Chip Chat: It started with an Aussie walking into a bar...

posted by Allyson Klein on August 19, 2009

I may have one of the coolest jobs at Intel. Hosting Intel’s Chip Chat podcast program means that I get to interview some of the brightest technology minds in the industry as they discuss their visions of the future. In the three years of our show’s history, we’ve touched on everything from green computing to I/O technologies, from MID devices to enterprise virtualization. The premise of the show is very simple…bring our listeners closer to the minds of the men and women shaping the future of computing through casual conversation, and in the process tell our listeners a bit about the technologists themselves.

But last week’s interview was a bit different…and was quite special. My guest lived with Aborigines as a child in her homeland of Australia. She came to the US to continue her studies in anthropology at Stanford and joined Intel somewhat by happenstance after talking to a man in a Silicon Valley Bar. She was also recently named an Intel Fellow, the highest designation for the technical leaders that shape the future of computing at the company. This year, her work garnered her recognition as one of the most creative people on the planet by Fast Company. Her name is Genevieve Bell, and if you thought that Intel doesn’t think about the billions of people across the world with “Intel Inside” after a few minutes of listening to her you’d realize you’re sorely mistaken. I have been fascinated by her work for years and so was very excited to sit down with her to talk about how we use anthropology to understand how people want to use technology, and about how technology is shaping our lives our cultures across the globe and the arc of human society itself. The conversation was so interesting that we decided to break up our interview into two portions, the first available here. Come back next week to hear about what technologies are inspiring Genevieve today, what she thinks about Facebook, and why she calls the Internet “feral”.

If you like the Chip Chat program let us know and tell us about what types of topics you’d like us to discuss and what technologists you’d like us to interview. Our episodes are available on the Intel site as well as on iTunes.

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tagged: genevieve bell; internet; users; technology; anthropology; fast company 50