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Adventures in chatGPT #2: A conversation with Nick Seaver

Adventures in chatGPT #2: A conversation with Nick Seaver

After writing my last post about chatGPT, I got in touch with Nick Seaver to see what he had to say about some of these issues. Here’s our conversation: Ryan Anderson: So, I just signed up for chatGPT and started messing around with it, and I’m concerned. Are you concerned? “Nick Seaver”: Yes, I am concerned …

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Adventures in chatGPT: Meet David Wilkie, anthropologist

Adventures in chatGPT: Meet David Wilkie, anthropologist

So curiosity finally got the best of me and I started looking into this whole chatGPT thing that is poised to bring about the ruin of society. I decided to see what kind of information it would spit out about anthropological work in Cabo Pulmo, Mexico, which is where I did all my doctoral work. …

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In 2023, Question Everything

In 2023, Question Everything

Here’s a New Year’s Resolution for everyone for 2023: Question everything about how we teach, do research, and select students or job applicants. – Question grades – Question letters of recommendation – Question peer review What else should we question about academia this year? (Sorry for the paywalled links, I usually try to avoid them, …

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from here to there

from here to there

2 years and 11 months ago, I posted my last entry on this website: https://anthrodendum.org/2020/01/27/an-answer/ What I didn’t know then, on January 27, 2020, was that I had caught the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus before it was officially detected in Ottawa. I still remember standing at my dresser, typing the post into my laptop resting precariously …

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What makes a job ad “terrible”?

What makes a job ad “terrible”?

On September 18, 2021, Dada Docot launched what she called “Search for 2021 Worst Anthro Job Ads.” Taking place on Twitter, this “contest” brought public attention to conversations that often happen in private between friends and colleagues who may bemoan the state of the job market and the endlessly multiplying requirements of job ads but …

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What Taking IB Social and Cultural Anthropology Higher Level is Like, from the Student Perspective

What Taking IB Social and Cultural Anthropology Higher Level is Like, from the Student Perspective

[Anthro{dendum} welcomes invited blogger Mckenna Bullard, a student of Lausanne Collegiate School.] Introduction to IB Social and Cultural Anthropology The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program includes, among its many courses, a course called Social and Cultural Anthropology. Our school offers this course at both Standard Level and Higher Level and is consistently popular with upper school …

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See You Later, Thick Data – Part 5

See You Later, Thick Data – Part 5

This blogpost is part of the methodological series “See You Later, Thick Data – How we experimented with doing collaborative fieldwork as part of an interdisciplinary research project”. In this series, we, a group of anthropologically trained junior scholars, discuss some of the opportunities and challenges we faced when collecting ethnographic data in a week-long, …

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See You Later, Thick Data – Part 4

See You Later, Thick Data – Part 4

This blogpost is part of the methodological series “See You Later, Thick Data – How we experimented with doing collaborative fieldwork as part of an interdisciplinary research project”. In this series, we, a group of anthropologically trained junior scholars, discuss some of the opportunities and challenges we faced when collecting ethnographic data in a week-long, …

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Being History

Being History

by Robert Launay I have taught the history of anthropology since 1978, give or take a year (who’s counting?). At the beginning and the end of my career, I have had to cope with the same question: why should students have to study the history of the discipline? The rationale underlying such a question has …

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