Butterfly Minded

This week in DIR we critiqued the list of research proposals we had come up with by putting them through a framework. The point Tom made about the sheets being a form of knowledge management was useful. As he said, a mind map can be a good way of brainstorming, but is less useful at recording the ideas. A week later the data might not still make sense. Even if filling in the sheets can be tedious at times.

Our group went through the sheets and seemed to gravitate towards the community swap shop idea. Although some of the other ideas that might be just as good are rejected, Tom said that these can be put away in a box of "future projects". This could be useful for me as I often find that during a project I come across other really interesting subjects, and I have to refrain from going off on a tangent. Catriona described this likely trait in ethnographers as being "butterfly minded". I suppose it's my habitually curious nature that led me to study design ethnography in the first place.

I'm still not sure if it's a strength or weakness yet. I like the fact that I am inquisitive and try to learn about everything, and when researching a subject I look around for all the connections and related material. However sometimes I feel it might prevent me from understanding a specific subject in any depth, and at other times it will lead me away from the route I should be following.

Project sketching

This week in DIR we have been working on our project platforms, and mapping out some project sketches for possible ideas. 

On Tuesday Tom Inns had given an overview of the research study journey. Similarly to others he mentioned the need to know the network around, and what else is going on in your field. I feel this is really relevant to what we are doing in design ethnography as we are currently trying to build up a network in relation to our projects. I'm trying to include a variety of sources including people that I may use as contacts, various literature materials, companies that I have looked and what they are doing that relates. I'm hoping to map out the connections between them all as well, so I'm playing around with a few ideas about how to do this at the moment.

The project in DIR revolves around the theme of Connected Communities, and we have come up with a few ideas for a research proposal. I think the section that I am most interested in is how to engage the community itself within the process. I'm keen to look into methods such as participatory design and workshops which use the community to help generate ideas and give them a sense of ownership in regards to the final outcome.

Kitchen Stories

I watched Kitchen Stories last night, a subtly humorous Swedish film that plays on the idea of observational research being done by a impartial scientist. Although slightly surreal, the film actually made me think about some interesting points. There was a scene where the observer and subject are in a discussion about their situation where one of them says "How can you understand someone else just by watching them? You need to communicate..." which made me think a bit about selecting when it is right to observe, and when you need to speak to people to find out required information. Another similar point it illustrates is that it is almost impossible to impartially observe people, as just you being there will have an effect on their actions in some way.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Found this short clip from William H. Whyte's "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces". It's has some really interesting observations of human behaviour, but sadly this is the only clip available. Chris said that the book of the same title is definitely worth a read as well.

Case Studies: Nesta

Yesterday we received talks from Brian Carlin on his Resqroll, and Mel Woods on her company ambaba. They had both received assistance from Nesta, however I noticed that they both seemed more appreciative of the networking and exposure they received in comparison to the actual funding, although I'm pretty sure they appreciated the cash as well as they had both sacrificed their own money for their relative ideas. I thought about the stress which must be involved when you have to keep supporting your ideas with your own money. I always feel sorry for the people in Dragon's Den who have poured their life savings, various bank loans and borrowings into their product, which they believe in relentlessly, only for it to get shot down by Duncan Bannatyne.

Whilst Brian was talking I though about the notion of myself being an entrepreneur. I suppose wherever I am I will have to either sell myself, bringing back the question of trust, or sell my ideas. It's about convincing everyone else what I will already be convinced about, as Brian had had to do with the Resqroll. 

Going back to the point about networking, another thing which I picked up whilst Brian was talking was the importance of being selective with who you get to back you. If you need to convince someone about something, then there's nothing better than getting an expert to put weight behind your argument. Although I kept thinking through Brian's talk that it must be pretty difficult to argue with something which saves lives! 

The last thing I took from both of them was the fact that you have to find the motivation to keep you going. For Brian it was the fact that he knew his product could make a difference, and meeting people in the spinal fractures unit would put him back on track if he wavered. 

A day in the life of a mobile phone

Over the last week or so we have been working on a mini project where we have had to develop an account of a day in the life of a mobile phone. As I would be away for a large proportion of the project I really had to manage the project to a fairly strict time schedule.

I decided to attempt a cultural probe, where I gave two participants a notebook and pen and asked them to record their mobile phone usage. I also conducted some observations, primarily in pubic spaces. I also set the research aims, although on reflection I maybe didn't specify these well enough and they could have been more precise.

Once I had collected all the data I used a grounded theory approach to analyse the data, where I went through the information and picked out various concepts. I then grouped these into categories, which I gave titles, and then based my ideas on them. 

For my poster I presented the outcomes through the following narrative account from the perspective of a phone. It was interesting to try and write this way, as usually I would illustrate it through a different means, and I'm not too sure how successful it is. 

This morning I started the day with my alarm. My owner silenced me several times before getting up. I’ve been on all night incase someone wants to get in contact. The first thing my owner does is send a text message to their partner to say good morning. Later they look at my clock and realise how late they are for work. Quickly they put me into my pouch to protect me, and then into their bag for the journey. Once on the train they take me out and check through the messages. They realise they haven't replied to a friend and send an apology. They agree to meet later this evening. They then plug in some earphones and listen to my music for the rest of the journey. At the 11am meeting at work they realise they forgot to put me on silent. Slight embarrassment as their mum phones and the ringtone is loud. During the meeting they text their mum to say they will phone back later. At lunchtime they show a work colleague one of the photos in my albums. It will probably never be seen again. They phone their mum and realise the call was about a trivial matter. They don't reply to the message from their partner, they are annoyed about something. I sit in their bag the rest of the afternoon, they are unaware of the messages I receive. I will let them know the next time they pick me up. It's time to leave work and my owner looks at me and realises the missed correspondences. They get back in touch with them all on the train ride home. I spend the rest of the evening in their pocket. They go out to meet friends. They use me at various times to find out where other people are. On the walk home they check their pocket to make sure I'm there. The alleyway is dark and they're glad I'm there in case anything happens. I do know a taxi number but they don't use it tonight. Back at home they phone their partner. They're no longer annoyed. They say goodnight, and I go back on charge.

Case Studies: Scottish Arts Council

This afternoon we discussed how we were reflecting in our journals. It was suggested that we try writing about today in the form of writing a letter to someone, so here goes...

Dear blog, today we listened to both Sara Keith and Sarah Kettley talk about getting funding, mainly for research. They appeared to me to be from similar backgrounds i.e. art and craft. The first thing that struck me was that I don't think I consider design to be a craft for some reason. I've always associated craft more with "making things", which makes me thing of a person who uses their creativity and skill to produce something by hand. I suppose because I've not thought too deeply about going to do further research and so I've not really thought about where I would go if I did need funding. I suppose for my interests I would look in to more computing, design, and now anthropological/sociological areas, however more and more I am seeing projects that come from all sorts of areas that use "design thinking" to solve problems.

I think the most interesting ideas that I took from these two talks were the idea of building trust with people, which Hazel highlighted, and professionalism. These two notions also go hand in hand, and as I seek a career in industry it will be important to be both professional and able to build trust with a variety of people. I see building trust as important with everyone I will deal with, from the people I will work alongside to the people that may be part of a study.

Another thing I thought about, when Sarah Kettley was talking about research questions, was the importance of defining these. This year in my 3rd semester project it will be crucial to make sure these are well shaped, but also adaptable as the project may alter over time.