Listening to Kids

Blake Burris points to a great post in Newsweek called Listening to the Kids.

"ABOUT THREE YEARS ago (Microsoft) began employing anthropologists, as well as teams of young engineers and recent college graduates, to observe teens around the world in their natural habitats, from Seattle shopping malls to London schools to Seoul street corners. The goal: to see how they used technology in their daily lives, and then to turn that information into new products—not just for kids but for the rest of us, too. What they found has not only influenced the development of existing products, it has also led to the creation of new software: the forthcoming threedegrees, which facilitates everything from online practical jokes to virtual sales meetings. “Kids drive technology today,” says Microsoft anthropologist Anne Cohen Kiel. “By meeting their needs, we meet everyone’s needs.”