Genevieve Bell, People and Practices Research, Intel Architecture Labs

Index words: design ethnography, human-centered product innovation, Europe, domestic spaces, non-traditional research methods

ABSTRACT

Ethnography is a form of anthropological practice. It is both a methodology and a perspective. Through ethnography, we attempt to generate holistic accounts of cultures and peoples. At its core, ethnography relies on "participant observation," i.e., the notion that you learn by doing and by watching, and by the interplay of those two roles. This means that most anthropologists (and those from other disciplines who use ethnographic methods) do field work. They spend time in and with the cultures and peoples they are studying, engaging with the people around them, participating in every-day life, and attempting to make sense of the patterns of that culture.

In 1999, Intel researchers conducted ethnographic research in five Western European nations. We visited 45 households across small towns, larger cities, and major metropolitan centers. Our research tried to make sense of how people occupied their domestic spaces, how those spaces were embedded within the broader community, and what technologies were present in those spaces and how they were used.