Design ethnography with activity theory
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Design ethnography tries to uncover user needs and find new opportunities. These slides explain how one can use activity theory to frame the study. Part of the Design Thinking course at PUCPR.
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Design ethnography with activity theory
- 1. Design ethnography with activity theory Frederick van Amstel http://fredvanamstel.com Architecture and Design School Digital Design PUCPR
- 2. Malinowski named ethnography the study of exotic people through their native point of view
- 3. Key ethnographic concepts • Ethnocentrism (judging other cultures from yours) • The Other (appreciating different people) • Estrangement (looking from distance) • Representation (implications of describing people) • Point of view (taking different perspectives) • Bias (avoid framing reality as you’d like to be)
- 4. Ethnography moved from the exotic to the familiar. Hilaine Yaccoub do ethnography in one of Rio de Janeiro’s favela.
- 5. Design ethnographies try to uncover user needs and find new opportunities. Jan Chipchase studied phone usage for Nokia.
- 6. Design ethnographies generate insights from observations. (Nicolas Nova study of design ethnography)
- 7. Nokia discovered phone rental stores in Africa kept collective address books. They created a new model with this function.
- 8. Motorola learnt that ringtones should be very loud to be heard by Indians in their noisy metropolis
- 9. How design ethnography works Questions, hypothesis, interests Direct observation, interview, workshop Insights, needs, ideas, conceptsInterpretation, data analysis, reflection Sharing findings, cocreating (it is kinda messy!)
- 10. This is how it looks like
- 11. Information overload: each node is a note taken for my thesis’ ethnographic study (Van Amstel, 2015)
- 13. The role of theory in ethnography • Some researchers are against starting from them to avoid bias • I prefer to start with a theory because it leads to: • Focused observations • Simpler data analysis • Knowledge cocreation (cross-studies bridge) • There are limitations (bias, jumping too soon to conclusions, distorting data to fit the framework)
- 14. Common theories used in design ethnography • Activity Theory (which is the focus here) • Actor-Network Theory • Cognitive Engineering (mental models) • etc...
- 15. Activity theory “My own existence is social activity.” Karl Marx
- 16. Mediation Stimulus Response Everything you do is mediated by a socially constructed sign Sign Stimulus-response direct relationships do not exist in human behavior due to symbolic mediation
- 17. Social construction of signs 1.The baby waves his hand randomly 2. The mother believing he wants the toy brings a nearby toy 3. The baby learns the meaning of the pointing sign
- 18. Learning comes from engaging in an activity (Território do Brincar, 2015)
- 19. Cultural historic activity theory (CHAT) Engeström, 1987
- 20. Photo©2000VilmaVainikainen Let’s analyze an activity Based on Korpela (2004) Intensive care of premature babies
- 21. What are people transforming? People Object
- 22. Which results do they expect? People Object Result
- 23. Which are the means? People Object Result Instruments
- 24. Photo©2000VilmaVainikainen People: baby, mother, nurses Object: the baby’s health Result: a healthy child and a happy mother Instruments: baby-warmer, inhaler, antibiotics First analysis
- 25. Baby’s health: the object is a sum of multiple representations (sensor values) of the same material (the baby’s body)
- 26. Instruments Object representation (baby’s health) Object material (baby’s health) Nurses use representations to coordinate their interference in the material
- 27. How do they form a community? People Object Result Instruments Community
- 28. The baby care team forms a sensitive community, kind to mothers and family. They try not to get too attached to babies.
- 29. How do they organize work? People Object Result Instruments Community Division of laborRules
- 30. The doctor devises a care plan and nurses must keep track of what they are doing (rules + division of labor)
- 31. Activity system model People Object Result Instruments Community Division of laborRules
- 32. Activity inquiry guide • What is the activity? • Where does it take place? • Who are the people carrying it on? • What are they trying to transform? • What is the expected result from transformation? • What are the instruments used? • How do people divide work? • How do they control and regulate work? • How do they form a community?
- 33. How to collect and organize evidence of activity
- 34. Data collection instruments • Direct observations (body) • Notebook (Moleskine like) • Smartphone (camera, audio recording) • Collected documents (folders, papers, etc) • Inquiry protocols (eg: activity inquiry guide) • Semi-structured interview topics (notebook)
- 35. The big picture Mothers, nurses and doctors Baby’s health Healthy baby Baby warmer Baby care team Monitoring, evaluating, spiritual support Sterile environment Stable temperature
- 36. Activity’s space Spaghetti diagram Place quality evaluation
- 37. Activity’s people Stakeholder mapping Personas
- 38. Activity’s object Mind map Play-doh model
- 39. Activity’s results Value proposition canvas Fishbone diagram
- 40. Activity’s instruments Actor-network diagram What is in your bag photo
- 41. Activity’s division of labor Sequential diagram Isometric infographic
- 42. Activity’s rules handoff chain for the SEO case. PREVIOUS REPORT ACCOUNT MANAGER EMAILS SEO SPECIALIST WITH QUESTIONS SEO SPECIALIST IMs WITH OTHER SPECIALIST ACCOUNT MANAGER EMAILS CLIENT FINAL DRAFT OF REPORT + COVER EMAIL SEO SPECIALIST GENERATES DRAFT REPORT SEO SPECIALIST EMAILS CUSTOMER RE CUSTOMER SPECIFICS ACCOUNT MANAGER AND SEO MEET WITH CLIENT, PRESENT POWERPOINT SLIDES SEO SPECIALIST EMAILS REPORT TO ACCOUNT MANAGER SEO SPECIALIST TALKS WITH OTHER SPECIALIST ACCOUNT MANAGER TALKS WITH SPECIALIST Workflow diagram Decision diagram (algorithm)
- 43. Activity’s community Community mapping Community collage
- 44. Return to the big picture Mothers, nurses and doctors Baby’s health Healthy baby Baby warmer Oximeter Baby care team Monitoring, evaluating, spiritual support Sterile environment Stable temperature
- 45. Advanced topics • Connection between multiple activities • Contradiction • Object expansion • Participatory ethnography
- 46. Thank you! Frederick van Amstel http://fredvanamstel.com Architecture and Design School Digital Design PUCPR