Harmful Ethnogrophies

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Brad Twitty: ... Considered Harmful

John Z: Do we need new ethnographic methods?

Devin M: Ethnography Considered Harmful

Ethnography Considered Harmful

Any Crabtree, Tom Rodden, Peter Tolmie, Graham Button

This paper, Ethnography Considered Harmful, is essentially about how the current ways of conducting ethnographies is no longer completely applicable to the current situation. The problem is that the design process has slowly shifted outside the workplace. Computers are no longer seen as a staple of the workplace and have become mainstream and widely available. As with this shift, the study there-of should shift as well, and researchers are coming up with new ways of conducting ethnographies.

In this light, many ethnographers has shifted away from statistical analysis of the everyday things, to becoming more of a wordsmith. It's not necessarily what you write about, but how you write it. They must 'defamiliarize' themselves from that which they are attempting to study to see how it is really interacts with society. They are trying to find stuff that is more exotic than what has been typically reported on. Many have turned to critical reflection in their ethnographical practices. Studying only the critical parts of the study, looking at what makes things fail.

With these many new approaches come many new problems. Ethnographers are over compensating for the shift in computing trends. Instead of looking into the extremes of new methods, take a middle ground between the traditional and more modern approaches. Look back on how ethnographies were conducted in the work place and utilize those same methods in new ethnographical practices. Overall, the ethnographer should keep in mind the design when conducting their ethnography.

I felt this paper was very compelling and interesting. It sheds some light on the pros and cons of modern ethnographical practices and states what should be done to remedy the situation. Personally, I have read some literature that has claimed to be an ethnography but felt more like an attempt to sell a book rather than provide compelling research. Some people would greatly benefit from reading this paper, but overall, I feel that many ethnographies are doing the right thing. There was a change in society and a shift in computer usage, so the study of such things had to change with it.