Monday, May 4, 2009

Do we need new ethnographic methods?

I recently read “Ethnography Considered Harmful”, a CHI ’09 paper by Andy Crabtree, Tom Rodden, Peter Tolmie, and Graham Button. The paper describes a common misconception that changes in technology and implementation require a new method of ethnographic research. It is stated that although many of the previous ethnographies were conducted in the workplace, the methods used in those ethnographies applies to a much broader range than is believed by most. The ethnographic methods previously used are applicable to action and interaction regardless of where or when it may occur.

2 comments:

  1. I think they made a good point, if something has been shown to work in the past, don't change it.

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  2. Why fix what isn't broken. As any good programmer would understand, use what is already available and change it to fit your needs. Don't try and rewrite something when it will not be backwards compatible. New ethnographies cannot be compared with older ones because they were not created on the same terms.

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