We’ve looked at how anthropologists adopt designerly methods. This week we’ll examine how designers have historically employed, and continue to use, ethnographic methods. I encourage us to apply an anthropological lens in thinking about how these designers understand ethnography and its potential values for their practice, and to consider the ethical and political implications of these understandings and applications. We’ll also look at a few examples of various practices that are anthropologically-informed, even if the influence isn’t always made explicit. We can ask: what might a deeper engagement with ethnography contribute to these practices?
🚨🚨 We’ll meet virtually this week to accommodate our external guest! 🚨🚨
TODAY’S AGENDA:
- Guests, 6-7pm: ROSTEN WOO, Artist / Designer / Writer / Educator; Co-Founder, Center for Urban Pedagogy; DHARA SHAH, Learning and Engagement Manager, Creative Reaction Lab
- Full-Class Recap + Reading Discussion
Small Group Activity:methods toolkit audit- Our Collaborative Notes
TO PREPARE FOR THIS WEEK:
- Alison J. Clarke, “Victor Papanek: Design, Ecology, and Global Activism,” Rhode Island School of Design, October 4, 2018 < video: 5:45 to 1:11:58 > [more on Clarke].
- Nicolas Nova, ed., Beyond Design Ethnography: How Designers Practice Ethnographic Research (Geneva: HEAD, 2015): focus on 29-42 [and skim any other segments that interest you!].
- Saanya Goyal Jain, “Anthro-Washing,” The Baffler (August 9, 2021).
- Skim through Rosen Woo, Meredith TenHoor, and Damon Rich, eds., Street Value: Shopping, Planning, and Politics at Fulton Mall (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010); and explore Rosten’s website and the Center for Urban Pedagogy’s website.
- Peruse Creative Reaction Lab’s website.
- Check out the resources – professional networks, design firms, anthropologist-led consultancies – in my “Applied (Design) Anthropology” Arena channel and the AnthroDesign Job Resources channel.
- Post a response to our slide deck if you’ve signed up to do so.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
- AIGA / Cheskin, “An Ethnography Primer” (n.d.).
- R.J. Anderson, “Representations and Requirements: The Value of Ethnography in System Design,” Human-Computer Interaction 9:2 (1994).
- “Anthro/Design Job Resources” Arena Collection.
- *Atelier Bow-Wow, Architectural Ethnography (MIT Press, 2017).
- Genevieve Bell: all of her work.
- *Alison J. Clarke, “Design for Development, ICSID and UNIDO: The Anthropological Turn in 1970s Design,” Journal of Design History 29:1 (2015): 43-57.
- Galen Cranz, Ethnography for Designers (Routledge, 2016).
- *Designing Justice + Designing Spaces Toolkit.
- Annemarie Dorland, “Tell Me Why You Did That: Learning ‘Ethnography’ from the Design Studio,” EPIC (2016): 135-53.
- Melissa Gregg’s work at Intel.
- Aimi Hamriae, Building Access: Building Access: Universal Design and the Politics of Disability (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) + their Critical Design Lab.
- Natalie Hanson, “Carving a Niche Between Software and Social Science: Anthropology in Industry with Natalie Hanson,” This Anthro Life (January 31, 2018) <podcast: 1:02:04>.
- *Jenifer Marley, MaryEllen Nobe, Caroline M. Clevenger, and James H. Banning, “Participatory Post-Occupancy Evaluation (PPOE): A Method to Include Students in Evaluating Health-Promoting Attributes of a Green School,” Children, Youth and Environments 25:1 (2015): 4-28.
- PARC, “Ethnography and the PARC Copier” (1983) <video>.
- Bryce Peake, “Decolonizing Design Anthropology with Tinn,” Platypus: The CASTAC Blog (April 21, 2015).
- Charles Pearson, “Ethnography = Better Design,” Dear Design Student (December 13, 2015).
- Sascha Roesler, “A Global History of Architectural Ethnography” / Weltkonstruktion. Der aussereuropäische Hausbau und die moderne Architektur – ein Wissensinventar (Verlag, 2013).
- Lucy Suchman, “Anthropological Relocations and the Limits of Design,” Annual Review of Anthropology 40 (2011): 1-18 [more on Suchman].
- Ian H. Smith, “Design Anthropologists: An Emerging Group of Design Thinkers Focused on Innovation,” Being Guided (April 12, 2018).
- Susan Leigh Star, “Infrastructure and Ethnographic Practice: Working on the Fringes,” Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 14:2 (2002): 107-22.
- Marie Stender, “Towards an Architectural Anthropology – What Architects Can Learn from Anthropology and Vice Versa,” Architectural Theory Review 21 (2017): 27-43.
- Lucy Suchman, “Anthropological Relocations and the Limits of Design,” Annual Review of Anthropology 40 (2011): 1-18 [more on Suchman].
- Lucy A. Suchman, Plans and Situated Actions; The Problems of Human-Machine Communication (Cambridge University Press, 1987).
- Tricia Wang, “The Most Popular Design Thinking Strategy is BS,” Fast Company (June 28, 2021).
- Christina Wasson, “Ethnography in the Field of Design,” Human Organization 59:4 (2000): min 377–88.
On Participation / Participatory Design / Community Engagement:
- There are countless resources on this topic. Here are just a few:
- George Aye, Christine Gaspar, Mari Nakani, and Liz Ogbu, “What Is Community Engaged Design During – and After – COVID,” Center for Urban Pedagogy, July 22, 2020 < video: 1:46:07 > [what role does, or could/should, ethnography play in “community engagement”?].
- Christopher Kelty, The Participant: A Century of Participation in Four Stories (University of Chicago Press, 2019).
- Bryan Lee, architect; Sue Mobley, anthropologist / political scientist), “Design as Protest,” Architectural League of New York, May 7, 2019 < video: 6:20 to 1:01:10 > [how does, or might, ethnography inform Colloqate’s work?].
- Shannon Mattern, “Post-It Note City,” Places Journal (February 2020).