Transcript Ethnography The systematic study and documentation of human activity • • • without imposing a prior interpretation on it via immersion in the environment of it and observation.

Ethnography
The systematic study and documentation of
human activity
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without imposing a prior interpretation on it
via immersion in the environment of it
and observation of the routine tasks that comprise it
“Make the implicit explicit”
Understanding User's Work
Ethnography & Design
Ethnography of design
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Studies of developers and their environments
Ethnography for design
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Use of ethnography results to inform the
development of designs (e.g., ethnomethodology,
technomethodology)
Ethnography within design
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Integration of ethnographic techniques into the
development process itself
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Advantages
Describes how work is accomplished, in practice, rather
than how it is planned or how individuals report the
accomplishment of their work
Recognizes the importance of the context and
environment on activities
Recognizes that, although situations may have
superficial similarities, they are actually unique
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Disadvantages
Time-consuming
Difficult to translate between the language of
sociology and the language of technology
Results depend critically on the skill of the
ethnographic observer, as well as the
analytic methodology
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Using Ethnographies in Design
Framework (Hughes et al., 1997)
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Characterize ethnographic results in a way amenable
to designer’s needs
Dimensions
– Distributed coordination
– Plans and procedures
– Awareness of work
Methods
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Designers use ethnographer’s documented results
Designers learn ethnographer’s methods
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Methods
Applying ethnography to design
Coherence Method
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tries to facilitate the identification of a product’s
most important use cases
by structuring the analysis of data
Contextual Design
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tries to facilitate the application of fieldwork results
to product design
by structuring the data for analysis
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Coherence
Viewpoints
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Derived from dimensions identified
– Distributed Coordination
– Plans and Procedures
– Awareness of Work
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Guides the observer to particular aspects of the
workplace
Allows several perspectives on a particular design to
be investigated and reconciled
Intended for the early stages of design process to
inform the models underlying the eventual design
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Coherence
Concerns
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Paper/computer work
Skill and local knowledge
Spatio-temporal organization
Organizational Memory
Derived from prior experience in ethnographically informed
design
Each addressed within different Viewpoints
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Coherence Matrix
Paperwork &
Computer
Work
Distributed
Coordination
Plans and
Procedures
Awareness of
Work
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Skill & Use of
Local
Knowledge
Spatial &
Temporal
Organization
Organizational
Memory
Contextual Design
Contextual Inquiry
Work Modeling
Consolidation
Work Redesign
User Environment Design
Mockup/Test with Customers
Putting It into Practice
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Contextual Inquiry
Approach
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Apprentice Model: the designer works as an “apprentice” to
the user
Underlying Principles
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Context
Partnership
Interpretation
Focus
Method
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Contextual interview
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Work Modeling
Aspects to be modeled
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Work Flow
Sequence
Artifact
Cultural
Physical
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Developing Work Models
Each analyst has a different understanding of
the session and they have to be reconciled
into a common view of the work
Interpretive Roles
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Interviewer
Modelers
Recorder
Moderator/Facilitator
Rat-Hole watcher
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Consolidation
Affinity diagram
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Organize individual notes from interpretation
discussion
Groups of notes, similar in some way, emerge from
the data (induction)
Work Models
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Consolidate a model that’s valid across individuals
Aim is to identify key roles, common ways of doing
work, and adaptations to specific contexts
Design Room
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