Wireless Networking in an Underserved Neighborhood: Ethnographic Methods for Understanding Technology and Culture
Jerome W. Crowder, Jessica Wilson, Esperanza Vredenburg · Practicing Anthropology · 2009
In the spring of 2006, a Houston medical researcher solicited our help in understanding how residents living in Pecan Park, an East Houston neighborhood, seek health care, perceive their neighborhood, and use technology. An ethnographic perspective was needed for the development of an hand-held electronic heart monitoring device (similar to a Sony PSP) that would enable patients to better manage their health1. We would identify the people, places and things that residents trust and where they go for local health care and support. The medical team would then coordinate with a Community Health Worker (CHW) program to provide local support to users of the device, or train particular residents to become CHWs.