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Presentation made to students in Regenerative Studies MA at Cal Poly Pomona. Results and discussion from research conducted on Cool Roof Owners by Indicia Consulting for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories.
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Cool Roofs and Human Behavior/Dr. Susan Mazur-Stommen
Presentation to RS 501Cal Poly Pomona
September 14, 2010
Ethnography and the environmentWhy is ethnography important to
environmental problems and solutions?Garbage Project in ArizonaDeveloped to measure the span between the ideal and the real - Between what people say they do, and what they really do
Liar, liar pants on fireSurveys do not capture actual activity –
people lie, people make mistakes, people define things in unexpected ways
The Garbage Project produced some counterintuitive results:Beer/IdentityFood/Cultural Knowledge
Relying on self-reportage would have lead to over or under estimates regarding waste capacity.
“Following the data can identify the multitude of very strange, exotic practices people have, that you never expected to capture, but which can contribute to the richness of your understanding.”
OPC Smokers (you know who you are)Another example about the problem
with just asking people what they do - Smokers
If you were a policy-maker, trying to forecast waste and disposal needs for California or Arizona, relying on surveys would lead you astray.
You need to LOOK at people’s actual BEHAVIOR!
Ethnographic research - what it can do?Ethnographic data +
economic/survey type data = confirmations of patterns. Ethnographic
decision-tree modelingFactors operated
together in a stochastic process to give a particular outcome.
It could be predicted.
"Ethnographers may also validate findings through conventional archival research, consultation with experts, use of surveys, and other techniques not unique to ethnography. At the same time, ethnographic interviews are far more in-depth than survey research.”
Applied anthropologists
Anthropologists, both within and without university settings, who work on ‘real-world’ problems.
Practicing anthropologistsAnthropologists often work with corporations
Corporate ethnographyThe application of the methods and
theories of cultural anthropology to business.
In recent years, corporate ethnography has become indispensable for Fortune 500 companies - Microsoft, Intel, Xerox, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee.
Corporate ethnography
“By immersing themselves in the culture of a company and the lives of the customers who consume its products and services, ethnographers can detail and illuminate the challenges that occur along all stages of a product lifecycle – from conception and design, to launch and promotion, to building communities of users, to retiring the product in light of later gen models.”
Byron Thayer, 26 years old, has worked for two years at Plantronics Inc., the Santa Cruz, Calif., telephone-headset maker. Mr. Thayer talked about the work he is doing to understand that market.
What's different between what you do as an anthropologist and what a traditional market researcher might do?
I spend a lot more time with the end user. That's the main difference. I'll spend up to two hours with someone. I also spend time with people in their natural environment. When you spend time with them in their office or in their car or on the subway, you start to see things that they don't even recognize they do. It's the little tics that I am interested in.
Making better sausageMore and more anthropologists are
working in product design. Meanwhile, many more companies employ anthropologists than you might have supposed.L’oreal – cultural practices in cosmeticsNokia – the emergence of new
communication stylesMcDonald’s – foodways of non-Western
cultures
“I know it has become fashionable to be derogatory of corporations, but none of us live off the grid. We all use corporations to feed, clothe, shelter, and transport us. The question becomes, do you want them to accomplish this well, or poorly?”
If anthropologists are working at an earlier stage of the product lifecycle - we can also work on building in and promoting recyclability and sustainability
Big EnergyWhere are the anthropologists?Major, systemic, transformationLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – a Department of Energy labCase studies - consumers with cool roofs
Preliminary ResultsPeople are not doing it for the rebate:
the amounts are too smallthey generally find out about it after the fact.
Politically conservativeNo tracking
They are not terribly concerned with saving energy, with reducing their carbon footprint, or with climate change.
Willing to payDurability and aesthetics.
Decision MakersThe typical customer is older and affluent
Do not want hassle of replacing roof anymoreThey want something that looks good, looks
appropriate for their neighborhood. Ceramic tile, concrete tile, and metal can all deliver on this promise. Metal can be stamped to look like different materials if need be. Most of these now automatically come in cool pigments
It is the contractors who REALLY control choice in roofing materials in California – they are the true gatekeepers, decision-makers.
ImplicationsWhat does this mean for the designer, the
manufacturer, the policy-maker?No downside to cool pigmentsNo upside to continuing non-cool offerings
Materials engineers can focus on durability and flexibility
Policy-makers can direct educational efforts for greatest impactContractors and not consumers
Real vs IdealLarge-scale changes coming down the pikeYou will develop/implement new and exciting
products that are environmentally friendlyYou will promote sustainable lifestyles
through your projects. You may find, in your career, that you wish
people would do the right thing for the right reasons
The good news is, many times people do the right thing for the wrong reasons, or for no reason at all
Better Tech is not the answerYou cannot simply develop a product and expect it to
be adopted due to technical superiorityHistory is littered with creations that sank and took
this assumption with them (Betamax vs VHS)There may be a great product, but consumers just
don’t see the point Early interactive TV, picture phones from the 1960s, tablet
PCs, and companies like Iridium and WebvanOr, more happily, there may be a product that is
revolutionary for one reason, but customers adopt it for some wildly different purpose (e.g. lasers, which are in everything from your printer to your dermatologist’s office)
"I don't supposed you've heard of the LASER."
As you pursue your career, keep in mind that ethnographic methods, like participant-observation, can help you avoid hazards to your success, while simultaneously tipping you off to new opportunities for changing the world!