inkbluesky

Looking for a few good anthropologists

During the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many social scientists have decried the U.S. Defense Department’s lack of cultural sensitivity. Now, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former president of Texas A&M University, is doing something about it. He has announced Project Minerva, which will fund research by social scientists on topics such as the influence of religion and economics on terrorism.

Rather than welcoming Project Minerva, however, many academics, particularly anthropologists, oppose it.

Some anthropologists would rather the funding come from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Reputations and credibility are important in academia. Defense Department grants might have selection bias – the concern that only research topics that gel with certain political POVs will be picked. Who knows maybe that will happen even though SOD Gates says they’ll be most concerned with relevance. Think of it as a small compromise. Bush, and McCain for that matter don’t know the difference between Sunni ( the 9-11 attackers were from a radical Sunni sect) and Shiia Muslims. That in addition to the fact that the current powers that be have little knowledge of the importance of tribes and tribal thinking in the Middle-East. That might all sound esoteric, but that lack of anthropological knowledge has likely caused quite a few avoidable casualties. The lack of understanding of Arabic and the shortage of Arab translators has put American service personnel at higher risk, left military personnel unable to have a quick interrogation with terrorist that might yield life saving information and has hurt America’s ability to appeal to moderate Muslims. The list of how cultural ignorance of Iraq and Afghanistan has lead to failed military strategy and stalled cultural success – the psych war – is a story of gross negligence. Of course the two draft avoiders in the Whitehouse didn’t pay a price, nor has the wannabe commander-in-chief millionaire from Arizona. They all made grand speeches about how important their policies and “surges” were even as they failed to competently execute them. Project Minerva is just another boondoggle layer of Conservative bureaucracy, but sometimes you have to make your contribution in less then perfect circumstances. A smart anthropologist would already know that.

folsom street

7 Essential Guidelines For Functional Design

Unless your specialty is creating concepts that have no possibility of being made into actual products, the ultimate goal is to design things that will be used. Think about how and why your product will be used, and by whom…

Sometimes designers or probably the executive vice-president’s brother in-law go too far with the big buttons and levers, but more often then not its a cool design-poor usability issue. There is a similar tendency for some managers who dream up policies to justify their newly created overpaid position, but haven’t done a second of research on implementation or possible consequences.

A cartoon that no one will click over to, The Rise and (Relative) Fall of Stupidity in America. Sorry you’ll probably have to seat through an ad to see it.