As a result of her work, she says, Intel technologists are designing a program prototype for collaborating virtually that enables multiple ways of communicating, such as a shared whiteboard and instant messaging.

"Some of the data she uncovered was key to our design of our environment," says Cindy Pickering, a principal engineer in Intel's IT Collaboration Research Lab.

Still the exception

Despite such successes, though, the use of anthropologists within IT organizations is limited, says Ed Liebow, a senior research scientist at Battelle Memorial Institute, a company in Columbus, Ohio, that develops and commercializes technology and manages laboratories for customers. "It's still exceptional rather than the main pattern," he says. But that could change. Liebow, a past president of the American Anthropological Association, says there's a growing demand in corporate America for practicing anthropologists.

But there are still considerable obstacles to widespread use of anthropologists in IT, Euchner says. He cites two main factors. "It's hard to justify the cost in ROI terms," he says. "The dominant trend -- routinizing the work, offshoring where you can -- drowns out other voices."