It’s time for EPIC to expand its charter and role. Since our first annual conference in 2005, EPIC has brought practitioners together on annual basis to share insights about people, to discuss challenges associated with practicing ethnography, and simply to meet up with colleagues from around the world. While the annual conference will remain central to EPIC’s goals, we believe it’s time to build on the conference’s strong spirit of engagement and expand opportunities for EPIC participants to interact year-round.
For those people around the world who want to advance the value of ethnography—for businesses and for any organization that values any time of engagement with people—EPIC will work to establish itself as the best source of ethnographic expertise on a global scale.
This “more” that we want to do will start modestly. Today’s launch expands our web presence to include blogs, and a new functionality called Ask EPIC. Sponsors at the Bronze level and up have been invited to share some thought provoking topic over the course of the summer. Ask EPIC is intended to provide an online means to raise topics that are fundamental to the work that we do. The questions will be fielded initially from a Board member to get the conversation going and EPIC participants are welcome to expand the conversation. The point is to discuss and to debate together in order to articulate the principles and goals important to our work and to better comprehend the diversity of ethnographic work we are all leading today.
This site will continue to be your primary source of information for the annual conference. If you haven’t yet registered for this year’s conference in September 7-10 in NYC, please go ahead and get that done! We look forward to seeing you all soon in New York City.
Maria Bezaitis, President
Alexandra Mack, Treasurer
Ken Anderson, Secretary