What is ethnography? Why should you do it? How does it help designers create great products? Sam Ladner, author of Practical Ethnography, gives a summary of her book to the Puget Sound SigCHI group.

1. @sladner
@pssigchi
#ethnography
#practicalethno
Practical Ethnography
Doing ethnography in the private sector
Sam Ladner, PhD
Senior Researcher
Microsoft Envisioning

2. OVERVIEW
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A brief history of ethnography
Its history and its use in product design
Ethnography and innovation
Why is ethnography good for innovation?
Current practice
Who is doing ethnography and how are
they doing it?
Microsoft and ethnography
Real examples of our own work
Emerging trends
Where is ethnography going?

3. HISTORY
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4. ETHNOGRAPHY
AND URBAN
PLANNING
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5. ETHNOGRAPHY IN
TECHNOLOGY
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6. ETHNOGRAPHY AND DESIGN THINKING
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INSIGHT IDEATE PROTOTYPE ITERATE

7. ETHNOGRAPHY CASE STUDY: THE SWIFFER
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Gaps between activities
and beliefs
What people actually do
In situ
What else is going on?
Standpoint
Empathy-driven design

8. WHY ETHNOGRAPHY
MATTERS
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9. HAMMERS AND
THEIR WORLDS
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10. SKYMALL’S EXISTENTIAL TORTURE CHAMBER
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11. CURRENT PRACTICE
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“Shifts within ethnography occur
when, for example, new faces enter
the field, novel problems are put
forth, funding patterns change
or…new narrative styles develop”

12. MARKETING
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13. WHAT DESIGN ETHNOGRAPHY LOOKS FOR
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Frustrations
Where products are broken
Delights
Where products evoke emotional
connection
Conceptual
understanding
How products are understood, cohered,
and thought about

14. GAME FACE, LADIES
Applied ethnography
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FRUSTRATIONS

15. 15
DELIGHTS

16. 16
CONCEPTS AND
MODELS

17. ETHNOGRAPHY AT MICROSOFT
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18. TABLETS AS FLEXIBLE PRODUCTIVITY
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Frustrations
Tablets bring the cloud with them – even
if you don’t understand the cloud.
Delights
Tablets offer truly mobile computing (not
just consumption).
Conceptual
understanding
Tablets are BOTH productivity and
entertainment devices. What matters
most is posture.

19. BODY WORK
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20. 20
ACTIVATING
ETHNOGRAPHIC INSIGHT

21. 21
PROTOTYPING

22. GAME FACE, LADIES
Applied ethnography
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS

23. Thank you
@sladner
http://practicalethnography.com
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