- Copyright 2009-2011 by Paul Goss All Rights Reserved
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Category Archives: Anthropology
Storytelling and Surveillance
I just read an interesting blog post from Richard Smith about the possibility of self-fulfilling prophecies driving the increase in urban surveillance networks. He wrote that while attending a conference on surveillance cameras, a presentation was given examining the public … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Social Norms, Storytelling, Surveillance
Tagged anthropology studies, clive thompson, hurrican katrina, kingdom of fear, moscow police, richard smith, robert merton, self fulfilling prophecy, social influence, Social Norms, surveillance cameras, surveillance networks
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A Lesson from the Aleutians – The Brilliance of Vernacular Design and Construction
The book Steller’s Island is the account of a Russian ship exploring the coast of Alaska in 1741. The ship carried the first scientist to ever visit that part of the world, Georg Steller. In addition to performing an amazing … Continue reading
Behavior-based Architecture and Design
Josh Owen has designed and developed a portable Stoop Bench for use in varied urban environments. He writes, “Philadelphia is a city of stoop dwellers. Stoops entered into the vernacular of American architecture during the colonial times…The Philadelphia stoop functions … Continue reading
Architecture, Anthropology, Skyscrapers and Economics
Nick Gogerty has put together an interesting and brief post on the coinciding events of economic bubbles and skyscrapers. The latest example of this is of course the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which began five years ago in a boom. … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Architecture, Built Environment, Social Norms, Storytelling
Tagged Add new tag, Architecture, Arts, Building, Dubai, Skyscraper
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Sound, Storytelling and Architecture
An upcoming presentation at the club Sinema Old School in Singapore will feature a film by Mike Kowalski about sound and storytelling. According to the brief: “This presentation will explore how sound can be used creatively in film to expressively … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Architecture, Built Environment, Storytelling
Tagged Add new tag, Film, Hearing, Perception, Peter Zumthor, Sound, Storytelling
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Storytelling and the Kingdom of Fear
“We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Fiction, Storytelling
Tagged Add new tag, Gallup Poll, Hunter S. Thompson, New York Times
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Love of Surveillance: The Illusion of Safety
A recent Pew poll has been released concerning opinions of technological and social changes and how positively people view the different changes. Surprisingly high on the list was the increase in surveillance and security, with 58% of those polled viewing … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Built Environment, Surveillance
Tagged Add new tag, Closed-circuit television, London, San Francisco, Television
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Architectural Folklore
After completing the previous post of Storytelling, Cultural Transmission and Architecture I began to wonder if there are any architectural folklore or stories, and if there are, how they affect the built environment and people’s preferences toward architecture and cities. … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Architecture, Social Norms, Storytelling
Tagged Add new tag, Architecture, Folklore, History, Vernacular architecture
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Storytelling, Cultural Transmission and Architecture
Storytelling has a great value among societies as a method of cultural transmission and social learning. I have recently reread an anthropology article entitled Cross-Cultural Comparison of Learning in Human Hunting. The goal of the article was to examine the … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropology, Social Norms, Storytelling
Tagged Add new tag, Fiction, Folklore, Great Gatsby, Literature
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