Comm4400 A4 Essay Samples

Question 1

What would be the goals of your ethnographic study and of the cultural probe?
The ethnographic study of the university environment shall reveal and analyze the current relationship between the administrative employees and the academic employees (Salvador et al, 36). Cultural probe shall serve the purpose of generating ways to implement strategies to curb the current implicit situation, where the administrative and academic employees have no clear cut out understanding of their positions (Boehner et al, 1077 ). Both the ethnographic study and cultural probe are important in getting information related to the university activities and the way in which things are conducted in the university to.

Question 2

  Focus shall be made on duties of the academic and administrative employees who will serve as the key informants at times too in the research (Millen, 281). Interpretation of the data collect shall be keenly done as part of design. Governance is the key context in the scope of the research within the university. Rapid assessment research will be applied to enhance time management to avoid taking long in research to come up with a strategy. Multitasking shall help assess both parties at the same time separately. Interactive observations, various staff members shall be observed by different researchers at the same time for a variety of information to be collected to ensure most areas are covered. Activity walk trough is another applicable technique within interactive observation where employee day to day duties are observed. Collaborative data analysis shall be used where computer aided data analysis shall be incorporated into the research by assessing university computerized system by analyzing hierarchies of data access and authority to alter. Other online platform sources such as student suggestion within the database can be assessed (Millen, 283).

Question 3

Data collection, cultural probe shall enhance resolution as a source of information to aid decision-making. It creates a better understanding of the context for our case the university where conflicting parties are evident, academic and administrative employees. Participatory, cultural probes play a major role in translating probe feedback into design ideas (Boehner et al, 1079 ). With the participatory aspect, the conflicting parties are given a chance for explanation of their practices. Misunderstanding of employee’s duties and responsibility can be resolved via their participatory. Sensibility, use of contextual interviews to come up with design guidelines to support intimacy by technology (Boehner et al, 1080 ). Cultural inspiration can provide a guide to working within the university to do away with the implicitness displayed. Cultural probe is implied as a jump off point to develop a different methodology that is applicable and capable of sorting the situation evident.

Question 4

Both ethnography and cultural probes serve as sources of information in various fields of research and can be trusted due to the techniques involved in both of them (Boehner et al, 1079). Both can entail time saving aspects within their techniques though at some point time management can be a challenge due to the field of research (Millen, 282), for our case both techniques are time effective as the area of research is specific and clear. Cultural probe requires much attention and involvement of the participant while ethnography entails much of observation of the researcher to reveal the various aspects of research. Cultural probe is more materialist as compared to ethnography where observation in the key feature of research.

Works cited

David R. Millen, “Rapid Ethnography: Time Deepening Strategies for HCI Field Research”
Kirsten Boehner, Janet Vertesi, Phoebe Sengers, Paul Dourish. “How HCI Interprets the Probes” CHI 2007 Proceedings • Designing for Specific Cultures, 2007.
Tony Salvador, Genevieve Bell, Ken Anderson, Design, “Design Ethnography” DESIGN MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL. 10, NO. 4, 1999.