Intel’s Bell describes the ‘magic’ of technology

Intel’s Bell describes the ‘magic’ of technology

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

Intel ethnographer Genevieve Bell sometimes lives with families for days or weeks to find out how they use technology. That’s because the answers to the questions she’s interested in — such as  “How is the use of technology influenced by culture?” — aren’t immediately obvious.

In her fast-moving lecture at Rice Oct. 2, Bell revealed dozens of these hidden gems through a fascinating series of anecdotes and thought-provoking observations.

GENEVIEVE BELL

An internationally recognized ethnographer, Bell received degrees from Bryn Mawr College and Stanford University and taught anthropology and Native American studies at Stanford before joining Intel nine years ago.

Bell directs Intel’s User Experience Group and manages a staff that includes other ethnographers, a filmmaker and human factors engineers. She has conducted studies in more than 500 homes in 35 countries.

Bell’s talk, “From the Electrical Fairy to the Magic Box: An Anthropological Account of Invisible Infrastructures,” focused on wireless broadband technology and showed how historic, economic, regulatory and cultural frameworks affect the way wireless technology is perceived and used. The fast-talking, Australian-born scientist weaved together dozens of stories, both from her own work and from historical accounts dating to the 19th century.

Bell said language reveals much about the way technology is perceived, and the language that describes a new technology is often adopted to overcome consumers’ fears. In the early 20th century, for example, electric utilities began using magical terms to overcome people’s anxieties about using electricity in their homes.

“From 1908 to 1920, electricity was called the ‘electric fairy,'” Bell said. “It was a ‘she,’ and she was magical. It was about turning darkness into light but in a way that was filled with wonder.”

Throughout her talk, Bell sought to uncover the oft-overlooked religious, social and cultural dimensions that impact wireless technology. She mentioned a Christian sect in New Mexico that believes wireless networks are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and she recounted a controversy that developed in Cairo, Egypt, between the ministries of religion and information over plans to use the city’s WiFi network to synchronize the call for prayers from thousands of mosques.

In another interesting case, Maori natives in New Zealand claimed they were entitled to a share of revenues from their government’s auction of the wireless spectrum. They made the claim based on a 19th century treaty that gave them rights to religious “treasures,” including the clouds, which the Maori consider to be the breath of the gods.

“They won, and one-third of the revenues from the sale of 3G wireless spectrum are now being held for them in a trust,” Bell said.

In showing how cultural norms can impact wireless technology, Bell noted that certain building materials commonly used in home construction — like metal in Australia and stone in Great Britain — can impact negatively the effectiveness of residential wireless networks.

Differences in home design also play a role. Bell noted the problems wireless routers that were developed for the U.S. market have encountered in other countries. She recalled meeting a Singapore family that had built a wireless network in their home very soon after the technology became available.

“They said it worked fine for a while, but they got worried when their printer became possessed,” Bell recalled. “It was printing things they’d never seen before.”

Bell said the problem turned out to be overlap from wireless networks in other apartments in their building. The routers were made to transmit signals throughout a freestanding 2,200-square-foot American home and were too powerful for the 600-square-foot apartment typical in Singapore.

Bell’s talk was presented as part the Technology, Cognition and Culture lecture series, a program designed to bridge the chasm that separates the humanities and social sciences from the physical and applied sciences.

The lecture series is co-sponsored by Rice’s Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI), the Office of the Vice Provost and University Librarian, the Department of Information Technology, the Humanities Research Center and the Department of Anthropology.