The project, "The PC: Does it Compute?" is an ethnographically inspired research study I conducted with my colleague Jay Hasbrouck in 2006. The goal of the study is to gain deep knowledge of how the PC is understood in Egypt, Germany, South Korea, and Brazil. The emphasis was on how computers fit into people's homes both in terms of how they are placed and used, and how they are perceived. We focused on the everyday lives of our study participants—their daily habits and practices, their frustrations and joys, their fundamental values and aspirations—with an eye toward how technology is or is not playing a role in their daily life. By using ethnographic research methods, and looking at the breadth of experiences and behaviors of our participants, and the people around them, we gain a more profound sense of the context in which they live, and our insights and observations about their PC use are deeper and richer.

Research methods used in the study include in-home ethnographic interviews with as many family members as are present and available. Those initial interviews take about three hours, and include a tour of the home led by one of the participants. We also use a methodology referred to as participant observation in which we spend time with our research subjects in or outside the home. In many cases this is a shared meal: in one case we went on a long hiking excursion which was followed by a home-cooked meal.

We spend a significant amount of time in contextual investigation of the communities, towns, and cities where participants live by shopping in the stores where they buy electronics, interviewing the local PC shop sales people, and browsing in large stores and small "grey box" building establishments. We look at the high-end and low-end markets, and we try to get a feeling for how PCs are marketed, positioned, and sold in a given city or town. We visit Local Area Network (LAN) houses, Internet cafés, and other establishments where computers are used and enjoyed.

During the initial interview with a family we engage them in a cognitive mapping exercise. They draw a map of their own home and designate different areas of interest and paths of movement. We also give the family a Polaroid camera at the end of the first interview and ask them to complete a photo prompt questionnaire by taking photos to answer questions. Additionally, the home visits, much of the participant observation, and most of the contextual exploration are documented on digital audio recorders for easy transcription, and they are always videotaped.

I have chosen three examples of edited videos to demonstrate some of the ways in which video can be used to communicate research findings. There is no widely accepted terminology for describing ethnographic video clips: I use labels I have found useful and descriptive in my own work.

An Introductory Montage

Most corporate meetings, and certainly most Intel meetings, take place in conference rooms with long tables, numerous chairs, and no windows. These spaces are designed to be utilitarian, efficient, and neutral. Meeting attendees rush into the room consumed by thoughts of the last meeting, and their need to check e-mail or create a new to-do list. At the close of the meeting these attendees will rush off to the next meeting or some precious un-scheduled moments in their cubicle to tackle the tasks of the day. One of the jobs of the corporate ethnographer, and especially the video ethnographer, is to transport those meeting attendees to another world or worlds, and make an impact on how they see people (consumers) who are not like them. Taking colleagues out of the confines of their corporate culture, their regional culture, and often their national culture in order to help them better understand people in far flung parts of the world, for whom they are designing and marketing products and services, is the goal of the ethnographer, and video is the most effective tool to achieve those ends. Using a two-to-three minute video the ethnographer can capture the attendees' attention and create an atmosphere of curiosity and openness.

The introductory video for "The PC: Does it Compute?" starts with quick cuts to grab viewers' attention, gives a rapid overview of the places we visited, and conveys the pace and sounds of everyday life. Next, we see images of individuals involved in ordinary activities that evoke the country in which they live. The video segues into shots of people entering their apartments, and we have the sense of being invited into homes. The last part of the video comprises slightly longer clips featuring research participants showing and explaining intimate details of their lives. The purpose is to convey the wide variety of people, experiences, and activities we explored during our field research.

The first images are of brightly colored paper lanterns hanging in a courtyard in Seoul, then we see a sailboat in the bay of Rio de Janeiro at dusk, and then a helicopter above the famous statue of Jesus called "Corcovado" in Rio. Images of cars in traffic by the side of the Nile, Egyptian women in veils crossing a busy street, the outside of a church, a German boy eating a hot dog (Figure 1), a Brazilian woman texting on a cell phone while sitting on a beach, and a young man carrying a large CPU on the streets of Seoul (Figure 2) are interwoven.

Figure 1: Still image taken from Introductory Montage video: Bremen, Germany. A young boy eats a hot dog.
 

Figure 2: Still image taken from Introductory Montage video: Seoul, South Korea. Young man carries a CPU down the sidewalk.
 

The images transition and we see a Korean man unlock his door using a touch keypad (Figure 3), and are taken inside. A Korean boy holds his dog, a pair of white tennis shoes, and explains that if he doesn't remember to wear them at school it's "bad" (Figure 4). We see a German family with a TV prominently positioned next to a roaring fire in a living room, and then are introduced by them to their "little computer room," which looks like a tiny attic storage space. An Egyptian woman says she placed the family computer so that her kids "can be under my eyes" while they use it. We briefly meet a Brazilian family and the teenage daughter says she uses the computer "eight hours of the day." The montage ends with a young Brazilian boy whose father has helped him to play a song on the PC. The boy claps his hands, moves his feet, and pretends to play piano on the PC keyboard as the video fades to black.

Figure 3: Still image taken from Introductory Montage video: Seoul, South Korea. Korean man uses touch keypad to unlock his front door.
 

Figure 4: Still image taken from Introductory Montage video: Seoul, South Korea. Teenage boy must remember to take white sneakers to school every day.
 

It is a powerful and compelling tool for capturing the attention of a busy and potentially distracted audience. It draws them in to the data, and it makes them curious to learn more.

Illustrative Clip

An illustrative clip is a clip that is edited with the goal of informing viewers of particular insights, and it is intended to guide viewers toward making specific conclusions. Researchers, who put this kind of clip together, have a pre-determined outcome in mind.

In our case study, one example of this kind of clip is a seven-minute video about the household of Sadia B.¹ in Cairo, Egypt. Sadia is a primary school principal who speaks excellent English. Her husband was not home for most of our interview because he was working at his jewelry shop in the Khan al Khalili market in the old part of Cairo. Joining their mother were Sadia's three children: Hatim, the eldest and only son, is 17; Bahar is the 14-year-old daughter; and Habiba, 7, is the youngest girl.

The clip was designed and edited to instruct the viewer in how Muslim homes are arranged in Egypt, how gender roles partly determine that arrangement, how birth order and gender affect technology use, and why the PC is unlikely to be placed in the public rooms of an Egyptian apartment. As you will see from the description of the clip, we didn't directly ask about any of those issues while interviewing Sadia and her family. As with all ethnographic interviews, we asked broad questions about daily life and habits, but since we were in Sadia's apartment, among her possessions, interacting with her and her family, and observing them interact with each other, those issues came up during our three-hour interview.

Our Clip from that Interview

The clip begins in the kitchen. Young Habiba is vying for attention from the visiting researchers, and after a brief conversation about how helpful Habiba is in the kitchen, and how much more helpful she is than her siblings, the following exchange takes place:

Researcher: "Some houses we've been to, the mother says, ‘I don't let them (my children) in the kitchen.'"

Sadia: "La, la, la [no, no, no.]. We were four girls [growing up] and my mother used to let us help her a lot. But they [my daughters] are going to be, one of the days, a housewife and she has to cook for her husband and her children. She has to know, and helping me a little bit, to know what's responsibility. I can't let them sit and I'm bringing the drink to them... this is enough."

(The scene changes to a small, interior room with a couch and a television that is on.)

Sadia: "This is our living room. This is where we live, all day long, and all day night."

Researcher: "Do you have favorite spots? Who sits where?"

Sadia: "I always sit there." (She points.)

Researcher: "Can you show me?"

Sadia: "Okay. I always sit here, stretching my legs together, taking my youngest daughter with me (Habiba is laughing and lying next to her mother). This is my special area."

Researcher: "Where do you sit, Hatim?"

Hatim: "Here." (He points.)

Researcher: "Can you show me?"

Sadia: "On both of them."

Habiba: "And Bahar sits here." (She points.)

Bahar: "I like to." (Gesticulates.)

Sadia: "She's wearing her eyeglasses; she wants to sit near the screen. I'm telling her all the time. 'Go back, please,' but no way. My husband he prefers to sit here (points) and put his hand here, on my lap, and stretching all the way. He likes to prefer to sit on the floor."

Habiba: "Like this."

(Much laughter.)

Sadia: "And we never quarrel. When somebody sees me coming in the room and he is sitting here, he stands up, ‘Come Mama, this is your place.'"

(Sadia walks into the children's room.)

Sadia: "This is their disaster. Not their room. I always try to prepare it, and clean it, but, ah, tomorrow's Friday and it will be much more lovely. Here's the computer. It is all the time here. Not giving much space for anybody, even Habiba, she doesn't have the, when he goes out with his friends she quickly sits and opens it to play a little bit."

Habiba: "I run, run, run, run, and sit like this." (She sits at the computer.)

Hatim: (Pulls hard drive out of front of CPU) "I got this for my friend to come and put his work." (He puts drive back in.)

Sadia: "This is what is destroying the computer. Every time he takes the hard (drive) and takes it to another friend, or bring, sometimes it has a virus. All the time there is something, there is a problem happening to the computer."

(Scene changes to a new room).

Researcher: "Tell me a little bit about this room."

Sadia: "This is the reception area. We always receive guests here."

Researcher: "You were saying you spend a lot of time in the living room. Would you ever consider making this a living room?"

Sadia: "No. I would not feel comfort because I'm veiled. When I sit in the living room then I can wear whatever I want to wear, and keep my head not veiled, and sit without, ah, all the time waiting if someone will knock the door and, ‘Oh, bring me my veil.' It will be inconvenient for me. But then I feel that I'm, ah, more comfort inside."

Researcher: "This is more formal?"

Sadia: "Yes."

Researcher: "Do you eat here?" (Dining room table is in same room.)

Sadia: "We always eat here only at Ramadan because my husband is here. At Ramadan we invite relatives and sometimes the neighbors. We must have space for that, although we are not using it because me and my children we are eating inside. This is the Egyptian style. My mother and my grandmother, and all of us, we can't change this."

End of clip.

What the Reader Can Learn

A reader can learn interesting information just from the above text that was transcribed from the edited video clip. This partial text is more instructive than a transcript of the full interview because scenes and conversations have been abbreviated, and there is less for a reader to sift through in pursuit of pertinent information. The reader could also be provided with a map or diagram of the home to gain valuable spatial knowledge and could be shown photos to create a more rich vision of Sadia's family and their home. But, even after reading the dialogue, looking at a diagram, and seeing several photos, the reader is only reading about Sadia and her family and is missing most of the information, and all of the nuance provided by the video clip. Where does the family sit in the living room? What are the dynamics among family members? What does Sadia mean when she talks about eating "inside"? What mood is present in the different rooms? What are these people like? What is the tenor of their voices? What does their body language say? And what does all that tell us about where technology fits or doesn't fit in Sadia's home?

This clip provides a very detailed view into Sadia's home—both the physical space and the dynamics of the family living there. At the beginning of the clip we see Sadia's love for her youngest child in her body language and gaze. She calls Habiba "lovely" while stroking her hair and giving her a squeeze. When told by the researcher that some Egyptian mothers have said they don't let their children into the kitchen, Sadia's tone changes dramatically. She becomes serious, her voice lowers, and it is clear that her opinions about girls and their need to learn how to cook for their future husbands is of great importance to her.

The scene changes to the living room, and the mood is playful, fun, and even raucous. After being asked to show the researchers where they sit to watch TV, Sadia offers to explain where her absent husband sits. She sits in her regular position in the corner of the couch with her legs stretched out on one part of the "L" shape. She says he puts his hand "here, on my lap," as she smacks her hand down on her upper thigh. Habiba then plays the part of her father. She sits on the floor and opens her legs wide to take up space. She wears a mock-serious expression to mimic her father, and lays her arm across her mother's thigh while moving her head slightly from side to side.

Sadia tells the researchers that the family never argues about where they sit in the living room. If "someone" is in her spot, "he" moves and says, "Mama, this is your spot."

From watching this scene we learn a tremendous amount about the dynamics in Sadia's family. We know that Sadia is a strong matriarch with firm opinions about women's roles. In the living room we learn that she is respected by her children, and that they defer to her. We also sense some playfulness and affection between husband and wife even though he isn't present. Habiba's posture when playing the role of her father suggests that when he is present, Sadia defers to him. Additionally, we learn the importance of television in their lives. The spots from which they watch TV are well-established, and it is clear from watching the video that life in that room revolves around watching television. Sadia tells us, "This is where we live. All day long, and all day night."

After the comfort and good humor of the living room we are introduced to the "reception" room. What we see in the video, but cannot glean from just reading text, is that the room is very formal. Furniture is painted gold and upholstered in red or gold fabric. There are two seating areas, each with its own coffee table with decorative china on platters. This room is quite spacious, almost half the size of the entire apartment, and the researchers ask Sadia if she would consider making this room the living room. Sadia answers that question by talking about being veiled, and it is the first time veiling has been mentioned. Sadia's veil on this day is bright yellow, and she wears it with a grey tailored business suit. She explains she must have a living room "inside" so she can take off her veil and feel "comfort." On the video we can see the front door of the apartment behind her, and she turns and points to it as she explains that she needs to be veiled in this room because here, "all the time waiting if someone will knock the door." This is a public room to her; it is "outside," and not a place of comfort.

We learn the reception room and adjacent dining area are only used during Ramadan, and Sadia says, "This is the Egyptian style. My mother and my grandmother, and all of us, we can't change this."

Seeing these rooms on video, and hearing Sadia explain how they are used, tells us a lot about what they mean for the family. The room that to Americans looks like a "living room" is the reception room, and it is rarely used. That room contains no high-tech equipment, and it probably never will.

The room that looks like an American den is called the "living room" and it is where the family hangs out and watches TV. We see on the video that this room is small, cramped, and has one window covered by curtains. It is literally and figuratively "inside;" there is no chance of being seen unveiled.

The living room is where the family spends time together, and the technology reflects that. There is a TV, a satellite receiver, and a stereo system. As with almost all of the Egyptian homes we visited, the computer in this household is kept in the children's room. It is evident from the video that there isn't any space for a desk, chair, and CPU tower in the living room.

In the children's room are two large, queen-sized beds. We see the PC in a corner on a small desk, and suddenly Sadia's son grabs a plastic handle and forcefully yanks a plastic case containing the hard drive from the machine (Figure 5). Raising her voice to a level of frustration and anger heard nowhere else on the video, Sadia decries the activity of removing the "hard," as she calls it. This activity of taking the hard drive to a friend's house to give and receive content "is what is destroying the computer."

Figure 5: Still image taken from an Illustrative Clip video: Cairo, Egypt. Hatim pulls the hard drive out of the CPU so he can carry music files to his friend's house.
 

One of the most significant findings for Intel from this interview is about the placement of technology. Understanding that a desktop PC will never be placed in the formal reception room, and won't fit in most Egyptian living rooms, is useful information. Arguably, it is something that can be explained to a designer or engineer in a few short verbal or written sentences, but understanding the cultural context of why the PC is unlikely to be in those Egyptian rooms any time soon makes that information more rich, more meaningful, and more likely to strike a chord with the colleagues receiving it. The "sneaker-net" [8] practice in Cairo of removing an internal hard drive to walk music over to a friend's house is unfamiliar to Americans, and seeing how easily and forcefully Hatim yanks the drive out of the machine is a powerful demonstration of that practice. Intel colleagues who view this clip vividly remember the Egyptian woman with the strong, authoritarian voice wearing the striking yellow scarf. They are able to picture her relaxing on the couch in her living room, cuddling with her daughter, explaining the "Egyptian style" in her formal reception room, and stridently scolding her son about his unhealthy practice of sharing internal files, and thereby contracting and spreading viruses.

A Theme Video

A theme video is a compilation of video clips selected for their relevance to a key finding of a research study. The best example from "The PC: Does it Compute?" is a video entitled "Dead and Dying PCs." It is a three-minute edited video featuring frustrated study participants from three of the four countries we visited battling sick, slow, dying, and dead PCs. A college student named Adam in Rio has cranked open the lid on his CPU because it has been overheating and crashing a lot lately. He keeps a pink-haired troll on top of the computer to protect it "from viruses, bad influences" (Figure 6). A German woman explains that her computer has a "troijaner" (as in Trojan Horse) because her daughters use it to play games. Both girls have their own computers, but their PCs are older and slower, so they use their mother's, and now she has a virus. A teenage girl in Brazil is asked if having her computer out of commission is a very bad or not that bad state of affairs. In a tone of desperation and teenage angst she says the situation is very bad, and she explains in Portuguese that there is, "a problem with the main board, the memory, the keyboard, the mouse. Everything!"

Figure 6: Still image taken from a theme video about PC health: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Adam keeps a pink troll on his CPU to protect it "from viruses, bad influences.".
 

In presentations the video is shown to audiences after several PowerPoint^* slides on the same topic are presented. The video dramatically brings the PowerPoint data to life, but also benefits from having slides precede it. The two methods work together to make a strong point, i.e., that most of the PCs we encountered in our research were ailing, and their slow speeds and unpredictable behavior were a source of much frustration for their users. The country not included in this finding was Korea where the PCs we witnessed were invariably running smoothly. (The most likely explanation for the relatively healthy PCs in Korea has to do with strict governmental oversight of Internet service providers, and the near elimination of viruses from the Korean broadband system.)

¹ All names of research participants are fictitious.