article

Representations and requirements: the value of ethnography in system design

Author:

R. J. AndersonAuthors Info & Claims

Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 9, Issue 3

Pages 151 - 182

https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327051hci0902_1

Published: 01 June 1994 Publication History

Abstract

For a number of reasons, systems designers have recently shown considerable interest in ethnography. For the most part, this has been used as a method for the specification of end-user requirements for systems. In this article, I argue that most of this interest is predicated in a misunderstanding of ethnography's role in social science. Instead of focusing on its analytic aspects, designers have defined it as a form of data collection. They have done this for very good, design-relevant reasons, but designers do not need ethnography to do what they wish to do. In the central part of this article, I introduce and illustrate an approach to analytic ethnography in human-computer interaction. In the latter sections I take this approach and show how it opens up the play of possibilities for design. These possibilities are illustrated by counterpoising a summary logic of organizational structure such as that associated with the calculus of efficiency and productivity with the local logics of daily organizational life.

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Cited By

Joshi TBiggs HBardzell JBardzell S(2024)Who is “I”?: Subjectivity and Ethnography in HCIProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642727(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642727
Procter RTolmie PRouncefield M(2023)Holding AI to Account: Challenges for the Delivery of Trustworthy AI in HealthcareACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/357700930:2(1-34)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3577009
Gamboa M(2022)Living with Drones, Robots, and Young Children: Informing Research through Design with AutoethnographyNordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference10.1145/3546155.3546658(1-14)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3546155.3546658
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Index Terms

Representations and requirements: the value of ethnography in system design
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Designing software
      1. Requirements analysis
  2. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
      1. Integrated and visual development environments

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Published In

cover image Human-Computer Interaction

Human-Computer Interaction Volume 9, Issue 3

June 1994

95 pages

ISSN:0737-0024

EISSN:1532-7051

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Publisher

L. Erlbaum Associates Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 1994

Revised: 13 July 1993

Received: 15 March 1993

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642727
Procter RTolmie PRouncefield M(2023)Holding AI to Account: Challenges for the Delivery of Trustworthy AI in HealthcareACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/357700930:2(1-34)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3577009
Gamboa M(2022)Living with Drones, Robots, and Young Children: Informing Research through Design with AutoethnographyNordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference10.1145/3546155.3546658(1-14)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2022
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