Simple Ethnography
Immersing yourself “in the field”
at the feet of people with
local, contextual expertise.
Shadowing
Draw the Experience
• Looking
Look; don’t think or talk!
Still-Photo Survey
• Trying
Show me? Do I have it right?
• Asking
A
Why? 5X, How? 5X.
Adapted from the Innovation Learning Network
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless
Day In The Life
Aesthetics To Guide You
[] Chris, KP medications
[] Walt, MRSA rounding
[] Sherry, isolation rooms
[] Jasper, art w/ gowns
[] Misha, attending to
spiritual needs
• Insight comes from inconspicuous
often overlooked details *
• Beauty can be coaxed out of
messiness
• Focus on the intrinsic qualities; ignore
material or technological hierarchy
• Look for what is irregular, intimate,
unpretentious
• Look for comfort with ambiguity
• Don’t ignore what is imperfect, crude
or impermanent
* Paradoxically, you may be able to enhance your “aesthetic noticing”
by cutting off one or more of your senses (e.g., earplugs, closing
your eyes).
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless
Models for
Collaborative Design
Scale Up Success
Game Planning
Evaluate Rigorously
Feedback
Combine & Trial Prototypes
Enactment
Build Out Key Ideas in Chunks
Start Here
Prototyping
Generate & Sift Ideas
1-2-4-All
Collect In-The-Field
Observations
Write up
narratives
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless