Overview
- Provides a much needed overview of the field
- Draws heavily on the authors’ practical experience, providing lessons learnt
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Ethnography, Fieldwork, and Design: Preliminary Remarks
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Theoretical and Analytic Issues
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Front Matter
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Methods for Social Investigation: Practical Issues
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Front Matter
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Analytic Issues: What Have We Got?
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book looks at why ethnographic approaches have been turned to in the design of computing devices for the workplace, for the home and elsewhere. It presents a history of ethnography, both as it was practiced before computer science picked it up and since, most especially in the CSCW and HCI domains. It examines, further, the various ethnographic or ‘fieldwork’ frameworks currently popular, explaining and examining what each claims and entails. The focus of the book throughout is on the practical relationship between theory and practice, a relationship that is often misunderstood yet fundamental to successful design.
The book is illustrated with real examples from the authors’ various experiences in academic and commercial settings, reporting on the use of ethnography before, during and after design innovation and implementation. The result is a book that provides the working knowledge necessary for using any kind of ethnographic approach in the design of computer technologies.
Reviews
"As an HCI researcher and practitioner, I am delighted to see, at last, a balanced view about the practice of ethnography within our field. This book presents an informative balance between the theory and practice of fieldwork methods, allowing researchers to conduct trials with confidence and understand the scope of the results that can be gained from these trials.
At last, some of the most per-eminent people in their field show computer scientists and HCI researchers that it is valid to use ethnographic techniques without doing "proper" Sociology and Anthropology."
Professor Gary Marsden, professor of HCI, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Fieldwork for Design
Book Subtitle: Theory and Practice
Authors: Dave Randall, Richard Harper, Mark Rouncefield
Series Title: Computer Supported Cooperative Work
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-768-8
Publisher: Springer London
eBook Packages: Computer Science, Computer Science (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag London 2007
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-84628-767-1Published: 24 April 2007
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-84996-647-4Published: 21 October 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84628-768-8Published: 24 April 2007
Series ISSN: 1431-1496
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 331