better understand how the social forces of digitalization and globalization influenced people's behaviors
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- Key Question
  posted by forestfortrees on 2008-06-09
to answer the question of design "success" requires that they answer that question of how the processes and artifacts of design help define what it means to be human. This "humanness" can range from how humans control the environment through tools (homo faber); how high-heeled shoes affect natural ways of walking; to moral issues of how participation in the design process empowers marginalized communities. In this space, the practice and theory of design anthropology has emerged.
standard card sorting exercise, but I also did research into how humans classify information
The focus of design anthropology is on connecting the process of design to the meanings and functions designed artifacts have for people.
Design anthropology does not place separate emphasis on values, or design, or experience, which are the domains of philosophy, academic design research, and psychology, respectively. Rather, design anthropology focuses on the interconnecting threads among all three, requiring hybrid practices. The outcomes of design anthropology include statements providing some deeper understanding of human nature as well as designed communications, products, and experiences.
One of their main insights was that Chinese parents viewed the computer as a distraction from their children learning Mandarin for school, which was an answer to the nurture question. But also, as part of their design process, Intel would have tested how adults and children interact with the hard and software features of the PC. The result was a physical lock-and-key mechanism that, from across the room, could alert Chinese parents to when the PC was being used in an "open mode," which allowed for surfing the web of playing games, versus in an "education mode," which restricted their child to schoolwork.
How do designed communications, artifacts, and experiences spread, change, or grow over time? The evolution problem requires longitudinal approaches that explore the relationships among artifacts, time, and place. Methodologically, these can take the form of multi-year studies within a region and/or the creation of image databases that can be re-mined over time.
early discovery and later design phases were structured to contribute general statements about how design translates values of democracy, transparency, accountability, and efficiency into tangible experiences. Something as simple as providing graphical illustrations to explain the voting method on a ballot can make someone with low literacy feel like the government is being more transparent about the process, which increases his or her voting confidence.
four problem areas of anthropology:
1. The nature-nurture problem (ex. Is it biology or environment that causes humans to respond to something in a particular way?)
2. The evolution problem (ex. How do things expand and change over time?)
3. The internal-external problem (ex. What are the ways in which behaviors are influenced by values or environmental conditions?)
4. The social facts or emergent properties problem (ex. How are people influenced by social forces that emerge from the interaction of humans, but which transcend individuals?)
The emergent properties problem frames the majority of design anthropology projects, because it tends to lead product and service innovations.
So the approach of "living with people" and observing, interviewing, participating in activities, and giving them prototypes to play with might provide some insight into new ways in which people are relating to artifacts and to each other.
act[s] as an emissary for people like the barber or the shoe-shop owner's wife, enlightening the company through written reports and PowerPoint presentations on how they live and what they're likely to need from a cellphone, allowing that to inform its design.
The outcomes of design anthropology include statements providing some deeper understanding of human nature as well as designed communications, products, and experiences.