Jan Chipchase: Design anthropology

Summary

The speaker from Frog, a design and innovation consultancy, discusses global research insights on technology's societal impact. They delve into cultural nuances, ethical dilemmas in commercial research, and the essence of design in resource-constrained environments. Highlighting examples like a simple gas station in Vietnam and dog-repelling car tires in China, the talk underscores the evolving role of technology in shaping social norms and individual identity, urging designers to consider the broader implications of their creations on society.

Takeaways

• 🌏 The speaker works for Frog, a global design and innovation consultancy with a wide reach and significant scale.
• 🔍 Frog focuses on conducting in-depth, context-driven research to understand the role of technology in society across various cultures and environments.
• 🏠 The research process involves spending time in people's homes to gain insights into their motivations and behaviors in their natural settings.
• 🌐 Frog's studies range from trivial everyday observations to significant societal impacts, such as the role of social media in the Middle East and banking services in Afghanistan.
• 👥 The consultancy operates with a team-based approach, often including local hires to ensure cultural understanding and community engagement.
• 📈 The logistical challenges of conducting global research are significant, requiring rapid team assembly and adaptation to new environments and languages.
• 💡 The speaker highlights the importance of understanding social rules and norms in different cultures, as they influence the adoption and use of technology.
• 📱 The script discusses the ethical and moral implications of technology, particularly how it can be used to surveil and collect data on individuals without their explicit consent.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The decision to use technology is increasingly tied to social participation, raising questions about privacy and the role of technology in society.
• 🔬 The mainstreaming of DNA testing is changing how individuals and organizations understand and interact with genetic information, with potential implications for family structures.
• 📘 The speaker concludes with a call for designers to consider the broader implications of their work, moving from designing for consumers to designing for constituents within a social context.

Q & A

What is the role of the speaker at frog, a design and innovation consultancy?

The speaker is the head of research at frog, where they help leading companies and organizations bring their ideas to life through design and innovation.

How does the speaker describe the scale of frog's operations?

Frog has approximately 1,600 employees spread across 15 studios and development centers worldwide.

What is the focus of the speaker's research over the last 15 years?

The speaker's research has focused on how technology, particularly robotics, plays a role in society, including studies on various societal aspects such as what people carry in their bags, the role of faith in transactions, and the use of social media in the Middle East.

What is a core principle of the research methodology used by the speaker and their team?

A core principle of their research methodology is to immerse themselves in the context of people's everyday activities, often spending weeks on the ground to understand and engage with local communities.

How does the speaker describe the logistical challenges of conducting global research?

The logistical challenges include getting a team on the ground in unfamiliar cultures, operating in languages that team members may not understand, and sometimes having as little as one week's notice to prepare.

What is the speaker's approach to dealing with moral and ethical issues in research?

The speaker acknowledges the moral and ethical issues, especially considering they have commercial clients. They address these issues through decompression sessions and debriefings to ensure the team's well-being and ethical integrity.

What is an example of how the speaker uses observations from resource-constrained environments to inform design?

The speaker uses the example of a street gasoline station in Vietnam, where a simple setup with a bottle on a brick and a siphon represents the essence of a gas station, teaching designers to focus on the core functionality of a product or service.

What is the significance of the speaker's observation about the use of technology in different cultures?

The observation highlights how the appropriate use of technology can vary greatly across cultures, influencing social norms and behaviors, and presenting opportunities for designers to innovate within these cultural contexts.

How does the speaker relate the decision to opt into or out of a product or service to societal participation?

The speaker suggests that the decision to use a product or service is increasingly becoming a choice about participating in society, as many products and services are becoming inherently connected and social.

What challenges does the speaker foresee with the increasing integration of technology into everyday life?

The speaker foresees challenges related to identity, privacy, and the social etiquette of technology use, as well as the need for designers to adapt their skills to consider the broader implications of their designs on society.

What is the concept of 'caveat emptor' and how does the speaker suggest it should evolve for the future?

Caveat emptor is the principle of 'let the buyer beware.' The speaker suggests that, in addition to being cautious, designers and consumers should enter into contracts with 'uberrimae fidei,' or utmost good faith, to ensure ethical and responsible use of technology.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Global Research Insights at Frog Design

The speaker introduces their role as head of research at Frog Design, a design and innovation consultancy with a global presence. They discuss the company's scale, with 1,600 employees across 15 studios, and their focus on helping leading companies and organizations bring ideas to life. The speaker's personal experience includes 15 years of global research, particularly on the impact of technology and robotics in society. They delve into various studies, from examining everyday items in Japan to the role of faith in transactions in India, social media in the Middle East, and banking services in Afghanistan. The approach to research emphasizes context, with the team spending time on the ground, engaging with communities, and conducting interviews in homes and local settings to understand motivations and behaviors.

05:01

🔍 Ethical Challenges and Observations in Global Research

This paragraph delves into the ethical and moral challenges faced during global research, especially when dealing with commercial clients. The speaker shares anecdotes from team decompression sessions and uses examples from resource-constrained environments to illustrate learning opportunities for designers. They highlight the simplicity of a 'street gas station' in Vietnam and a dog deterrent in China to emphasize the importance of understanding the essence of products and services. The speaker also discusses social rules and behaviors, such as the unspoken etiquette around technology use in public spaces, and how these rules can vary across cultures, impacting the adoption of new technologies.

10:05

📱 The Social Implications of Ubiquitous Technology

The speaker explores how the increasing connectivity and social elements of products and services are influencing societal norms and behaviors. They discuss the decision to adopt technology as a choice between participating in society or opting out, using examples like car windshield phone numbers in Seoul and a vending machine in Tokyo that tailors its display based on the gender of passersby. The speaker also addresses the challenges designers face in transitioning from designing for consumers to designing for constituents who may not be aware they are using a product or service, and the need for the design profession to adapt to this shift.

15:07

🕊️ The Evolution of Privacy and Identity in a Technologically Advanced Society

This paragraph focuses on the evolving concepts of privacy and identity in a society where technology is increasingly integrated into everyday life. The speaker discusses the use of facial recognition technology in various settings and the implications for personal identity, including the potential for misuse of biometric data. They also touch on the mainstreaming of DNA testing and its social repercussions, such as the revelation of non-paternity within families, which can challenge traditional notions of family structure. The speaker suggests that these technological advancements are prompting a reevaluation of social norms and the boundaries between what is considered social and anti-social behavior.

20:07

🤝 Trust and Responsibility in the Age of Advanced Technology

In the concluding paragraph, the speaker emphasizes the importance of trust and responsibility in the design and use of technology. They reference the concept of 'caveat emptor' and propose a new principle, 'bona fide', which means to enter into a contract with the utmost faith. The speaker encourages designers to consider the broader implications of their work, including the potential for technology to redefine social norms and the family unit. They leave the audience with a call to action to approach technology with a sense of responsibility and trust, considering the impact on society as a whole.

Keywords

💡Design and Innovation Consultancy

A design and innovation consultancy is a professional service that offers creative solutions to clients, helping them to innovate and improve their products, services, or processes. In the script, the speaker works for Frog, which is such a consultancy, and they are involved in conducting research and helping clients bring their ideas to life, emphasizing the importance of understanding the context and culture in which these ideas will exist.

💡Robot Technology

Robot technology refers to the field of mechanical engineering and automation that involves the development of robots or robotic devices. The script discusses how this technology plays a role in society, indicating the speaker's research focus on the societal implications and interactions with technology, such as the study of social media in the Middle East.

💡Contextual Research

Contextual research is a qualitative research method that involves understanding the user's environment, behaviors, and motivations within their natural context. The speaker emphasizes the importance of this approach in their work, explaining that they immerse themselves in the everyday lives of people they study, which can range from industrialized to developing communities.

💡Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity refers to the awareness and understanding of different cultural contexts and the ability to adapt to them respectfully. The script mentions the challenges of conducting research in unfamiliar cultures and languages, highlighting the need for cultural sensitivity in order to engage with local communities effectively.

💡Ethical Issues

Ethical issues in research pertain to the moral principles and guidelines that must be followed to ensure the rights, safety, and dignity of research participants are maintained. The speaker discusses the moral and ethical challenges they face, particularly when dealing with commercial clients, and the importance of debriefing and addressing these concerns after studies.

💡Resource-Constrained Environments

Resource-constrained environments are situations where there are limited resources available, often found in developing or low-income communities. The script uses examples from such environments to illustrate innovative uses of technology and the potential for learning from these contexts as a designer.

💡Social Rules

Social rules are the unwritten norms and expectations that govern behavior in a society or group. The speaker is fascinated by these rules and how they influence the use and adoption of technology, as well as the social implications when these rules are broken or challenged.

💡Opting into Society

Opting into society refers to the decision to participate in societal norms and use technologies or services that are considered part of social participation. The script discusses how the adoption of certain technologies is increasingly tied to social participation, and the implications this has for designers and users.

💡DNA Testing

DNA testing is a process that involves analyzing an individual's DNA to determine genetic traits, predispositions to diseases, or ancestry. The script mentions 23andMe, a company that offers personal genetic testing, and discusses the mainstreaming of DNA testing and its potential to challenge traditional notions of family and identity.

💡Parental Discrepancy

Parental discrepancy occurs when DNA testing reveals that a person's biological father is not who they believed him to be. The script discusses this phenomenon as a byproduct of mainstream DNA testing, noting its potential to redefine family units, especially in communities with high rates of such discrepancies.

💡Caveat Emptor

Caveat emptor is a Latin phrase meaning 'let the buyer beware,' indicating that the responsibility for checking the quality or accuracy of goods lies with the buyer. The speaker uses this term to highlight the importance of questioning and being cautious, especially in the context of new technologies and services.

💡Fidei

Fidei is a term related to trust and faith, particularly in the context of contracts or agreements. The speaker ends with the concept of 'bona fide,' suggesting that as designers, they should approach their work with utmost faith and integrity, considering the broader implications of their designs on society.

Highlights

Introduction of the speaker's role at Frog, a design and innovation consultancy.

Frog's global presence with 1,600 employees across 15 studios and development centers.

The speaker's 15 years of research on technology's role in society.

Exploration of social media's role in the Middle East, particularly post-revolution Egypt.

The importance of context in research and engaging with communities on their terms.

Methodology of conducting research on the ground for days to a month.

Challenges of conducting global research in unfamiliar cultures and languages.

Frog's hiring principle of employing local individuals to support and understand communities.

Ethical considerations in commercial research and its impact on researchers.

The speaker's approach to identifying opportunities in resource-constrained environments.

Example of a street gas station in Vietnam illustrating the essence of a product or service.

Observation of social rules and behaviors that govern how we interact with technology.

Cultural differences in technology adoption and social norms, exemplified by dog pee deterrents in China.

The impact of technology on society's social fabric and the challenges it poses to designers.

The concept of identity in the digital age and who owns it, highlighted by a loan shark example.

Discussion on the mainstreaming of DNA testing and its implications for family structures.

The potential for technology to redefine social norms and the role of designers in this evolution.

The importance of entering into contracts with utmost faith in the context of technology and society.

Transcripts

hi first off it's wonderful to be here

and thanks for everyone for being so

welcoming here at pop tech so so I work

for frog which is a design and

innovation consultancy and I'm the head

of research frog has about 60 just to

give you a sense of scale we have about

1,600 folks spread across 15 studios and

development centers worldwide and we

serve and many leading companies and

organizations and help them bring their

ideas to life we help them make things I

spent much of the last 15 years

conducting research around the world

and particularly looking at how

technology the robot technology plays in

society any the studies can be anything

from something as notionally trivial as

what people carry in their bags and why

in Japan the role of faith in

transactions in India we were fortunate

enough to be working in Egypt and just

post-revolution and so we explored the

role of social media in the Middle East

and something that might be very dear to

the pop tech community is working in

Afghanistan and trying to understand

what it would take to bring rudimentary

banking services to consumers with who

are on one or two dollars a day actually

while we were in the Egypt we managed to

pop down to Libya just just for a little

bit to figure out how to try to figure

out how someone had managed to hack the

Libyan a cellular network this is

Gaddafi in his better days

so and one of the core principles of how

we work is that we want to get into the

context that people do the everyday

things that they do when we run the

research and typically we're on the

ground for anything from a few days

excuse me

up to one month on the ground and so we

like to get into the context that people

do the things that they do we've become

adept at figuring out where in the

community we're able to engage people on

their own terms wherever we are in the

world this is actually in a barber shop

in Jalalabad where we are conducting

interviews and but nearly always our

search starts in people's homes and you

can figure out so much about what drives

people and what their motivations are by

being invited into their home and being

given access to to actually very

intimate moments in their life and very

intimate spaces as well and we do this

in much of the kind of industrialized

world and we do this in I guess the

majority world or in communities which

are very tight-knit and people on very

low levels of income for example here in

Dharavi Mumbai you know this is a home

for a family of four and it's six by

four meters and so you know how as a

team how do you what's the appropriate

way to be able to go into these spaces

in a very short space of time and

collect meaningful data and as you might

imagine you know we run this worldwide

and we had a meeting in Austin recently

and we calculated we probably run

seventy to a hundred studies a year in

frog and as you might imagine there are

numerous logistical challenges to doing

this kind of research sometimes we have

to get a team on the ground in a culture

that we really don't know operating in a

language that nobody on the team on our

team yet understands and sometimes with

as little as one weeks notice ideally we

run a lot more than that but it can be

as little as one week swear notice and

we've built a process and we've

developed and refined and honed a

process for building putting together a

team

we have a few principles similar to

Malenko and we hire local we like to

spend local because we're pumping money

into the local communities and we

typically live in people's homes or in a

guest house with the whole team

including the locals and a local

assistance kind of think sometimes it's

a bit of a holiday to be invited into it

into that space but actually we get them

from 4 a.m. till 2 a.m.

kind of so we can actually work them

pretty hard and some of the you know

that the logistical challenges are many

and but some of the most interesting

challenges I think are the moral and

ethical issues that we have in doing

this research given that we have largely

commercial clients and sometimes it

drives some of our team to desperation

no this is this is actually we typically

have a decompression at the end of a

study this is the train between Jian in

China to last two days in our train with

the team to breathe a debrief over the

data that's actually my colleagues

sitting on the top rank so I'm going to

give you a little taster of things that

we're looking for and kind of the way

that we see the world and a lot of our

research is is you know we we spend

weeks on the on the ground and we can

interact with many many people but

sometimes there's a few things that can

highlight kind of our approach and what

we can learn one of the things I love

about resource constrained environments

is what they can teach us particularly

as designers and makers so can anyone

tell me what this is the foot gasoline

anyone else eliminated

palm oil okay it's taken on the streets

of Ho Chi Minh City and the first

gentleman was correct it's gasoline it's

a gasoline tank it's a gas station now

when most of us think of a gas station

we think of the big canopy we think of

the forecourt we think of the uniforms

the cash register the bathrooms the

coffee the lousy coffee the snacks we

think of all of that and that's the

holistic gas station experience and this

is a wonderful example you can actually

get those gas stations via in Vietnam

but this is a wonderful example of a

street gas station is there anything you

can take away from this and it's still a

gas station the brick why is the brick

there sorry to put the gas on display

could have that purpose anyone else

siphoning okay exactly so if you have

gasoline in a container on a brick it

raises it above the container that

you're trying to siphon it into it's

pretty simple we're pretty simple and so

if you think about a gas station the

next time you see one of those large gas

stations just think of a bottle on a

brick and a siphon and that's what it is

and if you're you know as designers we

like to kind of pare down the

understanding or drill down to the

essence of what our product or our

services and what what it can be before

we then build it up into something else

so this is notionally a relatively

trivial example

and certainly trivial I think after the

the the previous two speakers and this

is taken in Beijing can anyone tell me

what this is or why the wood is there

okay I'll give you a clue it's it's

closure for dogs okay so um China is

already the world's largest car market

it's also the world's largest market of

first time car buyers and if you're a

car buyer part of the holistic

experience of owning a car is that it

retains a sense of cleanliness certainly

you don't want dogs peeing on it and is

it like I said this is a trivial example

but you know when you're operating the

space that we operate in you know I look

at this and I see I see two

opportunities I see one opportunity

which is to develop tires that naturally

propel dogs that encouraged dogs to go

elsewhere and the second thing I think

of is well let's say you live in a

community in San Francisco and you don't

really like the SUVs cluttering up the

streets and you have a problem with that

well what if you develop something that

it would encourage dogs to pee on wheels

and if you want to play both sides you

can develop both so okay so one of the

things I find fascinating about looking

in the world and looking how people

behave is this kind of the the social

rules that govern how we behave the

social rules that govern that you titter

at a certain moment where you clap at

another moment or that whether you jump

a cue or not and all of these little

rules that nobody says what they are but

everyone knows when you've crossed it

and typically there's kind of behaviors

that people exhibit when you do cross it

touching if you're British tutting is a

very is a very common one

so bleaching is another which is in

cafes when someone opens their laptop

and the owners not happy with it that

will clean up around and if they're

really unhappy they'll put bleach on the

cloth and clean up around to encourage

the people to move on and another thing

I'm fascinated is I mean you know we

operate worldwide and I'm fascinated how

people

about what's appropriate the use of a

technology in their particular culture

given that we we operator we live in a

globalized world and this photo for me

is you know what is it that these two

apartments lay out their futons in Japan

and nobody else in the apartment block

does and it's because they as neighbors

that's what they see they're learning

from each other and they're not seeing

what's above and what's what's to the

below them and I'll give you an example

of a kind of niche technology a kind of

use of technology that you're not really

likely to see elsewhere so this is a car

this this photo was taken in Seoul I'm

going to zoom in for the the windscreen

and in Seoul it's typical that when you

have a car you post your phone number on

the windshield because the many of the

roads in Seoul are very narrow and when

you park if you want to be considerate

to your neighbors of course you want to

be able to give them some point of

contact so that you can move your

vehicle to do otherwise would be

anti-social how many people here would

post their their phone number on there

okay and this is interesting because

increasingly as the products and

services that we're developing are

inherently becoming connected and

increasingly as they have more social

elements to them the decision whether to

adopt a technology whether to opt into

or out of using a technology or a

product or a service becomes one of

whether you want to opt into or out of

society it's a fundamental thing I'm

going to repeat that the decision of

whether to opt into or out of a product

or service is increasingly becoming one

of whether to whether to opt into or out

of society and I'm just thinking about

that from the point of view of designers

of services so often when we think of

taking a slightly different tack often

where we think of Big Brother we think

of this this is actually taken close to

the stadium in Shanghai but actually a

lot of the things that allow us to be

surveilled and come from our only use of

technology from mobile phones from

making contact with payments and from

things like this so this is a vending

machine in Tokyo and this vending

machine is a little different from other

vending machines that you may know so

depending on whether you're male or

female as you're passing it will monitor

you and then once it figured out you're

female it will be displaying drinks on

that display that it thinks that you as

a consumer will like this exists today

this has been around for a few months

and you know this is a very Japanese

apparition of or application of

technology but increasingly you're going

to be seeing this and this is displays

that instead of just displaying you can

interact with them and you can pull

information off from them and that seems

like a two-way street but increasingly

what we're seeing is that these displays

are collecting information on the

environment around them and they can do

it 24/7

imagine that every display you see out

there is able to capture what it sees

and who has access to that and as

designers we're confronted with moving

from designing for consumers

increasingly for designing for a

constituents people who may or may not

know that they're actually using a

product or service and as a domain as a

profession we need to change our skill

set and we need to change how we think

about how we design I came across this

quote recently which I love it's from a

an author who wrote an essay called Bill

J and so a moral character dwindles as

our instruments get smaller and this is

actually quite timely you know this is

where's a stage where technically nearly

all of us the technology in a mobile

phone that you're carrying with you

today can be reduce down to something

that could be in your ear and nobody can

see it already you have Bluetooth

headsets but imagine having everything

at cellular into something that size

that other people can't see and

increasingly technology is being

embedded in the displays and the ticket

gates and the fabric of the

infrastructure around us and one of the

issues with that is that you know we

like to think of Big Brother as the and

large corporations as being clumsy or

being malicious without data but

actually I from my experience we us all

of you are the ones that fumble with the

kind of social etiquette of Technology

cameras stuck in your face inappropriate

uses of things and this is how we as a

society figure out what's right and

what's wrong or where the line between

social and anti-social is so instead of

being able to look at this photo here

and think it's seeing the person with

the camera what if every person in this

picture has a camera and maybe they do

maybe you just can't see it

this quote actually is from the amateur

photographer in 1910 and it's from a

time when cameras came from this this

big on a tripod just something that

could be carried around all of a sudden

people could move around communities and

capture people unawares so I'm going to

point out a couple of disruptions things

that I think are going to shake the very

fabric of society

and particularly the social spaces of

the social spaces and the communities

around us and the first is so if you

look at this gentleman this is a male

host in an area of Tokyo male hosting is

relatively popular in Japan where women

go to a place to speak and dine with a

gentleman it's not necessarily sexually

related and you can see the 2d barcode

on there but that's all really outdated

technology as far as I'm concerned this

gentleman's face is the interface the

ability to take a camera in near to real

time in the time it takes for someone to

walk across a room to be able to pull up

data on that person and to know who they

are to know what they posted online to

know what other people have posted about

them online so that is very very very

close and this notion of identity who

owns the identity who owns after that

beta who owns who sees what when they

pull up your face is going to be one of

the the fundamental questions in the

next few years and I'm going to give you

an extreme example this this gentleman

is a loan shark and my assistant had

just borrowed money from him and it's in

Malaysia we were doing a study on money

I blurred out his face to protect his

identity one of the things that a loan

shark does apart from figuring out where

you live is actually take your photo

your photo your image is collateral it's

an extreme example but actually if you

go to many factories in China which are

serviced by or have a lot of migrant

workers when a migrant worker starts

working in a factory they hand over

their ID card the equivalent of the

driver's license

and if they want to leave they need to

ask for that back and they can't just

leave often so if they want to leave any

tip for example get someone

to replace them before they go my last

example is this so does anyone know what

this is

23 ma it's a DNA testing kit thank you

excuse me I'm a little dry and I think

it's about 99 bucks you spit in the

funnel and send it off in a couple of

weeks later 23andme will send you access

to your online profile where you can

figure out whether they will tell you

your genetic disposition to certain

diseases and this is for me an example

of the mainstreaming of DNA DNA testing

and having us as individuals having and

organizations as well having a greater

understanding of what a DNA is and one

of the interesting byproducts of the

mainstreaming of DNA testing is

something called parental discrepancy

and parental discrepancy is when you

figure out because multiple members of

the same family have been tested that

your biological father is not your

father and in this room today

oops there was a slide that's missing

excusing in this room today there's

probably about 500 people in the room

today I hate to say it but probably four

of you statistically probably four of

you your biological father is not your

father okay and it's a little

disconcerting but

so the I mean what's what's it what's

interesting about this for me as a

technology is that it it fundamentally

chat can challenge and motion of family

on the one hand it can it can reinforce

it it reinforces for people who for whom

a biologically linked family is

important it reinforces that but in some

communities in parental discrepancy can

be as high as 20% in very low and low

income low education high unemployment

communities and in those communities

potentially it helps redefine it helps

socialize the redefinition of the family

unit I'm going to end into it with two

things so the first thing is we're all

familiar with caveat emptor let the

buyer beware and this is good the buyer

should beware there's a lot of crap out

there and we have to ask a lot of

questions but as a designer I'm looking

for the next and I like this this is

actually the used by Lloyds of London

ooh buddy beer fidei and it means to

enter into a contract with upmost faith

and so I'd like to leave you with that

you believer fidei thank you