Initial Post:

Good day.  I am a cloud administrator at my workplace.  We have several cloud environments in our organization. These resources have become essential to our work in IT and quite valuable to the business.  We support hundreds of users that need all kinds of software, technical support, and new deployments or configurations in the cloud every day.  Cloud technologies are the future of IT.  As we move to the cloud, we are also seeing IT become a business process, as opposed to a siloed, facilities-adjacent departmental effort that stood alone in decades past. This shift means more, and varied individuals are accessing resources in the cloud, necessitating new ways of working and interacting with technology. 

Many application developers are now developing in Azure – delivering critical support offerings such as citywide emergency notifications, the development of a data lake using Snowflake, new directories that support B2B\B2C connectivity for partners/citizens and new security postures that require multiple factors for identification and access.

Regarding records management, it is more important than ever to engage with technology, as cloud- and AI-based services overtake on-premises solutions. In my (limited) experience, outsourcing electronic records systems to the cloud can be beneficial for organizations looking to reduce infrastructure costs and improve accessibility. However, organizations should also consider factors such as data sensitivity, compliance requirements, and the organization's ability to manage and monitor cloud service providers effectively before making the leap to the cloud. Cloud computing for the management of electronic records is likely to become a best practice as organizations recognize the advantages it offers over traditional platforms. While some may advocate for internal approaches, the scalability, security, and efficiency provided by cloud services make it an attractive option for managing electronic records today.

Reply to Peer:

Understanding the move to cloud computing can be an immense benefit in areas like anthropology, where they can produce ethnographies through remote interviews and field studies. The application of design ethnography focuses on observing and interpreting users' behaviors and experiences in their natural environments. This approach allows organizations to gain deep insights into how employees interact with existing systems and perceive the transition to cloud-based solutions. By conducting thorough ethnographic research, organizations can identify key points, needs, and expectations from their workforce, ensuring that the migration to the cloud is a technical upgrade and a user-centered improvement. This understanding fosters a smoother transition process as it considers users' real-world challenges.

Design ethnography contributes to developing cloud solutions tailored to an organization's specific workflows and cultural contexts. Using a "journey" map, designers and engineers can develop a cloud-based program specifically tailored to any organization, big or small. By engaging with stakeholders throughout the transition, organizations can co-create solutions that enhance usability and encourage adoption. This feedback process enables teams to prioritize features that directly address user concerns and leverage opportunities for better integration into daily tasks. Ultimately, incorporating design ethnography into the move to cloud computing enables organizations to create a more efficient and supportive digital environment, improving employee satisfaction and operational success.

Yudelman, Hayley, Aakanksha Parameshwar, and Arunima Kashyap. (2021). Understanding the move to cloud with design ethnography. Society for Cultural Anthropology. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/understanding-the-move-to-cloud-with-design-ethnographyLinks to an external site.

Reply to Peer:

Wow, great point! The humanities have indeed benefited drastically from cloud technologies. For professional ethnographers in the field, cloud computing has been transformative. It enables seamless remote interviews, efficient field studies, and secure storage of large amounts of ethnographic data. Cloud-based platforms offer real-time collaboration, allowing ethnographers to share findings and receive feedback instantaneously, regardless of where they are.

In anthropology, cloud computing facilitates the collection and analysis of large datasets, helping researchers observe and study human behavior and culture with new depth and precision. For instance, tools like NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software available in the cloud, allow anthropologists to organize, analyze, and visualize their data. This capability helps produce comprehensive, modern ethnographies that capture an array of human experiences.

By leveraging cloud technologies, ethnographers can store and access these multimedia files easily, ensuring that their research is both robust and accessible. For example, Alexander Taylor's work, "Cloud Security for Anthropologists," discusses how cloud storage and collaboration tools have become integral to anthropological research. The article highlights the benefits and challenges of using cloud services for storing and sharing ethnographic data, emphasizing the importance of data security and ethical considerations. He touches on another point that I also made in my weekly post, that there are political and legal considerations that organizations need to hash out before migrating to or developing in the cloud.

Incorporating cloud computing into ethnographic research not only streamlines the data collection and analysis process but also fosters greater collaboration and innovation. This approach enables ethnographers to focus on the human aspect of their studies while leveraging bleeding-edge technology to enhance their work.

References

Taylor, Alexander. Cloud Security for Anthropologists. (2018, June 19). anthro{dendum}.