Feb 17 2006 |
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Intel has a new CEO, a new logo, and plans for a more diverse product range. What's more, the company at the heart of the machine is trying harder to get into the heads of its users. MrWeb's US Director Michael Kenyon talked with Ken Anderson, manager of People and Practice Research at Intel and a symbolic anthropologist by training, about the companyís forays into ethnographic research. |
The
Oxford
English
Dictionay
defines
ethnography
as
'the
scientific
description
of
nations
or
races
of
men,
with
their
customs,
habits,
and
points
of
difference'.
Intel
employs
around
two
dozen
ethnographers
and
currently
has
vacancies
for
eight
more,
but
all
this
is
fairly
recent.
Its
dealings
with
the
profession
started
in
1996
with
two
people
working
in
the
Applications
group,
neither
of
whom
was
a trained
ethnographer.
'They
decided
that
the
information
they
were
getting
from
labs
wasn't
really
helping
them
with
new
applications',
says
Anderson,
'because
it
only
verified
applications
that
had
already
been
thought
about.
So
it
was
a fundamental
shift
from
verifying
to
innovating.
They
started
by
studying
ten
households
in
Portland,
Oregon
with
kids
under
12.
It
was
sort
of
an
underground
study.
It
wasn't
a big
deal.
The
researchers
were
doing
their
day
job
and
they
also
did
this.
The
manager
knew
about
it
but
it
wasn't
in
the
researchers'
charter
and
it
wasn't
high
profile.'
'The
project
was
a huge
success.
At
the
time,
in
1996,
Intel
was
not
that
active
in
the
home
market,
and
the
study
helped
to
propel
interest
in
the
home
as
a viable
location
for
PCs.
More
generally,
it
helped
to
promote
the
idea
of
innovation
as
an
element
in
market
strategy.
The
follow-on
was
'what
can
we
produce
in
this
space?'
'One
of
the
innovations
that
came
out
of
the
study
was
the
importance
of
something
like
a tablet
computer.
It
took
three
years
and
several
other
studies
before
a small
group
at
Intel
began
working
on
tablet
computing...
so
the
research
opened
up
a strategic
way
of
thinking
- reframed
the
problem
and
came
up
with
an
innovation
- and
then
it
took
a long
time
for
the
idea
to
evolve
in
the
company.'
Anderson
joined
Intel
in
2001
and
was
asked
to
look
at
'trends
in
the
US
and
the
rest
of
the
world'.
He
explains:
'That's
how
they
thought
of
it
-
the
US
and
the
rest
of
the
world.
It
was
very
common
at
the
time.
One
of
the
things
our
group
tried
to
do
was
to
say,
'We
have
to
stop
calling
it
the
rest
of
the
world.
There
are
several
markets
there,
and
they're
not
the
same
as
the
US.'
Ethnography
has
played
a
substantial
role
in
developing
new
avenues
for
product
development,
as
soon
becomes
clear
from
the
examples
Anderson
gives.
Key
insights
are
often
unexpected,
and
unrelated
to
the
intitial
research.
'Even
before
I
joined
Intel,
a
person
in
the
digital
health
care
area
did
a
study
looking
at
TiVo
users
in
2000
-
all
five
of
them.
It
turned
out
that
one
of
them
was
an
older
fellow.
While
the
researcher
was
doing
work
in
the
TiVo
users'
homes
looking
at
entertainment,
he
discovered
an
opportunity
with
older
people,
when
he
realised
that
they
consume
a
lot
more
media
than
we
think.'
'From
the
beginning
of
anthropology,
people
like
Bronislaw
Malinowski
said
that
the
goal
of
our
research
is
to
understand
the
natives'
point
of
view
and
be
able
to
translate
it
to
our
audience...
We
go
out
and
study
people,
and
the
ethnography
is
translation
for
an
audience.
So
for
us
to
do
a
good
translation
for
Intel,
we
have
to
turn
our
ethnographic
eye
to
our
internal
audience.
And
I
think
that
in
part
is
what
makes
the
work
successful.
A
lot
of
people
come
in
and
present
results
as
if
the
people
in
our
audience
should
just
get
them.
Our
job
is
as
much
about
understanding
translation
as
understanding
people.'
Two
dozen
ethnographers
might
sound
like
a
lot,
but
Anderson
is
quick
to
put
it
in
context.
'We
have
91,000
people.
We
actually
now
believe
we
have
the
largest
number
of
ethnographers
of
any
company.
Microsoft
had
the
largest
number
for
a
while,
but
we
have
surpassed
them.
BT
and
AT&T
each
have
a
few,
and
HP
has
a
couple
left.
Other
companies
that
used
to
employ
ethnographers
now
contract
out.'
Anderson
is
clear
about
lines
of
demarcation
between
his
own
function
and
that
of
more
mainstream
market
research
professionals.
'While
we
like
to
think
we
look
at
the
big
picture,
there
really
are
better
techniques
for
analysing
features.
For
example,
we
might
have
twentyfour
features
that
are
important
but,
due
to
price
and
technology
limitations,
we
decide
that
we
can
only
provide
twelve.
That's
not
me.
But
it's
an
excellent
thing
for
market
research
to
do.
Ethnographers
function
more
as
the
canary
in
the
coal
mines...
We're
actually
better
at
decreasing
the
odds
of
failure
than
increasing
the
odds
of
success.'
'We
can
say,
'Warning,
warning!
A
44-inch
box
is
not
going
to
fit
in
kitchens
in
China.
Don't
go
there.'
We
know
where
people
in
China
feel
their
technology
belongs,
because
we
understand
their
values
about
the
home.
And
we
also
know
the
physical
constraints
-
you're
just
not
going
to
fit
a
44-inch
box
anywhere
in
anybody's
kitchen.
And
if
you
do,
they're
not
going
to
care
because
it's
just
for
display.
In
urban
China
right
now,
technology
is
all
about
display.
It's
not
about
hiding
it
in
the
kitchen.'
His
department
will
therefore
spend
the
next
year
working
on
'a
way
to
make
sense
of
the
world
that
combines
the
local
and
the
global
and
looks
for
the
middle
ground
where
possible...
I
don't
have
the
answer,
but
I
believe
that
ethnography
will
get
you
to
that
global
/
local
nexus
like
nothing
else.'
Surely,
then,
a
little
more
confidence
in
its
future
in
the
company?
'I'm
not
sure
about
the
number
of
Intel
ethnographers
down
the
road,
although
I
think
there
will
be
continued
demand
for
ethnography.
I
think
you'll
see
some
kind
of
stabilisation
with
the
current
ethnographic
groups.
Then
I
think
you'll
start
seeing
smaller
groups
of
ethnographers
formed
within
existing
group
frameworks.'
There
might
also
be
new
kinds
of
ethnography
positions,
he
believes,
working
more
like
project
managers
and
analysts
than
field
practitioners,
with
outside
resources
in
the
field
to
handle
recruiting
and
set-up,
but
able
to
process
the
findings
to
translate
them
to
the
Intel
audience.
This
would
mean
different
qualifications
and
experience,
and
Anderson
is
keen
to
point
out
that
ethnographers
aren't
an
exclusive
group.
'At
the
first
Ethnographic
Praxis
in
Industry
Conference
(EPIC),
one
of
the
best
presentations
was
by
a
guy
who
was
not
a
trained
ethnographer
but
learned
how
to
do
it
on
his
own.
His
presentation
was
to
a
serious
group
of
ethnographers.
A
raising
of
hands
indicated
that
60%
were
PhD
anthropologists.
But
his
presentation
was
darned
good.
So
I
think
you
can
do
it.
It's
not
where
I've
come
from
and
it's
not
who
we've
hired,
but
it
can
be
done.'
It's
a
good
thing
too,
for
market
researchers
with
an
interest
in
moving
more
towards
ethnography,
as
at
present
Anderson
says
there
are
no
resources
for
training.
'One
of
the
things
that
the
EPIC
group
is
trying
to
do
is
to
get
organisations
like
the
National
Association
of
Practising
Anthropologists,
the
American
Anthropological
Association,
and
AIGA
-
the
professional
association
for
design
-
to
start
offering
programs.
And
we're
trying
to
get
some
academic
institutions
to
consider
this
as
a
legitimate
field.
Next
spring,
the
University
of
North
Texas
will
offer
Pre-Practicum:
Problems
and
Cases
in
Applied
Anthropology
-
which
will
potentially
train
anthropologists
to
work
in
business
research.'
Evidently
there
is
still
more
workto
do
to
get
ethnography
recognised
in
industry
as
a
whole,
but
it
can
only
benefit
from
the
lead
that
Intel
is
giving
it.
'The
driver
right
now
is
that
our
senior
management
is
really
interested
in
ethnography,'
says
Anderson.
'All
the
ethnography
groups
report
a
hop
away
from
a
high
level
manager.'
Healthy,
after
all,
if
what's
inside
the
boxes
we
rely
on
is
designed
by
someone
who
thinks
about
what's
inside
us,
and
is
committed
to
understanding
what
makes
us
tick.
SHIFTING
VIEWS
SURPRISING
INSIGHTS
This
participant
had
a
lot
of
health
issues.
'There
was
a
lot
of
cognitive
and
physical
effort
for
him
to
stay
healthy.
The
outcome
was:
'Oh
my
God,
he
needs
technology.
It
would
be
so
easy
to
put
it
in
there.''
As
a
result,
the
company
has
been
looking
at
how
to
help
people
with
Alzheimer's
for
the
last
few
years.
'We
started
with
the
hardest
problems:
helping
people
remember
to
take
their
pills,
helping
to
make
sure
that
people
have
good
food,
reminders
that
the
stove's
on
so
things
don't
accidentally
happen,
and
helping
people
remember
who
they
talked
to
or
are
about
to
talk
to
on
the
phone.
What
we're
working
on
are
not
products
but
prototypes
for
ideas
of
products
that
we
might
enable
other
people
to
develop.'
TRANSLATING
THE
NATIVES
Anderson
clearly
thinks
a lot
about
his
own
presentational
style
and
method,
to
the
point
of
experimenting
with
it
and
noting
reactions.
Verbatims
are
an
example.
'You
see
a lot
of
people
who
amazingly
have
these
quotes
from
participants
that
are
exactly
the
same
as
their
conclusions,
like
'I
want
a new
black
pen'.
The
notion
is
that
capturing
customers'
words
is
insightful.
'If
the
customer
says
that's
what
they
want,
that's
what
we'll
deliver.'
Well,
as
an
experiment
this
year,
I'm
using
hardly
any
quotes
in
presentations,
and
nobody
has
noticed
or
challenged
me
on
it.'
Just
as
anthropologists
can
influence
changes
in
technology,
technology
is
also
changing
the
way
anthropologists
work.
Anderson
singles
out
the
digital
camera
as
especially
revolutionary.
'Three
of
the
25
anthropology
staff
are
video
anthropologists.
15
years
ago,
video
was
very
hard
to
do
and
as
a result
it
had
limited
applications.
Now
I think
the
bar
is
high
on
what
is
considered
good
video.
I think
it's
very
hard
to
present
video
to
management.
And
video
can
result
in
more
time
in
production
and
less
time
gathering
data.
Over
the
years,
presentations
have
gone
to
less
text
and
more
images.'
His
personal
preference
is
often
for
still
images
over
movies.
He
worries
about
the
practice
in
many
companies
of
using
external
ethnographers:
'For
me,
it's
absolutely
the
wrong
model
because
you
need
an
ethnographer
to
cover
both
sides
- the
outside
populations
and
the
company
itself.
It's
all
about
my
people,
my
tribe
- the
people
I study
and
the
corporation
where
I work.
If
I don't
know
the
people
at
Intel,
I can't
do
the
translation...
If
you're
on
the
outside
and
you
do
a really
excellent
study
but
present
the
results
in
a way
that
doesn't
match
the
company's
culture,
it's
not
going
anywhere.
A lot
of
innovation
dies
because
people
can't
articulate
it
in
a way
that
makes
sense.'
CULTURE
CHANGE
KITCHENS
AND
CANARIES
GLOBETROTTING
SPOTTING
SIMILARITIES
THE
FUTURE
OF
ETHNOGRAPHY
 |
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