It seems that today’s technology is developing at the speed of light. No matter how hard we try, keeping up with the newest developments can be extremely difficult and tiring. Although you may not know this, a lot of IT companies out there are actually aware of this fact and care about their users’ experience with their technology.
One of these technology giants is Intel. In its latest press release, Melissa Gregg, the chief social scientist in the company’s Client Computing Group, tries to explain how exactly they are bridging the gap between technology and users.
How is Intel addressing users’ problems and needs?
Gregg’s work focuses on making Intel’s PC platforms easier and more useful for their users by honing in on their feedback. In other words, helping people focus, create, and connect through technology is her primary concern.
She is not directly involved in making the devices themselves. However, she is rather a medium between those who do and those who use them. In simpler terms, she is “the voice of the user to the engineers that build new PCs.”
Before Intel, Gregg was involved in studying knowledge workers in Australia and how technology was affecting their lives. After meeting Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist, and Intel Senior Fellow, she decided she wanted to go right to the source of technology to learn more about this subject matter.
The work of Gregg and her colleagues begins with fieldwork. This means talking to PC users about their problems and needs in relation to PC technology. After that, she says they direct innovation in two directions.
The first is form factors – improving user experience or their ergonomic problem. The second is usages – the users’ current practices that the next wave of technology could assist. Finally, they define design choices and requirements to reach their ultimate goal – helping users focus, create and connect more easily through technology.
AI assistance could be the future
To conclude, Gregg believes we might expect something like AI cognitive assistance on our PCs in the near future. In her words: “The idea of cognition, based on learning who you are and what your preferences are, has a lot of potential applications. I think it will be really exciting, how we will learn to work with our devices in new ways, and how they will learn from us.”
Photo credit: The feature image has been taken by Walden Kirsch for Intel Corporation. The photo in the body of the article has been done by Brooke Cagle.
Source: Intel Newsroom
