Cover Page
Title of submission: Self-Awareness as a Resource for Design: Overcoming I-methodology in the design of household
cleaning products
Category of submission: Design Case Study
Susan P. Wyche, Georgia Institute of Technology, Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center, TSRB 85th 5th Street NW., Atlanta, GA
303332, USA, fax:+1 404.894.0673 , phone: +1 404.558.9821, spwyche@cc.gatech.edu
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Self-Awareness as a Resource for Design:
Overcoming I-methodology in the design of
household cleaning products
Susan P. Wyche
Georgia Institute of Technology
College of Computing
Graphics, Visualization, and
Usability Center
TSRB 85th 5th Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30332
spwyche@cc.gatech.edu
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Abstract
-maybe don’t say anything about time, compared to the
amount of time anthopologist spend
Too often designers are unaware of how their ways of
doing things differ from users. “I-methodology” or
when we design for ourselves rather than today’s
diverse population is an obstacle to user-centered
design. In this paper I outline a process that is
grounded in increasing designers’ self-awareness and in
turn . . .more empathetic towards users unlike
themselves. a user population that differs from them.
To do this I suggest
. . .and suggest that when designers becomes aware of
their cultural self this provides an additional resource
upon which to draw and influence design.
By recognizing how your ways of doing things differ
from users, the historical themes embedded in
technology and by immersing yourself into users dayto-day experience, i-methodology’s impact can be
limited and new spaces for design will open.
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Designing household cleaning products for older adults
(65+ years old) is used as a lens to illustrate the
process and a collection of speculative designs that
contradict typical ideas embodies in housewares
products are presented.
Keywords
Concept Design, Elders, Ethnography, Home,
Interdisciplinary Design, User-Centered Design /
Human-Centered Design
Project/problem statement
I am a 28-year old, female, able-bodied, industrial
designer working towards a PhD. in Human-Centered
Computing. I prefer to avoid housework as much as
possible, but when I do clean, I use the brands,
products, and techniques my mother used.
A wide-range of users’ experiences would be neglected
if I designed house cleaning products based on myself.
Design carries with it a responsibility to develop
technologies that enhance people’s everyday lives. If
we are to configure a notion of user that is broader
than the design profession, increased self-awareness
must be a standard part of the design process.
I-methodology, or designers seeing themselves as
representative of users, is a barrier to user-centered
design. Sociologist, Madeleine Akrich (cite) coined the
term and describes it as the “reliance on personal
experience, whereby the designer replaces his
professional hat by that of the layman.” The designer is
often unaware that he or she is using him-or herself as
a model for all users. To break out of this trap we must
become more conscious of the metaphors that influence
our work, the historical themes embedded in technology’s
development, and continue to observe users day-to-day
lives.
The project’s goal was to understand aging’s impact on
housework. The project was motivated by: 1) older
adults desire to “age in place” instead of a nursing
home or assisted living facility. If this is to happen
elders must be able to perform mundane household
tasks. 2) Despite increased attention towards design for
the home, research examining housework remains
scarce. The project resulted in a user-centered design
process grounded increased my self-awareness and a
collection of innovative household cleaning products.
My approach is compatible in spirit and philosophy with
Batya Friedman’s value-centered design (cite), and
Phoebe Senger’s s critical technical practice (cite) in
that both call for increased reflection among designers
on their practices. My process differs because its results
in new product concepts rather than computational
programs and devices.
Background
I was the project’s primary researcher and designer.
Throughout the study, I was advised by faculty from
Cornell University’s Design and Environmental Analysis,
Science and Technology Studies, Information Science
and Anthropology departments.
The thesis project was done as a requirement for an MS
degree in Human-Environment Relations, in Cornell’s
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Design and Environmental Analysis Department. S.C.
Johnson and Co. funded the study through a grant.
Fieldwork began in February 2003 and ended four
months later. Data analysis and concept generation
occurred during summer 2003 in collaboration with S.C.
Johnson’s Consumer and Products Insights Department
in Racine, Wisconsin, USA.
Challenge
Recognizing one’s self, or the biases, assumptions, and
stereotypes inherit in who you are, is a fundamental
step anthropologists take before entering the field.
They understand that in order to theorize about other
peoples’ behavior, they must be conscious of their own.
Despite the increased use of anthropological research
methods (i.e. ethnography) in the design process,
critical reflection on how designers consciously or
unconsciously map their values onto their work is
missing.
However, increased attention towards aging and design
suggests that there is growing recognition of Imethodology’s impact on product development process.
Designers are typically between the ages of 22 and 45years old (cite IDSA) making it difficult for them to fully
empathize with the physical, cognitive and experiential
changes that accompany growing older. We have
designed products that are biased towards the age
group represented by designers, thus neglecting an
increasingly older population.
Additionally, female designers have drawn attention to
I-methodology’s effect. They argue that women’s under
representation in the field, results in products that do
not routinely mesh with what they find appropriate,
comfortable, and appealing. (cite Perkins)
A possible obstacle to increased self-awareness in the
design process is the limited time designers have to
bring a product to market. In contrast to academic
ethnography, where anthropologists devote years to
fieldwork, in a business context ethnographically
inspired research must take place in a constrained time
period. Empathy tools, such as clouded glasses and
weighted gloves have provided designers with a way to
quickly gain insight into the physical changes that come
with encroaching age (cite IDEO). However, elders
relates to products in ways that transcend their
usability (cite Forlizzi). Thus, to design effective
experiences we must continue to design for cognitive
and physical, but also tap into the experiential changes
to inform design. To become more sensitive to users’
experience designers must become more aware of their
own.
The concept of “self-awareness” has received
considerable attention from psychoanalysists,
philosophers, and learning science researchers. Though
its definition is complex and open to debate, I define it
as increasing designers’ ability to perceive their
assumptions, behaviors, and to better understand the
metaphors that shape their work. Similar to how
anthropologists reflect on who they are before entering
and while in the field I propose the same for designers
and outline an approach appropriate for the time
demands found in business contexts.
Solution
Process
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This process was guided by becoming conscious of how
I cleaned my home, the historical themes embedded in
domestic technology’s development, and of aging’s
effects on everyday experiences.
Ethnographically inspired research techniques such as
“design ethnography” (cite) and “cultural probes” (cite)
influenced my approach. These methods are wellsuited for understanding the broad patterns of
everyday life that are important and relevant for the
conception of new products. These techniques
acknowledge the need for flexibility, reflection and
subjectivity’s role in design, things not typically
recognized in more rigid design processes.
I outline a set of data collection techniques that can be
used effectively and efficiently to uncover aging’s
effects on housework for the purpose of design and to
learn more about one’s self. The techniques are
tailored for the project’s goal and resulted in a
collection of speculative design concepts. The research
processes four, overlapping stages are: “Guerilla
Research,” Historical Analysis, In-home Observation
and context appropriate research tools.
often did I mop my floor? Why did I store cleaning
supplies underneath the kitchen sink? Do others buy
the least expensive products or do they remain loyal to
a particular brand? These questions lead me to the
housewares aisle at local grocery stores and “big-box”
retailers. By posing as a shopper, taking pictures and
jotting down notes, I familiarized myself with the
various brands, performance standards,
manufacturers, and dispensing mechanisms available.
I began to “learn the language” associated with
cleaning products. Knowing that personal preferences
represented merely a fraction of what is available.
Following a week of “hanging around” in stores I
bought unfamiliar products and incorporated them into
my cleaning routine. I had never used the new Swiffer
Sweeper or the popular “wipe” products, well liked
among consumers. Trying these allowed me to
appreciate users’ experiences with cleaning supplies
that differed from the ones to which I was accustomed.
I extended this idea by ordering various foreign
cleaning products.
Guerilla research is an informal, situated, and
opportunistic way to learn as much as possible about a
topic in a limited amount of time. Creativity and
resourcefulness are essential to this rapid process.
During the project’s first month I took advantage of,
and created, opportunities to absorb information about
and related to housework and aging.
My knowledge about housework has been shaped by
living in the United States. I wanted to sensitize myself
to how this shaped the products I used and familiarize
myself with options available abroad. I learned that
rather than the floral scents popular in this country
lavender scented cleaning solutions were most common
in Central and South America. European products were
rarely sold in the “super sized” portions I was so
accustomed to seeing. The opening mechanisms used
on Dutch products were often easier to open than the
ones on their US counterparts.
I started by reflecting on my cleaning experiences. How
In addition to focusing on my personal cleaning habits,
“Guerilla Research”
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I delved into others. Informal interviews with anybody
willing and interested to talk about housework and
aging were useful. Asking friends and family how often
they scrubbed the mildew in their shower, what did
they most dislike about cleaning the toilet, and if they
were as excited about the Swiffer floor mop as
everyone else,1 elicited enlightening anecdotes that
informed my perspective and helped me continue to
sensitize myself to the variety of housework
experiences.
It was important to bridge the generational gap that
existed between me and older adults. Spending time in
local restaurants frequented by elders, visiting aging
relatives, and conducting expert interviews with
gerontologists in Cornell’s Human Development
Department provided additional insight into how older
adults’ day-to-day lives differed from mine. People in
there 70’s and 80’s typically ate dinner much earlier in
the evening than I did, they discussed how their
attitudes towards cleaning changed as their children
grew up and left the house, and that housework was
something they like to do once a week unlike me who
performed it whenever I had a spare moment.
“Shadowing” my 91-year old grandfather as he walked
through Wal-Mart made me aware of how is shopping
experience differed from mine. I asked him if I could
tag along while he went shopping for cleaning products.
Unlike my grandfather, I rarely felt frustrated or tired
by the retailers’ enormous space and the myriad of
product. However, my grandfather found the options
bewildering, as evidenced by him asking, “You go to
buy these products today your Windex, your bleach,
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your detergent, anything, they’ve got this added,
they’ve got that added, they have perfume added,
which one do I want?”
If something was not directly related to housework I
made it. Wanting to broaden my design horizon I found
connections between my topic and seemingly unrelated
events to create space for new ideas. While visiting a
friend in Tennessee I took a trip to Elvis’ Graceland, in
Memphis, and informally interviewed the museum staff
about housework. Imagining how the shag carpet in
the Jungle Room was vacuumed or thinking about how
difficult it would be dust all those framed gold records
and wondering did Elvis ever do the dishes, encouraged
wild ideas that were separated from my perceptions of
housework.
Guerilla research requires designers to take in the
world through the lens of their subject. It is a fast and
affective way to increase awareness about assumptions
they bring to their work and to broaden their
understanding of users. Though not everything I did
during this stage translated into a new product, the
experience subtlety shaped the process and results.
Historical Analysis
I begun to understand housework today but was
curious to know what is was like before I lived. The
cultural and historical themes that shaped elder’s
lifetime effect how designers conceive of products.
Incorporating Historical awareness into the design
process enables us to consciously choose which
themes bear repeating, and which we should resist in
our designs (cite Sengers).
Type “I love my Swiffer” into Google to understand.
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I took advantage of Cornell Libraries’ vast home
economics archives2 and delved into housework’s rich
history. I browsed hundreds of Ladies’ Home Journal
and Good Housekeeping magazines, and read
prominent texts in the field including Ruth Schwartz
Cowan’s More Work for Mother and Never Done: A
History of American Housework by Susan Strasser.
Three themes emerged as important to understanding
the last 100 years of housework’s history in the US 1)
housework as “women’s work” 2) the “labor saving”
debate and 3) loss of sensual emotional qualities.
The drawbacks of assuming that housework is
“women’s work” are well documented. Despite
household upkeep becoming an increasingly shared
activity cleaning products are overwhelmingly targeted
towards women and during their design the user is
almost always configured as female. Arguably,
perpetuates the stereotypical notion that a woman’s
place is in the home. Moreover as women continue to
enter the paid work force they often should the “double
burden” of balancing a career with maintaining a home.
. . . .make it necsessaru to configure a user not
embedded in the apst but intone with social changes.
Another assumption related to housework is that new
products and technology’s make housework more
efficient, but research suggests that this is not the
case (cite Vanek). While, new technologies are often
proposed as labor saving their actual impact is quite
different. For example, vacuums, automatic washing
machines, and dishwashers, created higher standards
which woman had to work harder to achieve thus
costing rather than saving time. For example,
Indeed, in the domestic economy of labor saving
devices, work saved on one task was often diverted to
another.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:DIzD2KIDzUk
J:xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/r_uth.html+labor+savin
g+women+laundry+standards&hl=en
Finally, as technology increasingly makes its way into
our domestic lives some, of the emotional and sensual
qualities that made up our everyday experiences were
lost. During the past century, housework became an
isolating event. Families no longer devote an entire day
to cleaning their homes. Instead, it has typically
become one person’s responsibility and is performed
when there is a spare minute or in preparation for
guests visiting. Before washers and dryers existed,
laundering took place outdoors where women would
interact with neighbors, converse, and exchange
gossip. Today, clothes washing is confined to a laundry
room or basement. Indeed, technology removed much
of the drudgery associated with housework, but if
efficiency remains the driving force behind its
conception we risk losing the qualities that make
experiences most human.
Design unconsciously replicates historical themes in
their work (cite Sengers). Historical awareness,
whether it be conducting a literature reviews or flipping
through old magazines, increases self-awareness by
demonstrating . . .
becoming conscious of how the way we think about
housework is embedded in the past will
In-home observation
2
For more information see: http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/
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In context interviews and observation were the
appropriate next step. I needed to dig deeper insights
into elders’ desires, beliefs, habits, and motivations for
cleaning. Anthropologists spend months looking for
informant, building rapport, and developing social
intimacy while in the field. That was not a luxury
during my abbreviated ethnography.
To quickly recruit . . .relied on various recruiting
techniques (i.e. snowballing . .. ), and chance. Except
for the few 70-plus professors in my department my
interactions with older adults were few. To find
participant I looked took advantage of opportunities
immediately available to me. Most people were
recrtuited by asing friends and acquaintances if I could
interview their parents or grandparents. I also . .
.shared connection wheterh it be through attendinf
school, member of a sororoity o searched through my
undergraduate university’s alumni directory, talke and
even used my relatives. looked for
In a . . .biased in that they . .ackground, but different
feom me.
-race, social class, living arrangements,
I needd to have a personal connection with each to
help overcome the social awkwardness that comes with
entering someone’s home and asking them intimate
questions about how they clean . . .building better
report with participant in relatively little time.
-comfortable, build rapport, in limited time . . .
The sample was biased because participants’
connections to me reflected who I am in terms of the
people to whom I have access. I was able to create a
fairly heterogeneous sample of 18 elders ranging in age
from 67 to 90. People from various education levels,
different parts of the country, different from me. The
samples included a chiropractor living in upstate New
York, a former housemaid in rural North Carolina, two
retired Cornell Home Economics professors, and a WW2
veteran. Participants living situations varied from living
with a partner in a home, to living in an assisted living
facility, to . . . .
All . . .took place in homes, bthe environment I wanted
to understand first-hand all the interviews took place in
participants’ homes. People are limited in their abilities
to describe how they do something without immediate
access to the social and material aspects of their lives
and their mundane actions become so routine that they
inadvertently dismiss details that may interest a design
researcher.
Visit began with a guided tour of participant’s home.
Where do you store cleniang products? How often do
you . . .
. . -stimulus, motivations behind cleaning, where they
stored things . . . .how often they were used.
Doing this helped elder’s recall their intention for
doing thing.
--where do they store products, where do they
shop, if they hire someone to clean what don’t
they let that person clean.
-demonstrate how they washed a window
Following the tours conversations usually veered from
housework. Rather than redirecting the discussions I
chose to listen to participants’ stories. Whether it was
proudly telling about a grandchild’s accomplishments,
reminiscing about deceased family members, or talking
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about the upcoming presidential election, I paid
attention. Their stories provided a broader
understanding of the context in which housework
occurs and shaped my knowledge and sensibilities
about elders’ experiences.
Following th guided tours, I sat down with
participants and . . . .comfortable dialogie,
tiaored tools to delve into the experitantial
qualities, acoompany housework.
The memory scrapbook is made up of various cleaningrelated images from the past century. Advertisements
from Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and
Sears and Roebuck catalogues dating from the turn of
the century to the present were copied and pasted into
a scrapbook. This was an attractive medium for
provoking stories because of its informal nature and
was synonymous with reminiscing about the past.
Memory Scrapbook and Box of Products
Investigating a topic in hopes of finding design
opportunities often requires developing new data
gathering techniques. I created the “Memory
Scrapbook” (Figure ?.) to elicit stories about how
housework has changed over time and the “Store in a
Box” (Figure) to observe elder’s reactions and
interactions with today’s cleaning products. Tapping into
elder’s lifetime of experiences and knowledge about
housework . . .self-awareness
To do this overcomd the officilasom . . .Like Gaver’s,
see themselves as co-reserchers rather than subject
under study . . .. “cultural probes” the methods were
developed with the intent to overcome the officialdom
that comes with being a researcher working on a wellfunded project. Tools that . . .By tapping into elders
vast experience and knowledge . . .acknowledge their
role, expertise, co-researchers, rather than a
participantRecognizing that the user is the expert I
invented tools to lessen the barriers that exist between
reseaercher and participants. By tapping into
Figure ?. Memory Scrapbook
The scrapbook proved to be an effective tool.
Participants where delighted when examining the
pages. They would sing old jingles, telling stories
about products no longer available, and reveal which
ones had the staying power continued to use
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throughout the years. products. –jogging the memory
I brought the straightforward “box of products” (see
Figure?) to each in-home visit. It was a box filled with
unused and unopened cleaning supplies (Figure ?). I
observed elders interact with products and saw firsthand how their reduced dexterity makes opening
everyday packaging difficult. Unscrewing caps and
opening packages, problems I rarely encountered.
Some described products as being too heavy but I was
struck most by the frustration elders encounter when .
. .too difficult/ that were often difficult for participant’s
arthritic hands.
Figure ?. Box of Products
Results
A collection of conceptual or speculative designs which
were informed and inspired by the research process
emerged. Speculative designs are conceptual products
that suggest new applications for technology and are
informed and inspired by peoples’ experiences (cite
Dunne & Gaver, 1997). Rather than being influenced by
traditional metrics such as manufacturability, costeffectiveness, and market penetration, these designs
are meant to draw attention to changes that occur with
aging and demonstrate how insight into those changing
fan fuel innovative design appropriate for all
generations.
-most importantly ideas that could not have emerged
without first becomine aware of my experiences differ
from users . . – markedly differente from my
experience
-Effectivley, business, think outside, llook beyong the
tunnel vision results in beinc gin a company, too
familiar with ways of doing things. “tunnel vision” which
can result from becoming to familiar or accuswtomed to
thinking about their product line. –break out of, people
become so focus and familiar with their way of doing
things can not see more innovative or user centered
solutions, though never go to market, helpful in making
this happen.
Book Bottles
Bending, stretching, and reaching is effortless for me,
but for users twice my age these activities were
strenuous for many. Cleaning products are usually
stored in overhead cabinets or underneath sinks and
accessing them becomes more difficult with
encroaching age. This insight inspired “Book Bottle”
(Figure ?). Instead of hiding cleaning supplies in hard
to reach places, I suggest making them a seamless part
of user’s everyday experience. By challenging the
traditional spray bottle form factor and designing the
bottle to look like a book attempts to do this.
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had never purchased a Hummel, unfamiliar, struck by 3
of the participants highly prized them. Indicated that
cleaned very carefully
-things would not let clean . . .
-sentimental and financial value to owners. The
humeel cleaner is a delicate prcess appropriate for
przed prossesions. Figurins carefull soak in a padded
tub full of a cleaning solutions specially formulate for
cleaning porcelan. The tub is line with cushions so
figurines parts are not broken, it is a delicate approach
for cleaning a delicate object.
Figure ?. Book Bottles
Untouchables
Ten of the 18 elders interviewed describing
receiving assistance with housework. When I
asked if there were items they objected . . .hired
help to touch stirred stories . . . . . .stirred stories
about broked. Particuallry struck by attachment
with Hummel figuring, something neverl
collected, handled gingerly, obvious ecomnicam
value and personal . . .Struck that . . .needed a
cleaning process that refltect it . . .
-careless
-hummels are popular figurines created by a Bavarian
nun in the early 1900’s represent themes of you than
dlove. The small porcelean scultputes of children are
highly collectable in the United States and abroad. I
Figure ?. Untouchables (note I want to redraw this picture)
Calorie Counting Spray Bottle
When I exercise on a treadmill I receive feedback on
the number of miles run and calories burned. Some
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older adults described housework as their daily
exercise. What some older adults experiences while
performing housework was similar to what I
experiences at the gym, however elders do not receive
similar feedback. The “Calorie Counting Spray Bottle”
(Figure ?) is a concept meant to provide the
experiential properties found in exercise equipment.
Inside the bottle’s spraying mechanism is an odometer
that changes every time the user pulls the trigger. If
you were to apply seven squirts of glass cleaner to a
surface, the odometer would read “7.” The bottle’s label
has a chart to inform users how many calories they
burn following each squirt. For example, 50 pulls may
equal 5 calories burned. The idea is speculative and no
research was conducted to determine the number of
calories (if any) burned while spraying cleaner. The
concepts’s intet in to draw attention . . .broader
meaning, can’t understand . . ..based on our
experience . . .that menaing recourse for design.
“Pez” packaging
-inspired by the enormously popular wipes, and
arthritic hands difficulty opening packaging . . .
-demonstrates inspiration – making connections
between cleaning and seemingly . . .new metaphors
for interaction, not typically used. The pastic box
features a large opening which better facilitates a range
of accuracy and precision for arthritic hands. Users
place their hand in the roomy opening and pull-up, this
activates a pez-like spring mechanizsm which dispenses
a wipe. – making connections, new metaphors . . .
-drew from a metaphor often seen in Pez, candy,
respond difficult opeingn packages, easy and intuitive
Figure ?. “Pez” Inspired Packaging
Figure ?. Calorie Counting Spray Bottle
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Bottle Monocle
The labeling on commonly used cleaning products was
too small for elders to read. This made it difficult for
them to determine if the product was dangerous or
appropriate to use for some tasks. The Bottle Monocle
is a spray bottle equipped with a bendable monocle –
that is inviting to touch and able to be positioned to
wherever users needs it, whether that be to read the
label or magnify dirt and grime.
This concepts draws attention to the need for products
to change with user throughout their lifecourse.
Products do not acknowledge that users are evolving,
needs cahngin . . .representec in products.
Potential of this approach is that . . .open new space,
acknowledge that the diversity in needs, values,
Hands and Knees Polish
“I was a hands-and-knees washer and still want
to be, but I can’t get up and down like I used too.
But you have to be down on your hands and
knees to really do the job.” Sentiment echoed by
nearly every participant. Intensity, attention to
detail that comes with being on the floor next to
dirt. “Hands and knees” floor polish . .. responds
to this . . .Is a powerful floor polish made hands and
knee gell – action scrubbers, the fictitous product
cleans as powerfulle, thoroughly and effectively as a
person down on their hands and knees .
-playful self reflection about how elder would
prefer to clean their homes.
behaviors, and abilities goes beyond the design
community.
-Successful to SCJ- concepts which differ –potential
alternatives to core assumptions about the products
they manufacture.
-outline a powerful approach that is much neede in
product design today. It allows us to rething dominant
metaphors, aware of how map own values, abilities,
ways fo doing things on the what we design.
Figure ?. Bottle Monocle
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Akrich, M. “User representations: Practices, methods,
and sociology.” In Managing Technology in
Society: The Approach of Constructive Technology
Assessment, ed. A.Rip, T.J. Misa, and J. Schot.
Pinter. 1995. (this book is hard to find, right now I
am actually citing in from another source but have
ordered my own copy)
Forlizzi, J. Hirsch, T., Hyder, E., and Goetz, J.
“Designing Pleasurable Technology for Elders.”
Include Conference on Inclusive Design. 2001.
Friedman, B. “Value-Sensitive Design.” Interactions,
3,6. pgs. 16-24. 1996
Figure ?. Hands and Knees Floor Polish
Gaver, B. and Dunne, T. “The Pillow: Artist-Designers
in the Digital Age.” CHI 1997
Gaver, B., Dunne, T., and Pacenti, E. “Cultural Probes.”
Interactions, pgs. 21-29. 1999.
Conclusion
Users are as different as . . .we can not fully
anticipate their interests, skills, motives, and
behaviors of users.
-reflect more on ourselves not only who we are in
terms of age and ability, but culturally, economically,
race, gender . . .open up broader experience .
-ever increasing self-awreness
References
IDEO. Ideo Method Cards: 51 Ways to inspire design.
(figure out how to cite these)
IDSA – information on designers’ average age.
Kelley, T. The Art of Innovation. New York, NY:
Doubleday
Perkins, N. “Women Designers: Making Difference.” In
Design and Feminism, ed. Joan Rothschild. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1999.
Plowman, T. “Ethnography and Critical Design
Practice.” In Design Research: Methods and
Perspectives, ed. B. Laurel. Cambridge, MA: The
MIT Press, 2003.
14
Salvador, T., Bell, G. and Anderson, K. “Design
Ethnography.” Design Management Journal, 10, 4,
1999.
Sengers, P. (need to figure out which paper to cite)
Sengers, P. “Doomed to Repeat? How History Can (and
Should!) Inform Home Technology.” CHI 2003
Workshop on Designing Culturally Situated
Technologies for the Home. Ft. Lauderdale, FL,
April 2003. available online:
Vanek, J. “Time Spent in Housework.” Scientific
America, 231, pgs. 116-120. 1974.
Wyche, unpublished mater’s thesis.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to S.C. Johnson and Company for funding
this project. In addition, I thank Phoebe Sengers,
Lorraine Maxwell, and Johanna Schoss for their
attentive advising during my two years at Cornell
University. Finally, this project what not have evolved
without the valuable insights and inspiration from
Genevieve Bell and Patricia Moore. MORE TO COME
LATER
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