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.

ABSTMCT Virturd Rtityhas attracted much attention in CS~as a means for providing 'CoHaborative Viid Environments'.k tis paper an dtemative use is made of VR for CSCW.Our work focuses not upon VR as an actual interface to CS~systems but as a means for providing a rich en~tiomuent in which to, firsfly, represent the ressdts of ethnographic study an~secon~y, to explore requirements for a co~abomtive system by envisioning new work arrangements.We report on our use of VR in this way and what it offers for supporting the tisition between ethuogmphic fieldwork md system design.We *O report on the transition from a 3D envisiomnent to designing a 2D system intended for rd world use.

Over the past 10 years, the use of sociological methods and sociological reasoning have become more prominent in the analysis and design of interactive systems. For a variety of reasons, one form of sociological inquiry—ethnomethodology—has become something of a favored approach. Our goal in this article is to investigate the consequences of approaching system design from the ethnomethodological perspective. In particular, we are concerned with how ethnomethodology can take a foundational place in the very notion of system design, rather than simply being employed as a resource in aspects of the process, such as requirements elicitation and specification. We begin by outlining the basic elements of ethnomethodology and discussing the place that it has come to occupy in computer-supported cooperative work and, increasingly, in human-computer interaction. We discuss current approaches to the use of ethnomethodology in systems design, and we point to the contrast between the use of ethnomethodology for critique and for design. Currently, understandings of how to use ethnomethodology as a primary aspect of system design are lacking. We outline a new approach and present an extended example of its use. This approach takes as its starting point a relationship between ethnomethodology and system design that is a foundational, theoretical matter rather than simply one of design practice and process. From this foundation, we believe, emerges a new model of interaction with computer systems, which is based on ethnomethodological perspectives on everyday human social action.

Article Free Access Share on Technomethodology: paradoxes and possibilities Authors: Graham Button Rank Xerox Research Centre, Cambridge Laboratory (EuroPARC), 61 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AB, United Kingdom Rank Xerox Research Centre, Cambridge Laboratory (EuroPARC), 61 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AB, United KingdomView Profile , Paul Dourish Rank Xerox Research Centre, Cambridge Laboratory (EuroPARC), 61 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AB, United Kingdom Rank Xerox Research Centre, Cambridge Laboratory (EuroPARC), 61 Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AB, United KingdomView Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '96: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsApril 1996 Pages 19–26https://doi.org/10.1145/238386.238394Published:13 April 1996Publication History 97citation2,450DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations97Total Downloads2,450Last 12 Months98Last 6 weeks14 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteView all FormatsPDF