EPIC Talks is a webinar series created by our community, for our community. Talks cover topics that are highly relevant to us as practitioners, introducing methods, technologies, ideas, and best practices that make our work better and foster meaningful professional connections. Formats can range from lectures or seminars to panels, discussions, and debates. EPIC Talks are proposed and created by EPIC members, bringing together a global community on the leading edge of ethnography in business. Participation is free and open to EPIC Members—join now!
An EPIC Talk with KATE SIECK (RAND) & STEVEN GARCIA (TeamOne) Approx 57 minutes Description The language of change is practically ubiquitous these days: from tech startups to legacy manufacturers and government agencies, organizations of every stripe want to innovate, grow, pivot, reorient, or disrupt. But although the language of change is varied, the burgeoning…
An EPIC Talk with MADELEINE CLARE ELISH, Data & Society Approx 50 minutes Overview Breathless rhetoric about AI has promised safer, more accurate systems that would take the “human out of the loop.” With more nuanced visions of AI, not to mention some high-profile catastrophes, the prevailing rhetoric now promises that keeping a “human in…
An EPIC Talk with & Approx 85 minutes Overview Calling all independent consultants and freelance ethnographers! Join seasoned and successful freelancers Shelley and Hal for a presentation and discussion about strategies, opportunities, and challenges of gig work. They will share their own stories of taking the leap from employee to freelancer and offer tips on…
An EPIC Talk moderated by RITA DENNY (Practica Group & EPIC) with: DAVID CROCKETT (University of South Carolina), AMBER EPP (University of Wisconsin), CRAIG THOMPSON (University of Wisconsin), & SUNAINA SCHULTZ (Grounded Insights LLC) Approx 78 minutes Description Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) looks at consumers, brands, and markets from a social and cultural vantage point.…
An EPIC Talk with & Overview Ethnographers have long used video for research and storytelling in their practices. Today a powerful array of evolving visual technologies offers unprecedented possibilities for access, representation, collaboration and dissemination, but the options can also be overwhelming and with this power comes great responsibility. Questions of ethics and vulnerability must…
An EPIC Talk with NATALIE HANSON, Principal/Partner, ZS Approx 71 minutes Overview A critical part of our work in the social sciences and design is to conduct activities and create artifacts that bring together the varying perspectives on the team; the shared goal is to deliver the best possible business outcome. Yet, the pressured facing…
An EPIC Talk with MIRIAM LUECK AVERY (Mozilla), JAN ENGLISH-LUECK (San Jose State University), LYNN JEFFERY (Institute for the Future), & FERNANDO GALDINO The anthropological imagination can be exponentially expanded by anticipating the consequences of human action. Futures thinking—strategic research that helps us systematically explore what the future may hold—is increasingly being combined with anthropological techniques…
An EPIC Talk with SAM LADNER Approx 77 minutes Overview What are mixed methods, really? Sometimes the term refers to a set of rich and powerful research traditions; sometimes it’s just a catch-all in an over-stuffed job description. Most of us know that mixing methods implies mixing data sets, but it also means mixing approaches…
An EPIC Talk with MARTHA COTTON, ROGERIO DE PAULA, ABBAS JAFFER, and MEG KINNEY September 20, 2018, 10:00am–11:30pm PST Overview Aloha! In anticipation of the most epic-ly big EPIC ever, Martha Cotton (EPIC Board Secretary and Group Design Research Director at Fjord) plus three EPIC veterans come together to prepare conference attendees for getting the…
An EPIC Talk with KATHY BAXTER, Architect – AI Ethics, Salesforce 8 November 2018, 11–12:30 Pacific Time Free online event, pre-registration & EPIC Membership required Artificial Intelligence represents a considerable opportunity for businesses and society to drive productivity, innovation, and growth. It has potential for tremendous good—when implemented in a way that promotes transparency and…
An EPIC Talk with DANYA GLABAU, Implosion Labs Overview Approx 51 minutes Combine grounded research on human-technology interactions with an openness to speculation and imagination. This webinar introduces cyborg theory and cyborg anthropology. The figure of the cyborg is, in the words of Donna Haraway, a “condensed image of imagination and material reality,” and in…
An EPIC Talk with JAY HASBROUCK, Founder, Filament Insight & Innovation 24 August 2018, 11:00am–12:30pm Pacific Time Free online event, pre-registration & EPIC Membership required Overview Many people are now familiar with the benefits of ethnography for getting a deep understanding of customer needs. However, the modes of thinking unique to ethnography are useful far…
An EPIC Talk with LAURA FORLANO, Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology 26 October 2018, 11:00am–12:30pm Pacific Time Free online event, pre-registration & EPIC Membership required Overview Since at least the mid-1980s, design has been dominated by a human-centered and user-centered paradigm. Currently, the implications of technological and environmental transformations are challenging designers to focus…
An EPIC Talk with LAURA E. MATZEN and LAURA A. MCNAMARA, Sandia National Laboratories March 6, 2018, 12:00–1:30pm PST Free online event, pre-registration & EPIC Membership required Overview Over the past decades, eye tracking systems have migrated out of their native laboratories into the wide world of applied consumer research. If you’ve never used an…
an EPIC TALK with ELIZABETH CHURCHILL (Google), MARTHA COTTON (Fjord), APRIL JEFFRIES (Ipsos) & JOHN W. SHERRY (Intel) Approx 83 minutes Overview Getting a foot in the door for a coveted researcher job can be a mysterious process at best. What qualities are employers looking for? What hard and soft skills are most attractive, and…
