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Ethnography considered harmful

Authors:

Andrew Crabtree,

Graham ButtonAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '09: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 879 - 888

https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1518835

Published: 04 April 2009 Publication History

Abstract

We review the current status of ethnography in systems design. We focus particularly on new approaches to and understandings of ethnography that have emerged as the computer has moved out of the workplace. These seek to implement a different order of ethnographic study to that which has largely been employed in design to date. In doing so they reconfigure the relationship ethnography has to systems design, replacing detailed empirical studies of situated action with studies that provide cultural interpretations of action and critiques of the design process itself. We hold these new approaches to and understandings of ethnography in design up to scrutiny, with the purpose of enabling designers to appreciate the differences between new and existing approaches to ethnography in systems design and the practical implications this might have for design.

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Gentès A(2024)Les « médiums malléables » : contribution à une théorie des médiums en designSciences du Design10.3917/sdd.019.0142n° 19:1(142-159)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.3917/sdd.019.0142
Seaborn KUrakami JPennefather PMiyake N(2024)Qualitative Approaches to Voice UXACM Computing Surveys10.1145/365866656:12(1-34)Online publication date: 20-Apr-2024
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Yokoyama NKato YKimura RNakajima T(2024)RamenJourney: A lifelogging service for maintaining the daily well-being of ramen geeksProceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3656650.3656706(1-3)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
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Index Terms

Ethnography considered harmful
1. Applied computing
  1. Law, social and behavioral sciences
    1. Sociology

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '09: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2009

2426 pages

ISBN:9781605582467

DOI:10.1145/1518701

General Chairs:
Dan R. Olsen
Brigham Young University
,
Richard B. Arthur
Brigham Young University
,
Program Chairs:
Ken Hinckley
Microsoft Research
,
Meredith Ringel Morris
Microsoft Research
,
Scott Hudson
Carnegie Mellon University
,
Saul Greenberg
University of Calgary

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 04 April 2009

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April 4 - 9, 2009

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CHI '09 Paper Acceptance Rate 277 of 1,130 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

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https://doi.org/10.3917/sdd.019.0142
Seaborn KUrakami JPennefather PMiyake N(2024)Qualitative Approaches to Voice UXACM Computing Surveys10.1145/365866656:12(1-34)Online publication date: 20-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3658666
Yokoyama NKato YKimura RNakajima T(2024)RamenJourney: A lifelogging service for maintaining the daily well-being of ramen geeksProceedings of the 2024 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces10.1145/3656650.3656706(1-3)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656650.3656706
Fischer J(2023)Generative AI Considered HarmfulProceedings of the 5th International Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3571884.3603756(1-5)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2023
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Pelikan HJung MCastellano GRiek LCakmak MLeite I(2023)Designing Robot Sound-In-InteractionProceedings of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/3568162.3576979(172-182)Online publication date: 13-Mar-2023
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Seaborn K(2023)Interacting with Masculinities: A Scoping ReviewExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585770(1-12)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Abdulgalimov DKirkham RNicholson JBartindale TOlivier P(2023)OurStrategy: Employee Voice In Transnational Strategy DevelopmentProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581487(1-17)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Syeda UDunne CBorkin M(2023)Process and Pitfalls of Online Teaching and Learning with Design Study “Lite” Methodology: A Retrospective AnalysisComputer Graphics Forum10.1111/cgf.1481342:3(75-86)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2023
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Kraemer MChalhoub GWebb HFlechais I(2023)“It becomes more of an abstract idea, this privacy”—Informing the design for communal privacy experiences in smart homesInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103138180:COnline publication date: 1-Dec-2023
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Yavo-Ayalon SGong CYu HMandel IJu W(2022)Walkie-Talkie Maps – A Novel Method to Conduct and Visualize Remote EthnographyInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods10.1177/1609406922111551921Online publication date: 30-Aug-2022
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