Design ethnography tries to uncover user needs and find new opportunities. These slides explain how one can use activity theory to frame the study. Part of the Design Thinking course at PUCPR.

1. Design ethnography with
activity theory
Frederick van Amstel
http://fredvanamstel.com
Architecture and Design School
Digital Design
PUCPR

2. Malinowski named ethnography the study of exotic
people through their native point of view

3. Key ethnographic concepts
• Ethnocentrism (judging other cultures from yours)
• The Other (appreciating different people)
• Estrangement (looking from distance)
• Representation (implications of describing people)
• Point of view (taking different perspectives)
• Bias (avoid framing reality as you’d like to be)

4. Ethnography moved from the exotic to the familiar. Hilaine
Yaccoub do ethnography in one of Rio de Janeiro’s favela.

5. Design ethnographies try to uncover user needs and find new
opportunities. Jan Chipchase studied phone usage for Nokia.

6. Design ethnographies generate insights from observations.
(Nicolas Nova study of design ethnography)

7. Nokia discovered phone rental stores in Africa kept collective
address books. They created a new model with this function.

8. Motorola learnt that ringtones should be very loud to be heard
by Indians in their noisy metropolis

9. How design ethnography works
Questions,
hypothesis,
interests
Direct
observation,
interview,
workshop
Insights,
needs, ideas,
conceptsInterpretation,
data analysis,
reflection
Sharing
findings,
cocreating
(it is kinda messy!)

10. This is how it looks like

11. Information overload: each node is a note taken for my thesis’
ethnographic study (Van Amstel, 2015)

13. The role of theory in
ethnography
• Some researchers are against starting from them
to avoid bias
• I prefer to start with a theory because it leads to:
• Focused observations
• Simpler data analysis
• Knowledge cocreation (cross-studies bridge)
• There are limitations (bias, jumping too soon to
conclusions, distorting data to fit the framework)

14. Common theories used in
design ethnography
• Activity Theory (which is the focus here)
• Actor-Network Theory
• Cognitive Engineering (mental models)
• etc...

15. Activity theory
“My own existence is social activity.”
Karl Marx

16. Mediation
Stimulus Response
Everything you do is mediated by a socially constructed sign
Sign
Stimulus-response direct relationships do not exist in human
behavior due to symbolic mediation

17. Social construction of signs
1.The baby waves his
hand randomly
2. The mother
believing he wants the
toy brings a nearby
toy
3. The baby learns the
meaning of the
pointing sign

18. Learning comes from engaging in an activity (Território do
Brincar, 2015)

19. Cultural historic activity
theory (CHAT)
Engeström, 1987

20. Photo©2000VilmaVainikainen
Let’s analyze an activity
Based on Korpela (2004)
Intensive care of premature babies

21. What are people transforming?
People Object

22. Which results do they expect?
People Object Result

23. Which are the means?
People Object Result
Instruments

24. Photo©2000VilmaVainikainen
People: baby, mother, nurses
Object: the baby’s health
Result: a healthy child and a happy mother
Instruments: baby-warmer, inhaler, antibiotics
First analysis

25. Baby’s health: the object is a sum of multiple representations
(sensor values) of the same material (the baby’s body)

26. Instruments
Object representation (baby’s health)
Object
material
(baby’s
health)
Nurses use representations to coordinate their interference
in the material

27. How do they form a
community?
People Object Result
Instruments
Community

28. The baby care team forms a sensitive community, kind to
mothers and family. They try not to get too attached to babies.

29. How do they organize work?
People Object Result
Instruments
Community Division of laborRules

30. The doctor devises a care plan and nurses must keep track of
what they are doing (rules + division of labor)

31. Activity system model
People Object Result
Instruments
Community Division of laborRules

32. Activity inquiry guide
• What is the activity?
• Where does it take place?
• Who are the people carrying it on?
• What are they trying to transform?
• What is the expected result from transformation?
• What are the instruments used?
• How do people divide work?
• How do they control and regulate work?
• How do they form a community?

33. How to collect and
organize evidence of
activity

34. Data collection instruments
• Direct observations (body)
• Notebook (Moleskine like)
• Smartphone (camera, audio recording)
• Collected documents (folders, papers, etc)
• Inquiry protocols (eg: activity inquiry guide)
• Semi-structured interview topics (notebook)

35. The big picture
Mothers, nurses and
doctors
Baby’s
health
Healthy
baby
Baby warmer
Baby care team Monitoring,
evaluating,
spiritual support
Sterile environment
Stable temperature

36. Activity’s space
Spaghetti diagram Place quality evaluation

37. Activity’s people
Stakeholder mapping Personas

38. Activity’s object
Mind map
Play-doh model

39. Activity’s results
Value proposition canvas
Fishbone diagram

40. Activity’s instruments
Actor-network diagram What is in your bag photo

41. Activity’s division of labor
Sequential diagram Isometric infographic

42. Activity’s rules
handoff chain for the SEO case.
PREVIOUS REPORT
ACCOUNT MANAGER
EMAILS SEO SPECIALIST
WITH QUESTIONS
SEO SPECIALIST
IMs WITH OTHER
SPECIALIST
ACCOUNT MANAGER
EMAILS CLIENT FINAL
DRAFT OF REPORT +
COVER EMAIL
SEO SPECIALIST
GENERATES
DRAFT REPORT
SEO SPECIALIST
EMAILS CUSTOMER
RE CUSTOMER
SPECIFICS
ACCOUNT MANAGER
AND SEO MEET WITH
CLIENT, PRESENT
POWERPOINT SLIDES
SEO SPECIALIST
EMAILS REPORT
TO ACCOUNT
MANAGER
SEO SPECIALIST
TALKS WITH OTHER
SPECIALIST
ACCOUNT
MANAGER TALKS
WITH SPECIALIST
Workflow diagram Decision diagram (algorithm)

43. Activity’s community
Community mapping Community collage

44. Return to the big picture
Mothers, nurses and
doctors
Baby’s
health
Healthy
baby
Baby warmer
Oximeter
Baby care team Monitoring,
evaluating,
spiritual support
Sterile environment
Stable temperature

45. Advanced topics
• Connection between multiple activities
• Contradiction
• Object expansion
• Participatory ethnography

46. Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel
http://fredvanamstel.com
Architecture and Design School
Digital Design
PUCPR