Author(s):

Brooke, Tim; Burrell, Jenna

Title:

From Ethnography to Design in a Vineyard

Publication:

Proceedings from the 2003 Conference on Designing for User Experiences

Keywords:

anthropology; attention; conceptual models; ethnographic study; impact and side effects; interview; iterative design process; low-fidelity prototypes; naturalistic observation; participatory design process; qualitative research methods; self-reporting; sensing systems; social sciences; user-centered design

Paper Summary:

This paper describes an ethnographic approach to developing a ubiquitous computing system for use in a vineyard. The process was divided into four phases over the course of eleven months, including: research, concept development, prototype development, and assessment.

Over in the first six months, the project team interviewed individuals in the wine industry. The interviews were also supplemented with participant observation during the harvest and grape crush. Concept and prototype development began as soon as the interview process began and emerged throughout the process. The assessment phase consisted mostly of informal feedback from agricultural researchers and vineyard managers, in response to presentations, demonstrations and prototypes.

Based on this process, the author developed general design guidelines that they believe can be translated to the design of other ubiquitous applications. These guidelines include: design for multiple perspectives on data, design for multiple access points, and design for varying levels of attention.

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