design ethnography as a unique discipline

(photo by spcoon)

design ethnography is also more generally known as user research for product development. i’m increasingly appreciating the term ethnography, because the word user is conflated for me with the pejorative term drug user and because user implies more of a kind of tool use instead of a rich, two-way interaction. not all products are designed to be used like a tool, some are designed to be seamlessly integrated into one’s environment, lifestyle, or perhaps even to make use of us more than the other way around. so discarding the term user seems appropriate. especially within a software product, please stop calling your customers users in interfaces and documentation.

design ethnography is a relatively new specialty — though with solid roots that go back to the ergonomics research of the 1950’s — and in my experience it is greatly undervalued at silicon valley startup companies designing the most interesting new products. it’s shocking really how many of the hottest new companies have no idea what their target customers are like. they take a serious shot in the dark. some larger businesses i know there have extensive ethnographic research teams or at least appreciation of the discipline, but in the startup environment where i mostly consult it seems barely understood and only occasionally valued.

in terms of training, one friend recommends id.iit.edu in chicago where she studied. she graduated with a masters in design and now works full time as an ethnographer. but i’m starting to see specific training degrees appearing on the landscape. a program starts this year for a one year masters in design ethnography, at dundee university’s design group in scotland. the university of north texas even has a three year, part time online masters degree in anthropology that can be applied toward this and one faculty member there specifically focuses on human computer interaction research. my expectation is that over the next few decades it will increasingly be understood and valued as a unique discipline. This will be driven by product development targeting more diverse international markets and products incorporating digital underpinnings and thereby richer interactions.

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