable insights and perspectives, even in the face of increasing competition from disciplines like data science within this broader AI transformation.
Artz also provided evidence of an already occurring digital turn within the field and posited that digital anthropology could potentially surpass design anthropology as the dominant narrative within the business anthropology landscape, pointing to the future trajectory of the field.
Links
- www.mattartz.me
- / matt-artz-anthropology
- www.azimuthlab...
- www.anthrotoux...
- www.anthropolo...
- unesdoc.unesco...
Chapters
00:01:00 Business anthropology needs to embrace a digital turn
00:01:50 Early signals of a digital turn are already happening
00:02:29 Digital anthropology may overtake design as the dominant narrative
00:03:47 Matt's talks at the University of North Texas and TEDx
00:04:07 Matt's interest in podcasting and making research accessible
00:07:00 Evolution of business anthropology in the digital age
00:08:00 Need to stay relevant in an evolving landscape dominated by digital and AI
00:08:12 Risk of falling behind in the digital turn
00:08:31 Adopting digital tools to stay relevant and develop new mixed method approaches
00:09:00 Blending AI, data science, and ethnography
00:09:28 Advancing investment in digital tools and methods to understand complex issues
00:09:46 Using digital tools to communicate anthropology and increase visibility
00:10:10 Communication skills as a recurring theme in Matt's podcasts
00:12:51 Evolution of business anthropology from organizational culture to marketing, advertising, consumer research, design, and now digital
00:13:39 Design as the dominant narrative and its presence in the Journal of Business Anthropology
00:15:42 Comparison of design and digital presence in the Journal of Business Anthropology over the past 10 years
00:16:37 Shift in focus toward digital in research
00:17:24 Shift in pace and scope of research in business anthropology
00:20:47 Data Science and AI overtaking ethnography in job postings and public imagination
00:23:05 External pressures to adapt to AI and data science in business anthropology
00:26:39 Taking a digital-first approach to developing new theories and methods to navigate an AI-first society
00:27:56 Playing a pivotal role in designing and marketing these technologies and leading the digital transformation for organizations and society at large
00:29:09 Emerging digital turn within business anthropology and the opportunities it offers
00:30:00 Significance of digital anthropology over design anthropology on Twitter
00:31:00 Contribution of digital tools to practice and research in anthropology
00:31:49 Researchers incorporating AI and other technologies into their work
00:33:17 Massive disruption in all fields of anthropology and radical alteration of ethnography
00:33:35 AI as a collaborative partner to improve anthropological practice
00:34:02 Automated digital ethnography reshaping digital anthropology
00:34:20 Need for anthropology-specific AI tools
00:36:00 Entrepreneurship opportunities for anthropologists in productizing anthropological knowledge
00:37:42 Productizing anthropological understanding and humanistic innovation
00:38:19 Pushing towards a frontier of humanistic innovation and productizing anthropological understanding
00:38:38 Staffing the table with people who embrace an anthropological mindset and making conscious futures
26 авг 2024
