Anthropology Now

ISSN: 1942-8200 (Print) 1949-2901 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uann20

Ethnographic Apps/Apps as Ethnography

Samuel Gerald Collins, Matthew Durington, Paolo Favero, Krista Harper, Ali
Kenner & Casey O'Donnell

To cite this article: Samuel Gerald Collins, Matthew Durington, Paolo Favero, Krista Harper, Ali
Kenner & Casey O'Donnell (2017) Ethnographic Apps/Apps as Ethnography, Anthropology Now,
9:1, 102-118

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19428200.2017.1291054

Published online: 27 Apr 2017.

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media  pologists aren’t just “using” apps; they’re
also being “used” by them, in that the struc-
tures of app platforms affect what anthro-
Ethnographic Apps/Apps pologists know and how they know it. Just
as the individuals that anthropologists study
as Ethnography are producing the digital labor and content
that drives apps, anthropologists, in turn, are
Samuel Gerald Collins, supplying the same amount of material and
Matthew Durington, Paolo Favero, utilization. In this sense, when it comes to
Krista Harper, Ali Kenner, mobile apps, we are part of the same pub-
and Casey O’Donnell lic sphere as the populations with whom we
work. Apps can also provide many anthro-
pological insights. Each mobile app platform

T oday, people nearly everywhere are ex-

periencing multiple events through the
medium of mobile apps: Social networking
tells researchers not only what people who
use them think is important, but also the way
different media and different functions are
platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and In- expected to link together in user practice. In
stagram, are now accessed through smart- other words, apps can tell users and devel-
phones by most users; popular service apps opers how they should be moving around in
like Yelp are used for finding restaurants and the world and what they should pay attention
services; geolocation apps for way finding, to and capture as media, and simultaneously
such as Google Maps, plot drives, commutes provide conduits for sharing all of this infor-
by public transportation and even walks mation and collective experience. Increas-
around the block; and there are tons of per- ingly, anthropologists are returning from field
sonal health and fitness trackers that count research with diverse media: recordings,
everything from steps to calorie intake. For notes, photos, digital records and all sorts
anthropologists, mobile apps provide the op- of cultural items. Mobile apps suggest ways
portunity for an enhanced methodological of integrating the work anthropologists do
approach that provides new possibilities to to communicate with other anthropologists
engage with the people they study, heighten with this material from field research. They
their reflexive capacities and link to new also provide a possible way for anthropologi-
forms of data. While many approach these cal research to become increasingly relevant
possibilities with trepidation, our collective and accessible to wider publics. Anthropolo-
sentiment is that these new forms of commu- gists can and should use their knowledge,
nication provide more promise than pitfalls
for anthropology.
The use of apps is transforming human
The use of apps is transforming
experience. Mobile apps are part of every-
day life around the world, including the lives human experience.
and livelihoods of anthropologists. Anthro-

102  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

Anthropology Now, 9:102–118, 2017  •  Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1942-8200 print / 1949-2901 online  •  DOI: 10.1080/19428200.2017.1291054
and the media they have produced, to design ing well-refined products that are produced
applications that might communicate some at the end of traditional research endeavors.
of their insights to different publics. Anthropologists should increase their ca-
The need to engage with apps is also in- pacity and conduits to share the work they
tensified by the fact that, probably for the do. The famous French anthropologist and
first time in history, anthropologists com- ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch devel-
monly face audiences and research partici- oped the notion of anthropologie partagee
pants who can access the same means of (shared anthropology) as a media-based re-
representation and information that they do search method to highlight and forward the
through broadcast media, the Internet and collaborative nature of ethnographic work.
social media. These audiences often have the In films such as Chronique d’un ete (Chron-
same skills in producing and distributing this icle of a Summer) and many others, Rouch
material in real time. This reality may terrify does not simply reveal his presence as the
some in the anthropological community who filmmaker within the film as a form of nar-
are used to conducting fieldwork, writing up cissism. Rather, he reveals the process of
their work and resting comfortably with let- collaboration. In doing so, he demonstrates
ting dissemination begin and end in librar- that he, as the filmmaker and anthropologist,
ies behind paywalls to be read by hundreds is constantly working with his collaborators
like themselves. The notion of “real time” is throughout the process of anthropological re-
important. Instead of being terrified, anthro- search revealed in the medium itself. By shar-
pologists could be on the precipice of mak- ing anthropology with his collaborators and
ing the work they do more relevant, not only the audiences that view his films, Rouch dis-
while they are conducting it through these rupts the power dynamic of historical colo-
modes of communication in mobile apps, nialism and the ethnographic authority of the
but even more so when it is completed and anthropologist alone. Rouch opens up radi-
ready for dissemination. In fact, we would cal possibilities of sharing as both a method
recommend following the notion of “shar- and an ethos. For anthropologists conducting
ing” rather than traditional dissemination research in wired parts of the world today,
to meet our interlocutors where they are in mobile apps are a significant entry point for
the “real time” spaces that mobile apps pro- sharing their lifeworlds and those of the peo-
vide. Anthropologists should share their pro- ple they study with students and readers at
cess, incomplete thoughts, queries and ideas large, as well as with their collaborative com-
while they are in motion in addition to shar- munities. Again, the possibility of doing so in

Anthropologists should increase their capacity

and conduits to share the work they do.

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  103

near real time resides in various tools made using mobile apps and social media as they
even more accessible during field research conduct their research and interact with their
through mobile app platforms. This induces collaborators, they have taken the participa-
a sense of sharing that is intrinsic to mobile tory turn whether they know it or not.
app platforms and different forms of a net- Mobile apps can also be conceived as a
worked anthropology. platform for different multimodal expressions
For the past several years, Collins and Dur- in anthropological research. Multimodal an-
ington have developed an approach through thropology is a recently conceived category
their book Networked Anthropology that in- of anthropological work that attempts to en-
tegrates a variety of technologies, including compass research that is disseminated in mul-
app prototyping and design, into anthropo- tiple sensory capacities such as sight, sound
logical methods following an ethos of shar- and even touch. Although there are several
ing.1 Networked anthropology starts with the directions for multimodal anthropology, two
recognition that we are linked to our ethno- broad trends characterize the movement: (1)
graphic interlocutors through multiple online the recognition that we need to acknowledge
networks and that a more robust approach to the many media we rely on to undertake
living in our social media present depends fieldwork and generate and share data and
on our ability to both use these networks and (2) that a reinvestment in media across dif-
reflect upon the ways that they help shape ferent shared platforms (e.g., social media)
both the fieldwork encounter and the result- is one way that we can connect to people
ing representations of people and culture that “where they are” — through the digital plat-
we produce. Finally, a networked anthropol- forms they use. Apps suggest both of these
ogy reminds us that our anthropological work broader orientations.
both precedes anthropological fieldwork The projects discussed in this essay repre-
(in the networked media that people have sent the authors’ struggles with mobile apps
already made) and extends past the publi- as a challenge for media anthropologies.
cation of the ethnography or ethnographic Matthew Durington provides an account of
film (in the circulations and recirculations of using an app to prototype “serious” games
networked media to people both within and for his anthropology class. From there, Ali-
outside the communities in which anthro- son Kenner examines mobile asthma ap-
pologists study). It is easy to see how mobile plications for what they might tell people
apps, particularly those with a social media about the dynamics of illness, risk and prac-
and geolocative capacity, are a natural par- tice. Paolo Favero looks to the potential of
ticipatory extension of a networked anthro- apps as “allies” for the collection, archiving
pology approach. Anthropologists are taking and organization of visual ethnographic
the participatory turn toward collaborative data. Casey O’Donnell examines his rela-
and community-based knowledge produc- tionship to Evernote over the years as both
tion in response to feminist and postcolonial his research and the structure of Evernote
critiques of ethnography as well as a genuine have changed. Samuel Collins looks at apps
interest in advocacy. If anthropologists are as one way to make collaborative media

104  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

about neighborhoods with communities is being flattened significantly. The creative
in Seoul, Korea. A concluding frame from misuse of these technologies often provides
Krista Harper contextualizes mobile apps in even more opportunities for development.4
terms of public anthropology and method- Creative misuse occurs when users repurpose
ological innovation. Each project detailed mobile app technologies for functions differ-
suggests different angles on questions gen- ent from those for which they were designed.
erated by the use of mobile apps: from the For example, Jason Farman developed a
user’s perspective, from the anthropologist’s game for his students called “The Amazing
critical perspective on the structure of apps Race” with Glympse in order “...to creatively
and from the perspective of a community. In misuse a location-aware surveillance tech-
turn, each project suggests new directions nology for playful purposes.”5 Collins and
for public anthropology and for broadening Durington have speculated on the possibility
anthropology’s utility to a wider public col- of an “ethnographic hook up” by creatively
laboration. misusing geolocating apps in ethnographic
research where researchers and collaborators
can locate each other in urban settings.6 For
Anthropology Games example, an anthropology student and com-
munity collaborator are both geolocated on
Anthropologists have been thinking about a fieldwork mobile app simultaneously and
games and their relationship to the public for with a prompt could “accept” a meeting for
decades. As early as 1940, noted anthropolo- a potential interview. Less educational and
gist Margaret Mead proposed a game called perhaps more fun is the project by running
“Democracies and Dictators” to Parker Broth- enthusiast Claire Wyckoff, who uses her
ers to teach the general public about different daily jog and a geolocative tracking mobile
value systems. Tabletop gaming cultures have app made by Nike to draw penises on neigh-
also become a recent focus in anthropology borhood maps of San Francisco.7
through the work of Nicholas Mizer.2 Game One of the greatest opportunities for inte-
design, gaming logics and game playing can grating game design into anthropology lies
be combined with mobile app development in the analysis and development of “serious
for the production and dissemination of an- games” that are simulations of real-world
thropology as well. The integration of gam- events or processes designed for the pur-
ing logics into prototyping mobile app design pose of solving a problem. Although serious
extends the more open-ended networked an- games can be entertaining, their main pur-
thropology approach using simple tools such pose is to train or educate users on a serious
as Prototyping on Paper and the MIT App In- social topic, such as genocide in the serious
ventor.3 The number of design platforms for game “Darfur is Dying”8 or the problems of
mobile app development is increasing by living on a minimum-wage income in the
the day, and the appropriation of these tech- game “Spent.”9 Developed by game designer
nologies by anthropologists and the public is Susana Ruiz, “Darfur is Dying” attempts to
increasing exponentially. The learning curve bring critical awareness to the plight of Su-

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  105

danese women and children literally navi- One of the questions people often ask is
gating survival techniques during warfare. whether serious games can actually be fun.
In the web-based game, women attempt There are obvious dangers in designing a
to complete tasks such as accessing water game for anthropology. One can imagine
while threats of kidnapping and even sexual the slippery slope of creating an avatar to
assault confront players as they guide their represent the traditional collaborators in an-
avatars through the Sudanese desert. While thropological studies, which then come to
critics state that turning the effects of a geno- stereotype indigenous cultures. But a serious
cide into a game is a gross oversimplifica- game focusing on ethics and fieldwork could
tion, others see the game as a means to raise be highly effective in starting conversations
awareness about a very serious issue and, about the tensions that anthropologists face
ideally, prompt further advocacy.10 The seri- in their research. Historically, in anthropol-
ous game “Spent” was created by the Urban ogy, ethical challenges do not necessarily
Ministries of Durham to challenge individu- present stopping points but have been known
als to see life through another person’s eyes. to reveal interesting moments of levity. In one
In this case, what would happen if you lost of the most famous introductory readings in
your job or experienced a financial setback cultural anthropology, “Eating Christmas in
that forced you to navigate life from a social the Kalahari,” Richard Lee discussed trying to
class position close to the poverty line. give a “gift” of an ox to a group of indigenous

Figure 1.  Screen shot of mobile app prototype BMore organized by Towson University students using Prototyping on
Paper tool.

106  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

collaborators in the Kalahari.11 The levity oc- Asthma, Apps, and Health Care
curs when he is mocked mercilessly by his on the Move
collaborators and can’t understand why until
he comes to realize they are trying to teach As doctors, insurance providers, pharma-
him a lesson to not be arrogant. In this par- ceutical companies and researchers begin to
ticular egalitarian society, bragging about bring mobile apps into health care systems,
a hunting kill or providing food to bolster anthropologists should be asking how per-
your image is antithetical to the mores of the sonal technologies, such as smartphones,
group. change the business of medicine and care.14
Moving ideas about gaming into mobile Indeed, as potential applications and ex-
app platforms is a logical step for making periments across health care and biomedical
anthropology relevant and accessible to stu- arenas occur, there are many routes that an-
dents of anthropology and the public beyond. thropologists can take to study mobile health
Mobile app prototyping tools such as Proto-
apps. Mobile asthma applications such
typing on Paper has students create drawings
as mAsthma are part of the broader digital
of “app pages,” take pictures of those pages
health field emerging around chronic disease
through a smartphone or tablet, link ele-
care.15 mAsthma apps aim to address gaps in
ments within those now digitized pages and
current asthma management paradigms by
create a workflow like a mobile app prior
advancing health literacy, providing a struc-
to testing.12 The MIT App Inventor allows
ture for documenting illness experiences,
people to build a mobile app prototype us-
improving patient-provider communication
ing a variety of data in the form of pictures,
and, in some cases, crowdsourcing personal
text, video, sound and links.13 Any number
data for clinical research. To date, most stud-
of tasks in the workplace can be shifted to
ies of mobile health apps have focused on
the “logic” of app prototyping. For example,
how about a “keyword” or “fieldnote” mo- diet, fitness and lifestyle tracking — apps
bile app where the researcher records initial that provide users with quantified, visual
insights on a mobile app with social media and comparative frames of reference for
capacities that can then be shared with col- health.16 Indeed, health performance apps
laborators for immediate feedback. We could have been a key part of the growing mobile
call it “Instant Reflexivity!” Creatively misus- app market from personal weight monitoring
ing these tools for anthropology can provide to exercise tracking. For legal reasons, these
even more rewards and, dare to think, more personal technologies need to steer clear of
fun. As anthropologists produce data in their functions that veer too closely into medical
fieldwork endeavors, the growing assem- purview, such as algorithms that might per-
blage of mobile app development tools can form diagnostic or treatment work. Yet, for
be incorporated as a means of organizing, the most part, the Food and Drug Administra-
producing and disseminating their work in tion (FDA), which regulates the development
the same fashion that mobile apps organize of medical technologies, has let the mHealth
the world for particular communities. market push boundaries.

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  107

 Last year’s launch of Apple’s Research-
Kit, however, signaled that the smartphone
platform had officially opened for medical
business, with the understanding that such
systems would be subject to the FDA’s new
medical technology guidelines. Asthmapolis
was a project led by medical anthropologist
David Van Sickle, who worked with engineer-
ing students at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, to develop a GPS sensor that could
fit onto standard quick-relief inhalers. The
sensor would record the location and time of
each inhaler use and then send the data back
to the user’s smartphone app, thus marking
and archiving illness events. The value of
tracking inhaler use in place stems from the
environmental dimensions of the disease it-
self — asthma symptoms can be triggered by
exposure to ground ozone, smoke, pollen,
pet dander, chemicals and scents, among
other things. If quick-relief inhaler use can
be tracked and documented in place and
Figure 2.  Screen shot of Asthma Ally’s air quality
time, such data could provide insight into the page. Asthma Ally, http://www.asthmaally.com/.
disease, its triggers and patterns. If such data
were crowdsourced through many asthma
sufferers using Asthmapolis, researchers
might get a better picture of asthma as a pub- the variety of features, design and uses. Some
lic health problem clearly connected to local apps simply provided information about the
environmental conditions. disease and its care, and were thus similar
As one of the very first mAsthma apps, to e-books, while others provided symptom,
Asthmapolis is a great example of an inno- medication and trigger-tracking functions,
vation at the intersection of mobile devices, similar in function to the pen-and-paper
personal technology and health care. As the symptom diaries that are used to help pa-
market expanded, so did the range of uses, tients identify illness patterns as they learn
features and implicated users — parents, to manage their disease. A handful of apps
schools, doctors, researchers, pharmaceuti- provided more dynamic networking func-
cal companies and insurance providers. In tions. Some, for example, allowed users to
December 2014, a search for “asthma” in send personal data to treatment providers or
the Apple Store and Google Play generated caregivers. At least one app was developed
more than 300 results, with a huge span in for managed care organizations specifically.

108  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

Many apps leverage the smartphone’s notifi- audio-visual-textual materials and an online
cation capability, which can automate medi- platform, which can be used for archiving,
cation reminders or routinize treatment like organizing and analyzing such materials, Eth-
filling prescriptions or making appointments. noAlly takes and organizes multimodal field
Anthropologists studying asthma would be notes.17 It is a kind of personal assistant for
remiss to neglect this new interaction of tech- ethnographers in their exploration of places
nology and community. and topics as well as a participatory tool that
Despite the sheer number of apps and researchers can use with their interlocutors.
the diversity in design, many companies and The EthnoAlly app can be easily loaded onto
developers are using the mobile app plat- the smartphones of research collaborators
form simply to operationalize and reinforce and, functioning as an invisible extension
biomedical culture. This is where medical of the ethnographer, can continue provid-
anthropologists can make significant con- ing material in the form of images, notes and
tributions. There are important nuanced dif- sound files to EthnoAlly’s Internet page even
ferences in the way apps are introduced into when the ethnographer is not with them.
health care and patients’ lives — such as the The original testing ground for EthnoAlly
difference between an app developed by a was the field of tourism, a context, the de-
parent caring for a young child with asthma signers believed, that lends itself particu-
whose design is based on crowdsourced larly well to this kind of experimentation
feedback, an app developed for use in a from both practical and ethical points of
clinical trial, an app that asks users only to view. The first prototype of the EthnoAlly
document when and how much medication was developed from a research proposal
they take, and an app that asks about medi- entitled “The Media Tourist” that dealt with
cation plus behaviors such as sleep, exercise, tourist practices in information-and-com-
diet and exposure to environmental triggers. munication-technology (ICT) mediated en-
This is a critical moment for anthropologists vironments and sponsored by the Research
to engage the ways that mobile apps are be- Foundation Flanders (FWO). The idea was
ing brought formally and systematically into to create a tool that could be used by re-
treatment and care, particularly in regard to searchers in the field of tourism as well as
geolocation that helps asthma sufferers navi- by tourists. However, as researchers on the
gate environmental conditions. EthnoAlly project started actively designing
the application, the difficulty of hosting too
many specific functions within the same tool
Apps as the Ethnographer’s Ally soon became evident. Researchers also real-
ized that adapting the tool to the needs of
EthnoAlly is a digital tool designed to extend one specific research setting could actually
the possibilities represented by contempo- entail a loss for the development of the tool
rary digital technologies in the context of as such. The idea would be for EthnoAlly to
ethnographic research. Consisting of a smart- be useful in multiple sites. Thus, researchers
phone application that produces GPS-tagged decided to focus exclusively on the specific

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  109

needs of ethnographers and transform the conversation, get lost in a story and engage
tool into a field assistant for them and their with the sensory aspects of walking and other
interlocutors wherever it was used. activities, while letting the app do the job of
EthnoAlly employs a simple user-friendly recomposing such material once the experi-
interface that combines geolocative functions ence has come to an end. These features are
with the conventional multiple media capa- designed to highlight the character of ethnog-
bilities present in most smartphones. It has a raphy and the experiences of ethnographic
number of key features, including GPS-based collaborators. The interaction of users and
geotracking, image-making, and textual and anthropologists reviewing the data together
audio notes. Through these functions, anthro- provides an opportunity for discussion, fol-
pologists can track the movement of research low-up interviews and the extension of ideas
collaborators, access still and moving im- about the navigation of mutual space.
ages made available to them on a web-based The EthnoAlly app also allows users to de-
platform and take written and audio notes familiarize their environment by highlighting
that are geotagged on spatialized maps. All the ways sound contributes to the boundaries
of these are activities with which nearly any of a neighborhood in a city. In other words,
smartphone user is familiar. EthnoAlly’s main the app provides a useful tool to connect dif-
contribution is to allow people to focus on a ferent sensory experiences in ethnographic

Figure 3.  Screen shot of EthnoAlly, ethnoally.com.

110  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

practice. By adding different sensory expe- pologist of game development and science
riences to the app such as sound, the user and technology studies, Casey O’Donnell’s
is able to experience the environment visu- work is intimately integrated into a variety of
ally and aurally. But it also helps with more digital platforms. And like other anthropolo-
conventional ethnographic methods, includ- gists, O’Donnell has in some ways become
ing those of visual anthropology, extending dependent on particular apps for organizing
their utility to the various publics with which his notes and media. In his diary, O’Donnell
anthropologists engage. The app could eas- reflects on the effects of apps themselves on
ily be adapted to a variety of different fields the course and organization of research. Apps
and support a number of productive conver- are more than just a platform to record. They
sations about fieldwork and the utility of eth- make a difference in how he understands and
nography for anthropologists and the public. structures his data; they enable him to see
Such mobile tools are already being used the world in a particular way. What follows
by many of the people anthropologists work is a series of letters written by O’Donnell to
with, and they offer a way to bridge the dis- Evernote, a computer-based software appli-
tance between researchers and their subjects cation and cloud-based service that began as
through a mutual recognition of the utility of a stand-alone desk-top application in 2006.
smartphone apps. While meant to be performative and evoca-
In many ways, the development of Ethno- tive, the letters explore ethnographic work
Ally is a logical extension of the work of an- at the intersections of app/anthropology and
thropologists today. Integrated into different possible conversations between anthropolo-
media platforms, anthropologists record and gists and the public about a shared adora-
upload photos, film, audio and layered maps. tion of technology. Along the way, the letters
The app not only reflects these things that an- suggest different ways of doing anthropology
thropologists produce, but also anticipates a and, by extension, the ways that technology
deeper connection, the moment when an- shapes practice.
thropology and its apps become mutually
constitutive. The app allows the anthropolo-
gist conducting research to use a mobile app — November, 2006 —
via a smartphone in the same fashion they
Dear Evernote...
would have used various recording tools pre-
viously. Instead of these various tools being It was nice meeting you. I’m a Mac guy, but
disjointed, they are all contained within one I’ve kept my PC around for a while since I
mobile app. still occasionally consult for the company
that employed me before graduate school.

I’m not totally sure what we have in com-

To My Forever, Evernote mon. I take notes all the time. Tagging
and having a variety of notebooks is inter-
Anthropologists like many of the same mobile esting and I like that you make scraping
apps as their interlocutors do. As an anthro- web-pages relatively easy. The whole idea

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  111

 of “clipping” things is new to me, but the might pose some possible future value. I
metaphor works. actually fear that notebook. It is like a kind
of data soup that I’m never really going to
More soon.
make sense of.
Casey Am I collecting everything or nothing? You
don’t need to answer that.

— March, 2008 —
— September, 2013 —
Dear Evernote...
To my Indefatigable, Evernote...
Oh, my god. I got my mac beta invite. It
is so much different from the PC version. I don’t think either of us knew what we
It seems like all of the hard computational were getting into with this National Science
things that used to be done on the machine Foundation grant. We’re averaging some-
itself now require the use of the cloud ser- thing like 30 to 40 notes per-month across
vice. I guess I don’t mind. It works. Mostly. the group. I had to upgrade my graduate
student’s account so that we could all col-
The Evernote Mac beta team sent me a t- laborate effectively.
shirt with pink elephants on it. I know that
an elephant never forgets, but what about I suppose that there are numerous other
a circle of pink elephants? Does that mean ways that we could have collected the
that we’re going to have this same conversa- data. Everyone seems to like the idea of just
tion again sometime in the future? throwing things into Dropbox. But that’s
just like having a common toilet in a dorm
See you again soon. room. Everyone uses it at first. No one ever
wants to clean it. And you even begin to
Casey
dread using it later.

My love,

— June, 2009 — Casey

Dearest Evernote . . .

Our time over the last few months has been — February, 2015 —
incredible. Audio notes that I can search
To my Forever, Evernote...
along with all of the other materials we’ve
been working to gather throughout this I don’t know when precisely we started
project has been simply amazing. I feel like spending all of our time together. Funny
there isn’t much we can’t accomplish. how that is. Probably when I started telling
you my recipes. I just looked. Yes, indeed,
You probably know more about my web-
that is when our time together exploded.
surfing habits than anyone based on the
quantity of things in my web-archives note- At this point it has really gotten to the point
book. I archive every stupid little article that that I’m not always sure how rapidly we’ll

112  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

 Like most infatuated lovers, though, I worry
that you’ll leave me, and that the data that
we have worked so hard to collect will dis-
appear or worse stolen in some way that
I have yet to really comprehend.

Truly yours,

Casey

In the case of a mobile app tool like Ever-

note, it is easy to see the dualism of mobile
apps using us, while we use various mobile
apps. A tool like Evernote continues to ex-
pand as a technology as the volume of use
Figure 4.  The Evernote logo. Object of Casey expands over time. In essence, the more one
O’Donnell’s adoration.
uses the technology to shape one’s practice,
the more this practice simultaneously shapes
the technology itself. As Evernote becomes
be able to figure out where something is. more useful to the practitioner, it becomes
We’ve just collected so much over the years. a better form of technology in a mutually
Sometimes I’m sure there is a thread that reinforcing fashion.
I’ve left behind or lost somewhere.

Love, Choose Your Own City: Apps and

Casey Multimedia Anthropology in Seoul

Seoul is an ideal place to explore the poten-

— August, 2015 — tial of mobile apps to help anthropologists
navigate the urban environs and lifeworlds of
To my Forever, Evernote... citizens of global cities. As one of the most
Near as I can figure, I’ve shared more than wired places on earth, Seoul is always in the
2000 notes with you over the years. I’m sure top five cities for numbers of app downloads
there are people with more or less that have per capita. Seoul is also a place with crowded
known you as long as I have. streets, complex subways and trains, and a
lengthy commute of 90 minutes each way
But it is funny to me, looking back through
our time. I can tell that you mine our data for people without cars. Here, as in other cit-
trying to help me (and maybe you) make ies, apps help citizens navigate streets, find
sense of it. You “contextualize” my notes restaurants, plan trips and connect to each
and sometimes make connections that I other. But the city keeps changing beneath
would not have made. people’s feet. Successive waves of redevel-

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  113

opment have transformed Seoul’s cityscapes
again and again; neighborhoods of mod- …there are many apps in Seoul
est “city hanok,” or traditional-style houses,
that lead visitors through small
have been replaced by towering apartment
alleyways and old neighborhoods
compounds: the legacy of Seoul’s rapid mod-
ernization. Today, 75 percent of Seoul resi- to charming coffee shops and tiny
dents live in high-density apartments noted museums.
and often critiqued for their social alienation
and dull conformity.
Not surprisingly, there are many apps in
Seoul that lead visitors through small alley- than about critiquing the contradictions of
ways and old neighborhoods to charming colonialism and development. Developing
coffee shops and tiny museums. But the ef- apps based on critique, then, fits into a long
fects of apps like this are ambiguous. The history of Korean literature, journalism and
possibility exists that they will lead to the activism. It is important to know what people
commodification of these places and to their in these neighborhoods think. It is also im-
eventual gentrification by corporate busi- portant to know what they value and how
ness. However, apps could be designed to they negotiate with development models
tell another story about these old neighbor- that make their homes and alleyways con-
hoods, one less about pleasurable consump- tinued targets for large apartment buildings
tion than about class struggle and political and “new town” development. Under Seoul’s
resistance. When anthropologist Samuel Col- current mayor, Park Won-soon, money,
lins challenged his Korean students during a equipment and expertise are available for
Fulbright year in Seoul to design apps, they neighborhoods to produce “village media”:
concentrated on the suppressed histories of newspapers, radio, television and photogra-
these neighborhoods, including the stories phy that document neighborhoods without
of people whose homes and neighborhoods making them into commodities for the con-
had been obliterated by four decades of un- sumption of tourists. That is, these media help
trammeled development. In one app that to foster community by building representa-
leads users through neighborhoods along the tions for residents themselves. The success of
newly reconstructed Cheonggye River, stu- this project can be seen in the proliferation of
dents concentrated on the vanished network YouTube video channels, podcasts and local
of dense alleyways filled with merchants and gallery shows, all of which target community
working-class homes that were obliterated members themselves.
in the redevelopment schemes that followed After attending different workshops and
the river’s construction. meetings held by MedAct and the Seoul
Their work reminded Collins that urban Community Media Center, Collins has begun
exploration of Seoul in photojournalism, to work with community designs of mobile
books and newspaper articles was less about apps using media that have already been pro-
middle-class encounters with the “Other” duced by neighborhoods: photography, film,

114  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

television and newspapers that document deal about what people value in a neighbor-
neighborhoods as the products of the use- hood — and in each other. They can also be
value of their residents. In this project, app one of the things anthropologists give back
design is a cooperative project that involves to the communities in which they study.
local residents and media producers in a pro- Mobile apps can help residents cope with
cess facilitated by the adoption of MIT App a world of sometimes belligerent forces by
Inventor. Using intuitive programming blocks helping people represent their own lives.
(similar to Scratch, a programming language Moreover, mobile apps have a subversive
developed at the MIT Media Lab), App In- potential. Because they can bring media,
ventor enables people without programming mapping and personal movement together,
skills to design applications that arrange me- they can structure a more critical experience
dia and structure interactions through map- by facilitating more nuanced encounters. In
ping and geolocation. Although this project the very best case, they not only present us
is still at the prototype stage, it suggests some with ethnographic data, but also facilitate
of the contours of an app-driven, collabora- our experience of that data on a personal
tive anthropology. level. When this mutually constitutive out-
Through this open and relatively intuitive come occurs, it demonstrates how technol-
tool, making apps can be part of anthropo- ogy can be used by both anthropologists and
logical fieldwork. Apps can tell us a great their collaborators for the benefit of both.

Figure 5.  A screen shot of App Inventor.

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  115

The anthropologists acquire data for their the realm of gamification, with their students
research, and the collaborators develop a creatively reconceptualizing anthropological
new tool to engage their community. This ethics and urban ethnography as games fos-
type of engaged anthropology facilitated tering exploration and discussion.
by technology will only increase in years to New perspectives of the user/designer:
come and continue to shape the work that Ethnography relies on the juxtaposition of
anthropologists do. insider and outsider perspectives, and the
anthropology of apps highlights a new twist
on this emic/etic juxtaposition by look-
Anthropological Themes and ing at users’ and designers’ perspectives.
Mobile Apps While the designers’ perspective shows us
“etic” concepts, norms and expectations of
Mobile apps present a number of challenges user compliance, by tuning into the “user
both ethically and ethnographically, and frequency,” anthropologists can highlight
anthropologists would be remiss to not take agency, empathy and unexpected possibili-
up these challenges and harness the unique ties of technology.
ability of these technologies to communi- Design ethnography, participatory design
cate with different publics and the anthropo- as ethnography: With the new attention to
logical community. Across the experimental users’ and designers’ perspectives on apps,
moments discussed in this article, five key questions of design ethnography rise to the
themes emerge for ethnographic apps and forefront of anthropological work that looks
the ethnography of apps. at how design choices materialize some as-
Place and method: Ethnography has al- pects over others. As Dori Tunstall has stated,
ways been a place-based, ground-up re- “Design translates values into tangible expe-
search approach with a strong focus on riences. Anthropology helps you understand
context. More recently, anthropologists are those values and how the process of making
using techniques of “walking ethnography” things actually defines us as semi-uniquely
to draw out the diverse stories and tacit human.”20 Through these case studies, Ken-
knowledge that research participants at- ner and O’Donnell have made the case for
tach to places and routes.18 Apps, as mobile, critical app design analysis, while Durington,
geocoded technologies, offer new possibili- Favero and Collins focus on experiments in
ties for “locative storytelling” and “counter- participatory app design as emergent forms
mapping.”19 of ethnographic analysis.
Goals and games: As interactive media, Ethics, politics and economics of apps:
apps must engage users to be successful. In As a new technology, apps bring us into un-
their research on EthnoAlly and Masthma, charted waters for anthropological ethics.
Favero and Kenner ask what motivates peo- Anthropologists’ interlocutors in the field
ple to use an app, and work to interpret these have always come into interviews with their
goals and motivations as data. Durington own goals and agendas. With mobile inter-
and Collins push the envelope further into active media, however, anthropologists must

116  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017

think about how the “rewards” of engage- educate the general public about surveillance
ment might distort or coerce participation in capacities within certain mobile apps that use
unanticipated ways. The exciting possibilities geolocative technologies. Or, the tension be-
of locative storytelling are tempered by ethi- tween developers and actual user experience
cal concerns about volunteered geographic by consumers of these technologies could
information (VGI) that is an inevitable by- provide an opportunity for anthropologists to
product of mobile media. Geolocated apps consult on better design practices from manu-
may help ground ethnographic work in peo- facturing to marketing.
ple and places, but they also leave a trace What these themes suggest is a new di-
of that groundedness in scripts that record rection in media-based, multimodal and
people’s comings and goings through space. networked anthropology that emphasizes
Anthropologists may want to locate ethno- the embodied qualities of digital society.
graphic work in place, but few want to be If at one time anthropologists thought that
automatically and surreptitiously located “digital society” meant separating from
within those places. Moreover, geolocation “real” society, today we look to the way
is just one of the footprints left behind when new platforms afford new ways to connect
people use computer- or smartphone-based experiences and data. This “app turn” in an-
applications. Questions remain about the thropology can lead to more ethnographic
media, where it is stored, whether others engagement and to more reflective interven-
can access it and whether it can be remixed tions. In other words, mobile app anthropol-
by people with very different goals than the ogy promises an enhanced anthropology
anthropologists who collected it. O’Donnell that supplements — but does not replace —
weighs the efficiency of a favorite app against the way anthropologists do research. Down-
the political specter of cloud-based surveil- load us soon!
lance and the economics of proprietary soft-
ware and hardware.
The fear of possible surveillance may hin- Notes
der the adoption of these tools by anthropolo-
gists, but it hasn’t hindered adoption by the 1.  Sam Collins and Matthew Durington, Net-
public. Now there is an interesting tension. If worked Anthropology (New York: Routledge,
the people anthropologists study are confront- 2014).
2. See Nick Mizer’s dissertation research on
ing a series of ethical challenges through their
tabletop gaming at the following link: https://the
use of mobile apps in their everyday lives and
geekanthropologist.com/2014/02/27/spot-check-
not even recognizing that they are doing so,
14-gamer-evangelism/. Accessed November 9,
this creates a fascinating space for analysis
2016.
and possibly even intervention by anthropol- 3.  See Sam Collins and Matthew Durington’s
ogists. Perhaps anthropologists could gener- posts on using app prototypes at the follow-
ate a set of best practices for developers to ing link via Savage Minds: http://savageminds.
incorporate into mobile app design. Another org/2014/10/30/hanyangtowson/. Accessed No-
possibility could be that anthropologists help vember 9, 2016

Samuel Gerald Collins et al. Apps as Ethnography  117

 4.  Jason Farman, The Mobile Story: Narrative the first ethnographic experiments in the field)
Practices with Locative Technologies (New York: and Ali Zaidi (who curated its UX and aesthetic
Routledge 2014). features). EthnoAlly was made possible by a grant
5.  Jason Farman, “Creative Misuse as Resis- awarded by the Research Foundation Flanders
tance: Surveillance, Mobile Technologies, and (FWO).
Locative Games,” Surveillance and Society 12, no. 18.  Sarah Pink, “An Urban Tour: The Sensory
3 (2014), 377–388. Sociality of Ethnographic Place-Making,” Ethnog-
6.  See posts by Collins and Durington: http:// raphy 9, no. 2 (2008), 175–196; Tim Ingold and
savageminds.org/2014/10/23/old-web-city/. Jo Lee Vergunst, eds., Ways of Walking: Ethnogra-
7.  Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Runner Uses phy and Practice on Foot (Burlington, VT: Ashgate
Nike+ app to Draw Penises,” The Guardian, Au- Publishing Ltd. 2008).
gust 6, 2014. 19. Mei Po Kwan, “Feminist Visualization:
8. http://www.darfurisdying.com/. Re-Envisioning GIS as a Method in Feminist Geo-
9. http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/ graphic Research,” Annals of the Association of
spent/. American Geographers 92, no. 4 (2002), 645–
10. Wei Peng, Mira Lee and Carrie Heeter, 661; Nick Rattray, “Counter-Mapping as Situated
“The Effects of a Serious Game on Role-Taking Knowledge: Integrating Lay Expertise in Participa-
and Willingness to Help,” Journal of Communica- tory Geographic Research,” In Participatory Visual
tion 60 (2010), 723–742. and Digital Research in Action, eds. Alice Gu-
11.  Richard Lee, “Eating Christmas in the Ka- brium, Krista Harper and Mary Otanez (New York:
lahari,” Natural History (December 1969), 60–64. Routledge, 2015).
12. https://popapp.in/. 20. http://www.debbiemillman.com/design
13. http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/. matters/dori-tunstall/.
14. Ali Kenner, “Asthma on the Move: How
Mobile Apps Remediate Risk for Disease Man-
agement,” Health, Risk and Society 17, no. 7–8 The authors are all users of, and are being used
(2016), 510–529. by, a variety of mobile apps in their anthropologi-
15. “Propeller” (Mobile App). Madison, WI: cal practice. Samuel Gerald Collins is professor
Propeller Health (http://www.propellerhealth. of anthropology at Towson University. Matthew
com)
Durington is a professor of anthropology at Tow-
16.  Jonathan Metzl and Anna Kirkland, Against
son University. Paolo Favero is associate professor
Health: How Health Became the New Morality
at the University of Antwerp. Krista Harper is as-
(New York: NYU Press, 2010); Deborah Lupton,
sociate professor at the University of Massachu-
“The Digitally Engaged Patient: Self-Monitoring
and Self-Care in the Digital Health Era,” Critical setts, Amherst. Ali Kenner is assistant professor of
Public Health 23, no. 4 (2013), 393–403. politics, and science, technology and society at
17.  EthnoAlly was conceived of by Paolo Fa- Drexel University. Casey O’Donnell is associate
vero (University of Antwerp) and designed in col- professor of Media and Information at Michigan
laboration with Alfonso Bahillo Martinez (Uni- State University.
versity of Deusto), who also handled its technical
realization/development. The tool has been de-
signed in collaboration with Eva Theunissen (who
curated its user experience [UX] and conducted

118  anthropology Volume 9  •  Number 1  •  April 2017