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!