The EPIC 2012 Conversation

Abstract

When we offer something to another person, community, or organization, we create the conditions for some sort of value to be created. This proposition about value creation remains at the heart of all ethnographic work in industry, and it has framed EPIC's exploration of Renewal, the theme set for this year's conference in Savannah. What does it mean to do something that is valued? How is that value organized and shaped in everyday life, in the workplace, in ethnographic practice itself, from methodologies to questions of ethics? As a broad and diverse community of practitioners, is there such a thing as "our" value? Should "we" expect ever to standardize it in those terms? These were just some of the provocative questions raised by the content shared at EPIC 2012. Indeed, both the opening and closing keynotes demonstrated this complicated dance of renewal and value creation in very personal and specific ways. Architect Emily Pilloton opened this year's conference with a story about how she and Matthew Miller, her partner at Project H, provided a group of high school students in Bertie County, North Carolina with the skills and tools to begin to rejuvenate their community. Emily and Matthew, who is also an architect, lived in Bertie County for three years, working unpaid as teachers at the local high school. There they designed a learning curriculum, studio environment, and shaped day-to-day interactions with students and the community that produced a set of compelling physical environments for the County. Emily's story, inspirational on so many levels, raised additional important and troubling questions, including what kinds of value are realized on either end of this relationship between Project H and Bertie County, and how does that value unfold over time and for whom?In his closing keynote, Philip Delves Broughton stressed the inevitability of dealing with value in terms of sales. We're always selling, argued Delves Broughton, as he observed that sales are tied, inextricably, to personal worth. If you believe you have something to offer -a thought to explore with