understanding user's work ethnography the systematic study and documentation of human activity...
DESCRIPTION
Understanding User's Work 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 uniqueTRANSCRIPT
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
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 of the routine tasks that comprise it
“Make the implicit explicit”
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Ethnography & Design
Ethnography of design• Studies of developers and their environments
Ethnography for design• Use of ethnography results to inform the
development of designs (e.g., ethnomethodology, technomethodology)
Ethnography within design• Integration of ethnographic techniques into the
development process itself
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
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
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Disadvantages
Time-consumingDifficult to translate between the language of
sociology and the language of technologyResults depend critically on the skill of the
ethnographic observer, as well as the analytic methodology
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Using Ethnographies in Design
Framework (Hughes et al., 1997)• Characterize ethnographic results in a way amenable
to designer’s needs• Dimensions
– Distributed coordination– Plans and procedures– Awareness of work
Methods• Designers use ethnographer’s documented results• Designers learn ethnographer’s methods
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Methods
Applying ethnography to design
Coherence Method• tries to facilitate the identification of a product’s
most important use cases• by structuring the analysis of data
Contextual Design• tries to facilitate the application of fieldwork results
to product design• by structuring the data for analysis
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Coherence
Viewpoints• Derived from dimensions identified
– Distributed Coordination– Plans and Procedures– Awareness of Work
• 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
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Coherence
Concerns• 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
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Coherence Matrix
Paperwork & Computer
Work
Skill & Use of Local
Knowledge
Spatial & Temporal
Organization
Organizational Memory
Distributed Coordination
Plans and Procedures
Awareness of Work
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Contextual Design
Contextual InquiryWork ModelingConsolidationWork RedesignUser Environment DesignMockup/Test with CustomersPutting It into Practice
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Contextual Inquiry
Approach• Apprentice Model: the designer works as an “apprentice” to
the userUnderlying Principles
• Context• Partnership• Interpretation• Focus
Method• Contextual interview
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Work Modeling
Aspects to be modeled• Work Flow• Sequence• Artifact• Cultural• Physical
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
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• Interviewer• Modelers• Recorder• Moderator/Facilitator• Rat-Hole watcher
Understanding User's WorkUnderstanding User's Work
Consolidation
Affinity diagram• Organize individual notes from interpretation
discussion• Groups of notes, similar in some way, emerge from
the data (induction)Work Models
• Consolidate a model that’s valid across individuals• Aim is to identify key roles, common ways of doing
work, and adaptations to specific contextsDesign Room