when design met anthropology
Post on 22-Sep-2014
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Closing Plenary from Big (D)esign Conference 2009.Videoclips from original presentation are not attached.TRANSCRIPT
When Design Met AnthropologyChristina Wasson
Outline of presentation
• How design met anthropology
• Emergence of a new, hybrid field: design anthropology
• Process of collaboration
• Case study
• Collaboration between design and anthropology during economic crisis
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Prior social science partners with design
•Cognitive psychology/human factors
•Marketing research
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How design met anthropology
• Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW)
• Xerox PARC
• E-Lab
• “Ethnography” became buzzword rather than anthropology
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What is ethnography?
• Fundamental research approach of ANTHROPOLOGY (cultural and linguistic)
• Developed in early 1900s as a novel approach to understanding cultures: immersion, “participant observation”
• The goal of ethnography is “to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world” (Malinowski 1922:24-25)
• Combined humanistic and scientific elements
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Why ethnography appeals to designers
• Reveals use in context (not lab)
• Goes beyond what people say they do (focus group) to what they really do
• Uncovers discrepancies between designers’ intended use of product and everyday behaviors
• Power of ethnographic video as communication tool
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Emergence of “design anthropology”
• Interdisciplinary, hybrid field
• Jobs - Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, IBM, SAP, Wells Fargo, Pitney Bowes, Philips, Rolls Royce, etc. + consultancies
• Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference www.epic2009.com
• Uncovers social and symbolic aspects of user experience
• Especially useful for exploratory research
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The downside of popularity
• “Ethnography Lite”
• Anyone can do it
• No theory toolkit
• Data collection, not analysis
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Theories in design anthropology
• General anthropology “toolkit” includes theories about globalization, modernity, consumption, technology use, identity, religion, kinship, political economy, social organization...
• Particular focus on interactions between people and artifacts, drawing on ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, activity theory
E-Lab’s AEIOU framework:• Activities• Environments• Interactions• Objects• Users
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Methods in design anthropology: data collection
• Video recording
• Open to innovation
• Shadowing• Guerilla fieldwork• Photo narratives
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Methods in design anthropology: analysis
• What are the patterns?
• Intuition/memory can be misleading
• Use software to code videorecordings and transcripts
• Move from patterns to explanatory models
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Collaboration between anthropologists and designers
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What can go wrong in the collaboration
• Anthropologists may feel their expertise is not valued and they are underutilized
• Designers encounter frustration when they are given research results that do not point to practical applications
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E-Lab’s partnership between research and design
• Staffing
• Organizational structures
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E-Lab’s work process: the bowtie model
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Case study
Social TV Peripherals: Ethnographic Research and Design ImplicationsClient: MotorolaSpring 2008
Social TV
• Goal: enabling people to watch TV “together” when they are not physically co-present
• Software runs over TV that shows buddy list, who is watching what, ability to go to same show and open audio connection
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Peripheral devices
• Ambient light or other signal to indicate presence when members of buddy list watch TV
• Remote control to interact with the application
• Audio connection (microphone and speakers) for communication between participants
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Fieldwork
• 10 in-home interviews to see how family members share devices and how they personalize them
• 5 participatory design sessions to gather more information about sharing and ownership of devices, and to stimulate design ideas for the Social TV peripherals
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Participatory design sessions
• Materials: Play-Doh, Legos, paper and colored pencils
• Explanation of Social TV
• Invitation to design peripherals
• Discussion of designs to elicit family practices and needs
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Tangible models of social TV peripherals
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Explanatory frameworks
• Family dynamics around the remote
• How copresent families watch TV
• Mobility while watching TV
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Family dynamics around the remote
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Family dynamics around the remote
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Family dynamics around the remote
How copresent families watch TV
• Current practices that need to be taken into account to develop a successful social TV product
• Each family member pursued own trajectory of activities, and they often engaged in multitasking
• Every household in the in-home interviews had more than one television
• Majority of TV watching was done alone
• Family members connected to their friends virtually via phone, internet
• Design implication: one person, one social TV
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How copresent families watch TV
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How copresent families watch TV
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How copresent families watch TV
Mobility while watching TV
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Ideas from participatory design sessions
• Reconfigure peripherals to just a remote and docking station; remote includes touch screen, audio, ambient lights (inspired by iPhone, iPod)
• Use sound in addition to light to indicate presence
• Aesthetics should be clean, timeless, unobtrusive; concerns about the ambient orb
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Conclusions: collaboration between design and anthropology in a time of economic crisis
• Enhancing the “fit” between products and users is more important than ever
• Contributing to innovation and design thinking
• Uncovering a shift in the culture of consumption
• Globalization
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Questions?