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Approaches to Ethnographic Opportunity Analysis
We were recently invited to speak to a class of entrepreneurship students about how anthropology can help students of innovation add value to things. We suggested the following:
OBJECTIVE: To equip you with a set of inductive observation and analysis tools you can use to improve your entrepreneurship skills.
METHOD: Introducing you to “the ethnographic method” through a explanation of what we call, “ethnographic opportunity analysis”.
BACKGROUND: This approach builds upon “the ethnographic method“, “induction“, design generally and “design anthropology”.
More detailed background can be found in the following articles:
Jon Kolko’s sold out book has a great chapter on Interaction Design here
More of Jon Kolko’s can be found here (use the html version to get all the test) http://www.wickedproblems.com/kolko_ixda_designSynthesis.pdf
A article from Interactive Design that I’m still tracking down http://www.tii.se/reform/inthemaking/files/p1.pdf
SELECTIVE ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS: Qualitative Modeling For Work Place Ethnography by Maarten Sierhuis
ASSIGNMENT : 1) Conduct some sort of “inductive observation”, 2) analyze your notes, then 3) expand those notes into a brief report about what you found.
DESCRIPTION: Rather than looking into a completely innovative idea (service or product), the goal is to observe something that already works; observe it in great detail; then begin to understand it in such detail that you can make concrete suggestions about improving it. In other words, rather than looking for how consumers COULD use a NEW service/product, the goal is to observe how consumers DO use a EXISTING service/product with the intention of looking for opportunities to improve or “add value” to that experience.
ACTIVITY:
1. Find a routine, taken-for-granted task/service/product,
2. “Hang out” and “thickly describe” it in a notebook,
3. Suggest some sort of innovation that will add value to it.
The best observations will be published on this blogsite.
We will use the following to assess the quality of the submissions.
In my continual pursuit of finding out what it is that we practicing design anthropologists do, I came across the following description of “User Experience Deliverables”. The irony of the title grabbed me instantly. “User Experience” comes from architecture and the arts whereas “deliverables” comes right out of the corporate world of profits, deadlines and bottom lines. Merging these two is a skillful craft I leave to Peter Morville at SemanticStudios in the following.
January 27, 2009
It’s an exhilarating time for the user experience community. Rising awareness of our value plus emerging technologies and transmedia trends have created conditions for a step change in our practice.
As an information architect, I’m enjoying the new challenges immensely, even as they sweep me outside my comfort zone. I’ve designed social software and rich user interfaces. I’ve sketched scenarios for the future of mobile search. I’ve mapped the user experience across channels and applications. And, I’ve increasingly found myself striving to clarify ideas for folks in the executive suite.
Consequently, I’m rethinking my role, redefining my deliverables, and embracing new forms of interdisciplinary collaboration. For instance, I’ve ensnared Jeffery Callender as co-author of Search Patterns, a new book (in process) about design for discovery and the future of search.
Read on at User Experience Deliverables.
Fresnans are often perplexed when I say “I practice anthropology” as well as teach it.
Visions of the sexy Indiana Jones aside, the sort of anthropology Hank and I “practice” is sometimes called “Design Anthropology”. One great example of this sort of thing can be found by visiting the Point Forward’s web experience.
I saw “web experience” intentionally to denote the craft with which they have built their website. You can be sure that it is a product of the sort of anthropology that they (and we) practice.
I found out about this firm’s web site by following a Google add link that was on my own LinkedIn page – yes apparently the whole “targeted advertising” thing actually works from time to time. Like all effective web experinces, Point Forward’s site gives much more than it takes. It not only described but reflexivly illustrates (i.e., it does what it describes) one of the most exciting, emergent areas in anthropology. I really liked the cases they provided, e.g., the Chick-fil-A case and the Sony case are particularly effective. They also offer reports for a more in depth look into the wonderful world of Design Anthropology.
TheAnthroGeek
anthroguy
Felicia Salcido
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