Anthropology: Moving from Task-driven to Science-driven Computing

Abstract

To date, most applications of computing technology in anthropology have been task-driven, automating work that was usually done manually or mechanically before computers moved outside the domain of specialists and became readily accessible. This essay addresses the question, What kind of computing environment would best support a scientific enterprise in anthropology? A scientific perspective in anthropology takes individual tasks to be inextricably linked in a systematic manner, often beginning with ethnographic comparison to formulate ideas and culminating with the testing of these ideas. Although computers have speeded and, in some cases, simplified processing of anthropological data, their use has not commensurately advanced the analytical goals of anthropology. We submit the thesis that, by reconsidering the way in which science organizes and integrates tasks and rethinking the role computers can play in supporting science, we can define computing environments that will integrate problem and theory formulation, model building, and data analysis. Our essay reviews existing work in anthropology, consistent with this viewpoint of computing, and considers future directions that computing in anthropology can take. Keywords. epistemology, theory building, model building, data analysis, comparative method, data representation.