Anthropologist helps Intel see the world through customers' eyes

MSNBC / San Jose Business Journal

When Genevieve Bell agreed to leave Stanford University for a job at Intel in 1998, it was with trepidation. She had, after all, been working her entire life toward being an academic, following the tenure track and accepting that practical applications of her work might never become apparent. "My vision was to survive the first year and not go insane," she says now.

It's not that she thought Intel was such a bad place to be. Quite the opposite. She just couldn't see why a semiconductor company would want a technologically challenged cultural anthropologist on staff.

Now, as she writes up a final report on her three-year study of how Asian families interact with technology, Ms. Bell can't imagine working anywhere else.

Ms. Bell has been credited with performing a remarkable job by making anthropology accessible -- and worthwhile -- to scores of engineers all over the world. >>continue