Alexandra Zafiroglu, PhD - Anthropologist with Domestic Designs & Technologies Research Intel Corporation Digital Home Group

Date: Wednesday, April 30; 4:30p - 5:30p

Location: Seminar Rm, 301 College Ave

Abstract:

Although the pre-eminent place of the television as the screen in the home for enjoying video is being encroached upon the broadband-connected PC, in 2007 television was watched for 3.9 trillion viewing hours in 1.3 billion homes around the world, while PCs were present in only 619 million homes, and used for 156 billion internet viewing hours ( a paltry one twenty-fifth the hours devoted to television!) Hoping to capitalize on its continued dominance in the home, many companies are experimenting with new technologies, content delivery frameworks, and business models for delivering broadband/broadcast convergence to the television. Successfully connecting television sets to the internet will prove much more complicated than simply integrating WIFI or an Ethernet jack, or attaching a cable modem, DMA or smart set top box. The real challenge will be to bring the TV into the internet world without breaking what people love most about their televisions. In this presentation, I will detail findings from ethnographic research by Intel's Digital Home Group on how televisions fit and are used in homes around the world that provide insights for the development of solutions for broadband/broadcast convergence. These include the multiple ways television has always been and will continue to be a powerful presence in homes, structuring divisions of space in homes, people's daily routines, and social relationships among household members and among broader social networks. It's experienced not simply as an entertainment device but also a companion, advisor, time-killer, necessity, educator, social-life enabler, child-minder, boredom-buster, stress-fighter, lullaby, and low-maintenance friend.

Bio:

Alex Zafiroglu is an anthropologist with the Domestic Designs and Technologies Research (DDTR) in Intel Corporation's Digital Home Group. Since joining Intel, Alex has conducted ethnographic research in public libraries, youth hostels, RV parks and RV rallies, and retail locations, as well as a diversity of homes in North America, Western Europe and South and East Asia. As a cultural anthropologist, she is interested in the complex relationships among people, spaces, objects and technologies in domestic spaces, and in helping Intel think about the kinds of technologies and experiences of technology that might make sense in such spaces. Prior to joining Intel, Alex's research interests included alcohol-abstinent Punks in Washington D.C.
and mobile telephones in Sweden. Alex holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Brown University.

For more information, please contact Hrönn Brynjarsdóttir.

4-4-2008 Sarah