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Implications for Design. i203 – Social and Organizational Issues of Information. 04/17/2008. Who is Paul Dourish?. Fundamental Question…. What is the place for ethnography (read: qualitative research) in the design process?. 3. ‘Marginalization of Theory’. 4.
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Implications for Design i203 – Social and Organizational Issues of Information 04/17/2008
Who is Paul Dourish? I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information
Fundamental Question… • What is the place for ethnography (read: qualitative research) in the design process? I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 3
‘Marginalization of Theory’ I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 4
Why is HCI so uncomfortable with the qualitative? • Ethnography is a form of writing, so it must be seen as a text to be interpreted • Ethnography reveals ‘the underlying logics of social practice.’ • Reflexivity – the ‘stories people tell themselves about themselves’ Anderson, R. 1994. Representation and Requirements: The Value of Ethnography in System Design. Human Computer Interaction, 9(2), 151-182. I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 5
Design & Change “Design demands immersion into the full complexity of reality and from that full immersion you have to come out (within a limited time frame) with an understanding of something not-yet-existing that transcends the existing. This is to me not the same thing as being involved in deep ethnography with the purpose to come out of "immersion" with a deep understanding of the existing.” - Erik Stolterman http://transground.blogspot.com/2006/06/ethnography-in-hci-comments-on-dourish.html I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 7
The Practice of Technology I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 8
Social Practice Theory • Technology both shapes our world and is shaped by it. • Users both shape technology and are shaped by it. • Practice is where the ‘rubber meets the road’. I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 9
Representing the Qualitative “Ethnography can illuminate the practices of particular peoples, but it does more; through this, it explores the generally operative principles by which these practices are shaped, shared, reproduced, and transformed.” So… you can’t capture all that in a set of bullet-points or requirements! I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 10
Implications for Design (IMHO) • CHI (and similar) put too much emphasis on the concrete, too little on the landscape. • We need to think longer term. • Focus on failures. • Synthesizing qualitative research into the field will require that designers & computer scientists get outside their comfortable armchair POV. I203: Social and Organizational Issues of Information 11