Anthropologists at Pitney Bowes seek new product ideas in email communication

AP / The Advocate

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The culture and customs of work are under scrutiny by a pair of anthropologists at Pitney Bowes Inc. trying to improve product designs by watching customers on the job. One prototype Jill Lawrence and Alexandra Mack are helping to develop is a secure mail locker for people frequently on the road.

"It's understanding the work people are actually doing, not what they're saying they do," Mack said. There's a difference between the two, as the anthropologists tell it. They discovered, for example, a group of lawyers who use e-mail to compile lists of projects as much as they use it to communicate electronically, Lawrence said.

Adapting anthropology to industry is becoming more common, said Ghita Levine, spokeswoman for the American Anthropological Association in Arlington, Va. It's helping companies better market their products while boosting interest in the social science. Applied anthropology has grown so fast that in 2002, the anthropological association added it to the basic branches that comprise the discipline, she said. (no longer avaiable online)