Critical Design Ethnography: Designing for Change

Abstract

This article describes critical design ethnography, an ethnographic process involving participatory design work aimed at transforming a local context while producing an instructional design that can be used in multiple contexts. Here, we reflect on the opportunities and challenges that emerged as we built local critiques then reified them into a designed artifact that has been implemented in classrooms all over the world.

Contextualization in Perspective

“…For example, Barab et al (in press) has found that students learn to apply scientific methodology better using avatars in a fully immersed virtual world (the Quest Atlantis project: Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Squire, & Newell, 2004;Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Carteaux, & Tuzun, 2005) than in the context of a third-person story problem clicking through hyperlinks. Skilled understanding requires actions to transfer across contexts and active perspectives may be a necessary part of skill acquisition.…”

Designing an information system for updating land records in Bangladesh: Action design ethnographic research (ADER)

“…Further, participant observation, intervention and engagement as a whole involves ethnographic 'live experience' of behavior, attitudes, practices, roles of actors and how they help to design change supported by local transformation (Barab et al 2004). Applying the insider view, therefore, enhances the mutually influential role between researcher's knowledge and the actors' practices.…”

“…emic view (insider) and etic view (outsider) (Geertz 1983). Further, ethnographic research can provide a deeper understanding in IS research (Walsham 1995) and shows complementarities with interpretive, applied and interventional research e.g., action research (Davison et al 2004;Nilsson 2000;Baskerville 1999a), design research (Gregor and Hevner 2013;Barab et al 2004;Hevner et al 2004) and action design research (Sein et al 2011).…”

Ethnography: An Introduction to Definition and Method

“…Barbour (2007) in the context of training people for school leadership, also says there is a need for ethnographers to study the uses and abuses of power in any organisation, and goes on to evaluate the use of ethnographic narrative in order to understand the issues involved in observing a cultural group, and in aligning with the members of the group. Barab, et al (2004) describes the process of empowering people in the context of implementing a programme to facilitate learning at a local Boys and Girls club. Whilst the authors' focus was to train people to use the programme, it required the tools of ethnography for them to understand and respond to the culture of the clubs.…”

“…They immersed themselves in the clubs, building relationships with the children as well as the staff. They sought to respond to the people's needs and to empower them by developing their knowledge and critical awareness, but with this came a responsibility to understand the social context and give voice to the people concerned (Barab et al, 2004).…”