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Ethnography is now a fundamental feature of design practice, taught in universities worldwide and practiced widely in commerce. Despite its rise to prominence a great many competing perspectives exist and there are few practical texts to support the development of competence. Doing Design Ethnography elaborates the ethnomethodological perspective on ethnography, a distinctive approach that provides canonical 'studies of work' in and for design. It provides an extensive treatment of the approach, with a particular slant on providing a pedagogical text that will support the development of competence for students, career researchers and design practitioners. It is organised around a complementary series of self-contained chapters, each of which address key features of doing the job of ethnography for purposes of system design. The book will be of broad appeal to students and practitioners in HCI, CSCW and software engineering, providing valuable insights as to how to conduct ethnography and relate it to design.
List of contents
Précis.- Ethnography and Systems Design.- Our Kind of Sociology.- Finding the Animal in the Foliage.- Dispensing with Method.- Doing Fieldwork.- Analysing the Ethnographic Record.- Informing Design.- Some Common Misunderstandings, Objections and Complaints.- Design Ethnography in a Nutshell.
Summary
Ethnography is now a fundamental feature of design practice, taught in universities worldwide and practiced widely in commerce. Despite its rise to prominence a great many competing perspectives exist and there are few practical texts to support the development of competence. Doing Design Ethnography elaborates the ethnomethodological perspective on ethnography, a distinctive approach that provides canonical 'studies of work' in and for design. It provides an extensive treatment of the approach, with a particular slant on providing a pedagogical text that will support the development of competence for students, career researchers and design practitioners. It is organised around a complementary series of self-contained chapters, each of which address key features of doing the job of ethnography for purposes of system design. The book will be of broad appeal to students and practitioners in HCI, CSCW and software engineering, providing valuable insights as to how to conduct ethnography and relate it to design.
Additional text
From the reviews:
“The book is aimed at practitioners and students … . the book does actually include some good practical tips on approaches and tools for gaining access to a work situation, gaining trust and approval of users and recording observations. … I found Doing Design Methodology to be a deep book, grounded in the considerable experience of the authors. A real attempt is made, through the recursive structure … to get across a clear vision for a particular brand of ethnography.” (Paul Matthews, Informer, November, 2012)
Report
From the reviews:
"The book is aimed at practitioners and students ... . the book does actually include some good practical tips on approaches and tools for gaining access to a work situation, gaining trust and approval of users and recording observations. ... I found Doing Design Methodology to be a deep book, grounded in the considerable experience of the authors. A real attempt is made, through the recursive structure ... to get across a clear vision for a particular brand of ethnography." (Paul Matthews, Informer, November, 2012)
