Stefana Broadbent is a visiting researcher at the Department of
Anthropology at UCL. Between 2004 and 2008 she was responsible for the
development of the User Observatory at Swisscom. The Observatory runs
ethnographic studies on the evolution of users? practices with
information and communication technologies in Switzerland. Previously,
she was in the Management Team of IconMedialab a multinational digital
consultancy listed in Stockholm and was in charge of the hu-man
computer interaction competence. In 1993 she founded CB&J, a company
specialized in hu-man factors and user research that was acquired by
IconMedialab in 1999.
In the last 15 years of applied research, there have been two main
areas of investigation: the evolution of digital activities at home
(information, leisure, communication and self expression) and the
analysis of complex and highly automated work environments in aviation
and process control. All of these projects had in common an
ethnographic approach to capture evolving social practices and a
design intent to inform and support the conception of new tools and
services
Stefana holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive science from the University of
Edinburgh, and a degree in Psychology from the Univesité de Genève.
See Dr. Broadbent's TED Talk, "How the Internet Enables Intimacy," delivered in July, 2009 (requires the Adobe Flash Player plug-in), or listen to her speak on the BBC's Forum radio broadcast in August, 2009.
