I've been replaced by an iPhone app!

As an anthropologist who has taught about the cultural impacts of new technologies, I am a bit stunned by the news of the new iPhone ethnography app. I can't decide if the new research tool is good or bad for anthropologists.

On the one hand, it's further evidence that the value of ethnography is being recognized beyond the discipline. The fact that "ethnography", a somewhat unknown research methodology, is being associated with what might be the most popular gadget in the history of time, means that my work as an anthropologist is becoming more publicly recognized. Not to mention that the app might be quite useful in the field. As someone who has recently begun ethnographic consulting for business, I think these are all very good things.

On the other hand, it means that any moron with an iPhone can call themselves an ethnographer.

The application is currently selling for £ 6.99 in the UK (about $11.00 USD). What this says about the value of my PhD (which cost a bit more than that), I'm not sure.