Anthropological fieldwork in the Ubuntu development community

[Senectus .]

On 4/20/06, Andreas Lloyd <lloydinho at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all Ubunteros,
>
> My name is Andreas Lloyd and I am a graduate student at the department
> of Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Having used
> and enjoyed Ubuntu since november 2004, I have become very interested in
> the social workings of Free Software projects, and I wanted to combine
> my interest in F/OSS projects with my graduate studies. Therefore I
> propose to start an anthropological fieldwork study of the Ubuntu
> development community.

This is a great idea!
I was listening to a documentary on  the Australian ABC Radio National
about 6 weeks ago and it was a story about how Microsoft employ one of
the worlds most leading Anthropologists to help them with everything
from Office to the Xbox (including windows).
I sorry I can't remember her name but I'm sure you'd be able to find
it if you wanted.

It seems to me that an Anthropologist's input it _vital_ for an OS
that is being billed as "For Humans" (and with Edgy Eft announced,
potentially a timely offer).
I believe we could particularly make use of this Field in area's of
support and trouble shooting.
I have some idea's I've been meaning to put down in writing about this
and would be interested in your opinions.

I for one, look forward to reading more about your studies and hope to
help in some small way!

Marcus
--
www.modmeup.net
Ubuntu Dapper 6.06
The less you know, the more you believe. - Bono