The mysterious case of action blindness

Annotation

« Watch them in their homes, schools, and offices. Watch them commute, at parties, at mealtime, and with friends at the local bar. Follow them into the shower if necessary, because it is essential to understand the real situations that they encounter, not some pure isolated experience. This technique is called applied ethnography, a method adapted from the field of anthropology. » (Page 241)

Instead of focusing on the target audience, observe the target audience and adapt the product for them?

The mysterious case of action blindness

• Do not conduct interviews, they are the waste of time, instead of asking people we have to observe them¹ in their natural environment.
  • Office, home, car during commute, at parties, and in small groups.
  • Observation includes not only what they do, but what they say and what kind of attitude they demonstrate towards something.
  • We have to in some way strip away the noise that surrounds the agent a leave only key elements.
    • Words and actions.
  • It means that customer development interviews are useless if we ask questions that are unrelated to actions and words. I need to rethink this thesis.
  • Actions are the cornerstone of human centered design, anthropocentric design, the design that puts in the center not an object but the agent of change, the actor.
    • This technique is called an applied ethnography, there are several books on the topic, one of them covers the topic of education² another is fully devoted to ethnography thinking³ in different domains.
  • The cycle of invention or design prototype iteration would be this.
    • Observe → generate ideas → prototype → test → observe again.
    • This method is often called the spiral method, rather than circular.
    • Around these four elements, conceptual model of activity is built.
      • If I support the activity of students inside the classroom, then with high probability they accept the need to learn something. I have to keep in mind their capabilities, though.
      • Word to the wise: don’t confuse activities with task. The first one is a high-level structure that includes in itself several tasks, might include. Like cooking food for the family might be an activity, but turning the heat on, putting the kettle on and so forth are tasks.
• Action hierarchy¹. ^a299cf
  • Be-goals. The highest possible goal, the most abstract, that is governed by the person’s being. They answer the big why, describe a person’s identity and define who is he on in a big scheme of things.
  • Do-goals. Determine plans and actions for an activity, look above for what is an activity. It’s seven stages of activity.
  • Motor-goals. They are performed on the level of operation rather than actions. Its goal is to specify how action is performed and what is the order of things.

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Footnotes

1. 1. Norman D. The Design Of Everyday Things / D. Norman, Revised edition-е изд., New York, New York: Basic Books, 2013. 368 c. (Page 241) (Page 252)
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2. 1. Mills D., Morton M. Ethnography in Education / D. Mills, M. Morton, 1st edition-е изд., London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2013. 200 c.
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3. 1. Hasbrouck J. Ethnographic Thinking: From Method to Mindset / J. Hasbrouck, 1st edition-е изд., New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. 120 c.
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