mymarkup.net

PC Magazine har en intressant artikel - "How To Build A Better Product—Study People" - om hur stora tech-företag som Intel och Microsoft använder sig av antropologer och etnografi som metod för att lära sig mer om människors teknikanvändning och -behov för att skapa bättre produkter:

Intel's anthropological researchers immerse themselves in the 'natural environments of real people' – including hospitals, elder hostels, schools for hearing impaired children, remote villages in emerging nations, and more – and utilize different tools and techniques to collect data which, in turn, is used to help make future business decisions.

To create these user-centered technologies, Intel uses methods like videotaping and interviewing potential consumers, shadowing people during their daily activities (what the company calls 'deep hanging out') as well as 'focus troupes,' which help to demonstrate the technology.

"Deep hanging out" är ett skönt begrepp, definierat av Clifford Geertz?