We examine how micro-phenomenology, a qualitative research method developed to attend to, articulate, and analyse lived experience in fine detail, can be employed to study the experience of using digital systems. Micro-phenomenological interviews unpack the specific experiences of interviewees in fine-grained detail and have previously been acknowledged as a potent tool for Human-Computer Interaction Research. More recently, the method has been extended to comprise a structured analysis method to systematically analyse the temporal unfolding and qualitative dimensions of experiences captured by the interviews. This is the first paper demonstrating the combined use of interviews and analysis via a case in which they were employed to examine the experience of using WeUsedTo, a website for sharing experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On this basis, we discuss the potentials of the method for eliciting and understanding experiential aspects of interactive systems, particularly pertaining to embodiment, temporality, attention, agency, and the systemic nature of experience.

A growing number of scholars are exploring ideas ‘in the wild’ and across different timescales through qualitative research, and especially ethnography. Previous controlled and lab-based studies have formalized techniques to encourage idea development and outlined measurements to rate the success of produced ideas based on quantity, quality, novelty, and variety. Qualitative ’in the wild’ research aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding the evolution of ideas, how prior ideas shape new ones, and what other factors impact ideas and their development within a professional setting. However, these studies have been hindered due to difficulty around knowing how to ’do’ ethnography and to interpret findings through a theoretical lens via ethnographic analysis and writing in creativity studies, HCI, and Design. This paper provides an in-depth discussion of an ethnographic analysis and writing process from a year-long fieldstudy with designers at a large Danish library. In doing so, it also contributes a better understanding of how to do ethnography on ideas to promote a betterment of the scholarship on ideas, designing, and creativity in the field of creativity studies, HCI, and design.