Am I on The List? An Ethnographic Exploration in Tech Creation on a College Campus

Abstract

This thesis is an interdisciplinary project that examines anthropological questions through the lens of my own experience as a college founder. My experience with tech creation on a college campus, supported by interviews, scholarly research, and surveys, served as the foundation for investigating the anthropological questions that arose. This thesis addresses three key questions: What is a social group, and how do app designers think about leveraging social dynamics to bridge virtual and in-person social spaces? How do ideas about designing "addictiveness" in app development shape how designers, entrepreneurs, investors, and coders think about what apps are supposed to do and how they succeed? Finally, how do programs aiming at cultivating an entrepreneurial culture on college campuses influence the lives of aspiring student entrepreneurs? In order to answer these questions, this thesis investigates a broader connection between anthropology and entrepreneurship, concluding that they are more similar than we often believe.