Why would an anthropologist find computer users interesting?
Computing is intensely social. It requires social support, produces social products, and enables new social relationships. Most research and philosophizing on computing has come from computer scientists and cognitive psychologists. They are not prepared to deal with the social. So we have been looking at computing in black and white. I want to see it and report it in its true brilliant colors. Genetically, people and the other large primates are almost identical. What makes us different is our ability to envision and then actually create and use artifacts according to the envisionment. A chimp can pick up a stick and use it to scoop termites, but the chimp will never design the stick. I cannot think of anything more interesting than understanding how the design of digital sticks changes culture. From a more practical standpoint, it is remarkable how many products are designed and brought to market with very little idea of how people will use them or whether they will use them at all. A
