Data management in anthropology: the next phase in ethics governance?

Recent demands for accountability in ‘data management’ by funding agencies, universities, international journals and other academic institutions have worried many anthropologists and ethnographers. While their demands for transparency and integrity in opening up data for scrutiny seem to enhance scientific integrity, such principles do not always consider the way the social relationships of research are properly maintained. As a springboard, the present Forum, triggered by such recent demands to account for the use of ‘data’, discusses the present state of anthropological research and academic ethics/integrity in a broader perspective. It specifically gives voice to our disciplinary concerns and leads to a principled statement that clarifies a particularly ethnographic position. This position is then discussed by several commentators who treat its viability and necessity against the background of wider developments in anthropology – sustaining the original insight that in ethnography, research materials have been co‐produced before they become commoditised into ‘data’. Finally, in moving beyond such a position, the Forum broadens the issue to the point where other methodologies and forms of ownership of research materials will also need consideration

THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE BUSINESS: THE ROLE OF FINANCE IN THE DESIGN OF WEB SERVICES

This article explores the production of internet services by looking at how web technology startups design their products and develop their business models. In particular, it explores how financial considerations of startups influence the types of digital services that become available to the internet users and under what terms. The research is based on an ethnographic study of investment seeking technology startups in Singapore and uses qualitative data gathered during participatory observation of startup entrepreneurs and investors. It argues that to a large extent the technology business is characterised by commodification at two levels. First, as the company develops its service into a commodity for its users and customers. Second, as the startup itself becomes a commodity for the venture capital* as it seeks to attract funding in the investment market. Exploration of this double relationship reveals how different regimes of value influence the social and material construction of the internet. This paper argues that for a better understanding of the contemporary internet landscape, the internet services have to be situated in their political economy relations and dependencies. In 2012 technology business portal TechCrunch featured an article on how Facebook has changed the design of its ‘App Permission Requests’ in a way that significantly downplays the privacy tradeoffs users agree to when engaging with apps. In the article such change in the interface design was explained as nearly self-evident: “After all, this access to our information and identity is the currency Facebook is trading in and what is driving its stock up or down.” (Charkham, 2012) Since the summer of 2012 the discussion of privacy and social media has clearly gone a long way. However, this Facebook example highlights also another, much less discussed aspect, namely, the active role financial considerations and venture capital plays in shaping the internet landscape. This aspect is to what I wish to turn the attention to in this paper