Video is an extremely effective tool for communicating findings, bringing study participants virtually into the corporate setting, and making people, their habits, and their homes come to life. But it almost never stands alone. Video serves as an excellent record or document of people and events, but it needs interpretation. To get the minimum amount of information necessary from Sadia's clip, it is important to be told she is Egyptian and living in an apartment in Cairo, especially since her English is very good, and an observer might mistake her for an immigrant to the U.S. To get even more out of the clip it is helpful to know that Sadia's three children sleep in the same bedroom, and that Sadia considers this the worst problem in her life right now because it is inappropriate for a seventeen-year-old boy to live in the same room with his younger sisters. When armed with that background information the knowledge that Sadia will not consider turning her reception room into a living room has much more meaning. The living room would be a natural choice for a third bedroom if the family did not need a place for Sadia (and some day, her daughters) to relax unveiled.

The introductory video benefits from the opposite treatment. It is shown to an audience without any preparation for the purpose of waking them up, taking them out of the conference room, and giving them something to think about that may be puzzling and a little confusing, but is hopefully compelling. It serves as a preamble to slides describing the study and helps demonstrate the methodologies used. Countries, cities, and neighborhoods were explored in context, and time was spent interviewing, observing, and interacting with families in their homes. The video does an excellent job of conveying the breadth and depth of the research in a few short minutes.

The themed video about dead and dying PCs is intended to drive home a point that has been introduced in several PowerPoint* slides that precede it. The video is rendered more meaningful because it is shown after the slides give details and background on the subject. The slides alone cannot provide the punch and impact that the video delivers. The agitation, frustration, and misery of some of the participants cannot be fully appreciated without experiencing their stories, seeing the pain on their faces, and hearing the strain in their voices. The point is made much more forcefully through the use of both communication techniques.

What is clear to the audience viewing these videos is that they are representations of what the filmmaker thinks is interesting and important. They are not objective or neutral. In presenting the material, I, the filmmaker, explain that these edits represent themes that have emerged from the research. They represent a framing of my perspective, and are a very small sampling of the many hours of videotape recorded in the field. These clips are intended to grab the attention of the audience, to impart knowledge gained in the course of doing the research, and to suggest design ideas and areas of further investigation.

A videographer makes choices every moment he or she is filming. If the light is bad in one part of a room, a videographer might ask the study participants to move to different seats—seats they may seldom use in everyday life. If there is ongoing activity in more than one part of the home, the videographer must decide where to film. Time is limited. A corporate videographer cannot spend weeks or months with a subject. The videotaped account shows a particular day, in a particular season, with whomever is home and willing to participate. In Sadia's household, hers is almost the only point of view to which we were privy. How would our impressions of that family and their habits have changed if it had been Sadia, and not her husband who was away from home and at work that evening?

As an editor, weeks or months after the footage was recorded, I am still making choices about framing. In a corporate setting I consider the audience's availability and attention span. Short clips pack more of a punch and are easier to insert into a presentation. After determining what themes of the research are the most important to communicate, I narrow down the best examples of those themes. Who is easy to watch? Who is easy to understand? What is surprising? What is mundane, but of the utmost importance? Which clip goes where and in what order?

As I edit the material I am not looking for an overarching narrative as I might with a documentary film. The footage, which was shot in twenty-eight homes in four countries, becomes a loose collection of short narratives. My intention is to give colleagues enough context so they can understand a particular issue, habit, or practice portrayed in the video. I want to give them something to think about and interpret. As a social science researcher at Intel Corporation I work with engineers and other technologists who have a much more sophisticated understanding of silicon and micro-processors than I do. In using documentary-style video my goal is not to tell them what to think, but to inspire them to think about users, and what users need and desire, in new and different ways.