

Machine learning,
data, anthropologists
and ethnography: big
data needs thick data
To make data and machine learning truly e ective, rst you
need the work of human scientists, people with skills in areas
such as anthropology and applying ethnography techniques,
Mikkel Rasmussen from ReD Associates told Information Age.
“Big data needs thick data” which you obtain by studying A Leader’s Guide
people, individuals in their homes, at work and about their
lives.
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As technology changes the world, we need a framework, a set of tools, to

understand the impact on individuals, for example, how to really understand how
Northrop Grumman -
social media is impacting us.
Redondo Beach
“When we think about the data revolution, it’s not just about
Con guration Analyst
coding, data science, analytics machine learning and
(https://www.information-
crunching huge volumes of data, human sciences are age.com/jobs/job/?
important too,” or so said Mikkel Rasmussen, from ReD job=con guration-analyst-
91&company=northrop-
Associates, a company known for employing anthropologists, grumman)
and applying techniques known as ethnography. He noted
that the form of data we keep hearing about: namely big data,
requires thick data, which is what you get by studying people.
Northrop Grumman -
Redondo Beach
It is not just about anthropologists, ReD Associates takes
human scientists, so that could be social anthropologists, or it Sr. Principal Facilities
could be sociologists, or political scientists, even philosophers, Engineer (FSA Projects)
(https://www.information-
and trains them, teaches them how to apply their skills as age.com/jobs/job/?job=sr-
human scientists to solve business problems. principal-facilities-engineer-
fsa-projects-
“You can teach an anthropologist to do a spreadsheet, but it is 36&company=northrop-
grumman)
really hard to teach somebody from a business school to do
anthropology,” says Rasmussen.

And why? Because “the big data revolution can be so much Moody's Corporation - New
more impactful if you apply contextual understanding to it.” York

Or, to put it another way, what we call machine learning Head of Data Architecture
and Digital Transformation -
relates to a computer learning by itself, we need to start with New York/ Remote
what you want or need the machine to learn, understanding (https://www.information-
age.com/jobs/job/?job=head-
what problems to solve.
of-data-architecture-and-
digital-transformation-new-
york-
remote&company=moodys-
corporation) Privacy
 “The internet has been very technology led, now we are

entering a phase where software and sensors are such an
important part of the world, and things like social media can Northrop Grumman -
Clear eld
de ne childhood.”
Princ Process Improvement
"Data science in retail: it’s as much Analyst
(https://www.information-
about people as science" age.com/jobs/job/?job=princ-
process-improvement-
Data science in retail: collaboration analyst&company=northrop-
grumman)
between human and machine is key, says Peter
Thomas, at Attraqt
McKinsey & Company - New
York
Rasmussen believes that we are in a new phase. Up to now,
the revolution has been led by technology; now there is a Specialist - Strategy &
need to focus on the customer, the user of the technology. Corporate Finance Insights
(https://www.information-
age.com/jobs/job/?
“There is a lot of evidence that companies that apply an job=specialist-strategy-
understanding of customers are far more successful.” corporate- nance-
insights&company=mckinsey
“We don’t need more online payment systems, we need better -company)

ones. Users have enough apps what they need are apps that
are relevant.” And that in part is where ethnography and real
data enters the story. “It’s important you don’t start with any
Recent Posts
assumptions hypothesis or preconceived notions, you start
with what is called a child’s mind. And you watch what people Copado acquires DevSecOps provider
are doing.” New Context

There is another point. In the era of accelerating technology Microsoft Exchange attacks highlight
and disruption on a massive scale, social anthropology, and the wider issue: email is outdated
ethnography, by relating it to the dramatic changes in
strategies, new competitors, and changing customer techUK provides recommendations
behaviour can make the di erence between being a disruptor for UK G7 presidency
rather than being disrupted.
Peter Jackson joins Exasol as chief
ReD Associates was founded 15 years ago by a group of data and analytics o cer
human scientists who realised that their discipline could be
applied to solve the problems of business. Recently, Cognizant Samsung UK unveils ‘Solve for
invested in the company, taking a 49% stake, improving its Tomorrow’ competition semi- nalists
product o ering to customers.

Thick data is key. Rasmussen gives an example: “Imagine if

you went to China to study people’s relationships with food,
and you worked in their homes, cooked with people, shopped
with people, and collected all sorts of data, then you would
have a huge amount of qualitative data about a small number
of people. This is thick data.”

And it is the combination of thick data with big data that

creates insights of true value.

“Big data can report people’s real behaviour, which for a

human scientist is a dream. But the data is not very
meaningful in itself; it does not reveal any big insights unless Follow Us
you apply the contextual understanding to it.”
 
It is not a new idea. Social anthropology itself has been
2.5k 16.1k
around since the early years of the 20th Century, during the Followers Followers
rst era of globalisation when there was a realisation within
Europe, that as organisations from the continent traded with
 
countries around the world, there was a need to understand
the cultural di erences, the way di erent people thought, 2.5k 169
Followers Followers
about religions, politics and even childhood related
di erences. There was a realisation that you need to
“understand strangers.”
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 Anthropology itself has two distinct disciplines: one side

focuses on the human body: things like why average heights
are changing, or di erent shoe sizes, and then there is social
Topics anthropology which focuses on “culture, social behaviour,
Data friendship, family, language, religion and beliefs.”
Analytics &
Data Science And as technology changes the world, we need a framework,
a set of tools, to understand the impact on individuals, for
example, how to really understand how social media is
impacting us.

"The Football Association, Cognizant

Michael Baxter and digital transformation: “We
5 March 2019 employ anthropologists”"
Sanjiv Gossain explains to Information
Age why for Cognizant digital transformation
entails multi-disciplinary teams: including
anthropologists. He explains how the Football
Association embraced this

Corporate culture to product

development
Social anthropology began to have a more signi cant
business impact in the 1950s and 1960s when it was applied
to understanding corporate culture. “A lot of management
consultancies such as Mckinsey grew out of an anthropology
background.” This is when the term ethnography started
appearing in business books and papers.

Later on, engineers often leant on the human sciences in

product design, as ‘the human factor’ became a consideration.
For example, looking at how large to make letters on a road
sign, or indeed its positioning and shape, or understanding
why the top of a gear stick on a car is round and not say
square.

We asked about Apple: the famous story about Steve Jobs and
Jonathan Ive, creating the iPhone. They may not have been
conscious of it — or maybe they were, they didn’t su er from
a lack of cleverness — but they were applying the mindset of
the anthropologist, or so Rasmussen told us.

He also gave some real world examples of real data and

ethnography at work.

There was the case of Coca Cola with its routes in Atlanta
understanding the Chinese market, and how to develop the
right products. Or there was ADIDAS and how it developed
the Originals brand, involving collaboration with Stella
McCartney, and creating a lifestyle brand. Or there was BMW
changing the silhouette of the BMW 7 for the Chinese market.

Privacy
 "Air Malta’s digital transformation:
turning being small to an advantage"
Air Malta competes in a cutthroat
business, where economies of scale are massive.
So how does this tiny airline stay competitive? Alan
Talbot tells Information Age how Air Malta’s digital
transformation programme gave it an edge. But
rst, it needed a success.

Rasmussen gave another example of social anthropologists at

work, thick data and ethnography applied to the problem of
bank fraud. In this particular case, there was a need to
understand more about fraud involving small amounts of
money. “We wanted to create an algorithm. So, we rst
needed to understand the people who do it. We went into
prisons and spoke to people who had committed similar
crimes, and they showed us how it is done.”

It turned out that one of the challenges faced was how to get
the money back. The criminals might buy trainers, for
example, and have them delivered to empty houses — that
they might nd by checking houses for sale. Applying the
knowledge gained, the Cognizant team were able to develop a
“couple of methods to capture this more e ciently.”

Another example or ReD Associates’ work, was when they

looked at the future of money: and de ned two types of
money — fast money, slow money. Fast money, typically
current accounts, is well understood, but slow money, for
example, money in pensions has not been subjected to the
same level of study by data scientists, or by machine learning.
Ethnography and real data are being applied to slow money,
so that big data and machine learning and data science can
create better methods for supporting people.

ReD Associates has o ces in New York, London, Copenhagen

and Paris. The consultancy specialises in understanding
human behaviour and applying that to big business. The idea
is to provide deep human insight into products. The business
model is to hire the very best of class from social human
science, such as anthropology, sociology, political science and
philosophy, from Oxford, Cambridge and other top
universities. Cognizant has invested in the company and has a
49% stake.

     

This article is tagged with: Big Data, Machine Learning

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