Hack the anthropologist: Translating source code, adapting research ethics

How might we apply anthropological research ethics to research conducted in tech organizations, especially those that are open source and open access? In this article I reflect on my two-year volunteer work with a civic tech nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, during which I translated and adapted anthropological ethics into research ethics guides geared towards UI/UX researchers. Writing these guides involved both contemplation and translation of anthropological methods and ethics, and a consideration of how to adapt research ethics to the organization’s primary interfaces—GitHub and Google Workspace. I introduce the concept of open-source anthropology as a kind of anthropology concerned with translating and adapting our source code—our methods, training, and ethics—to non-academic audiences, and not just making our research open access. Open-source anthropology is an adaptation of anthropological research ethics elsewhere and otherwise, and it is the co-creation of research methods and ethics, making our source code truly open source.