Abstract
Anthropologists have been using ethnographic methods since the 1970s to support the design and evaluation of software. While early use of such skills in the design world was viewed as experimental, at least by computer scientists and engineers, ethnography has now become established as a useful skill in technology design. Not only are corporations and research laboratories employing anthropologists to take part in the development process, but growing numbers of non-anthropologists are attempting to borrow ethnographic techniques. The results of this appropriation have brought out into the open a kind of paradox: while ethnography looks and sounds straightforward, this is not really the case. The work of untrained ethnographers tends to overlook things that anthropologists see as important parts of the research process. The consistency of this pattern suggests that some aspects of ethnographic fieldwork are invisible to the untrained eye. In short, ethnography would appear to constitute an example of invisible work. Drawing on my own decade of experience as an anthropologist working in design, I attempt to clarify the nature of ethnographic expertise, describe six misconceptions about ethnography that I have encountered among scientists, and present real-life examples to illustrate why quasi-ethnographic work based on these misconceptions is likely to be superficial and unreliable.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, J.G. and C.E. Aydin (1994): Overview: Theoretical Perspectives and Methodologies for the Evaluation of Health Care Information Systems. In J.G. Anderson, C.E. Aydin, and S.J. Jay (eds.): Evaluating Health Care Information Systems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 5–29.
Blomberg, J., J. Giacomi, A. Mosher and P. Swenton-Wall (1993): Ethnographic Field Methods and Their Relation to Design. In D. Schuler and A. Namioka (eds.): Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 123–156.
Buchanan, B.G., D. Barstow, R. Bechtel, J. Bennett, W. Clancey, C. Kulikowski, T. Mitchell and D.A. Waterman (1983): Constructing an Expert System. In F. Hayes-Roth, D.A. Waterman, and D.B. Lenat (eds.): Building Expert Systems. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 127–167.
Coble, J.M., J.S. Maffitt, M.J. Orland and M.G. Kahn (1995): Contextual Inquiry: Discovering Physicians' True Needs. In R. M. Gardner (ed.): Proceedings of AMIA Annual Fall Symposium. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc., pp. 469–473.
Coiera, E. (1996): Clinical Communication: A New Informatics Paradigm. In J.J. Cimino (ed.): Proceedings of AMIA Annual Fall Symposium. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc., pp. 17–21.
Emerson, R.M., R.I. Fretz and L.L. Shaw (1995): Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fafchamps, D. (1991): Ethnographic Workflow Analysis: Specifications for Design. In J.H. Bullinger (ed.): Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 709–715.
Forsythe, D.E. (1992): Blaming the User in Medical Informatics: The Cultural Nature of Scientific Practice. Knowledge and Society, vol. 9, pp. 95–111.
Forsythe, D.E. (1993): The Construction of Work in Artificial Intelligence. Science, Technology and Human Values, vol. 18,no. 4, pp. 460–479.
Forsythe, D.E. (1993): Engineering Knowledge: The Construction of Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence. Social Studies of Science, vol. 23,no. 3, pp. 445–477.
Forsythe, D.E. (1994): Disappearing Women in the Social World of Computing. Presented to the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Atlanta.
Forsythe, D.E. (1995): Using Ethnography in the Design of an Explanation System. Expert Systems With Applications, vol. 8,no. 4, pp. 403–417.
Forsythe, D.E. and B.G. Buchanan (1989): Knowledge Acquisition for Expert Systems: Some Pitfalls and Suggestions. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, vol. 19,no. 3, pp. 435–442.
Forsythe, D.E. and B.G. Buchanan (1991): Broadening Our Approach to Evaluating Medical Information Systems. In P.D. Clayton (ed.): Proceedings of 15th Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care. Washington, D.C.: New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 8–12.
Galegher, J. and R.E. Kraut (1990): Technology for Intellectual Teamwork: Perspectives on Research and Design. In J. Galegher, R.E. Kraut, and C. Egido (eds.): Intellectual Teamwork. Social and Technological Foundations of Cooperative Work. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 1–20.
Geertz, C. (1973): The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Geertz, C. (1983): Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books.
Lundsgaarde, H.P. (1987): Evaluating Medical Expert Systems. Social Science and Medicine, vol. 24,no. 10, pp. 805–819.
Lundsgaarde, H.P., P.J. Fischer and D.J. Steele (1981): Human Problems in Computerized Medicine. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Publications in Anthropology No. 13.
Nardi, B. (1996): The Use of Ethnographic Methods in Design and Evaluation. In M.G. Helander, T. Landauer, and P. Prabhu (eds.): Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction II. Amsterdam.
Nyce, J.M. and J. Lowgren (1995): Towards Foundational Analysis in Human Computer Interaction. In P.J. Thomas (ed.): Social and Interactional Dimensions of Human-Computer Interfaces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 37–47.
Nyce, J.M. and T. Timpka (1993): Work, Knowledge and Argument in Specialist Consultations: Incorporating Tacit Knowledge into System Design and Development. Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, vol. 31,no. 1 (January), pp. HTA16-HTA19.
Powdermaker, H. (1966): Stranger and Friend: The Way of an Anthropologist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc.
Rosaldo, R. (1993): Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis. Boston: Beacon Press.
Rosenal, T.W., D.E. Forsythe, M.A. Musen and A. Seiver (1995): Support for Information Management in Critical Care: A new approach to identify needs. In R.M. Gardner (ed.): Proceedings of AMIA Annual Fall Symposium. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc., pp. 2–6.
Sanjek, R. (ed.) (1990): Fieldnotes. The Makings of Anthropology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Shortliffe, E.H., L.E. Perreault, G. Wiederhold and L.M. Fagan (eds.) (1990): Medical Informatics: Computer Applications in Health Care. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.
Star, S.L. (1989): Regions of the Mind: Brain Research and the Quest for Scientific Certainty. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Suchman, L. (1995): Making Work Visible. Communications of the ACM, vol. 38,no. 9 (Sept.), pp. 56–64.
Suchman, L.A. (1987): Plans and Situated Actions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Tang, P.C., M.A. Jaworski, C.A. Fellencer, N. Kreider, M. P. LaRosa and W.C. Marquardt (1996): Clinician Information Activities in Diverse Ambulatory Care Practices. In J.J. Cimino (ed.): Proceedings of AMIA Annual Fall Symposium. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc., pp. 12–16.
Tang, P.C., M.A. Jaworski, C.A. Fellencer, M.P. LaRosa, J.M. Lassa, P. Lipsey and W.C. Marquardt (1995): Methods for Assessing Information Needs of Clinicians in Ambulatory Care. In R.M. Gardner (ed.): Proceedings of AMIA Annual Fall Symposium. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc., pp. 630–634.
Wax, R.H. (1971): Doing Fieldwork: Warnings and Advice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Werner, O. and G. Schoepfle (1987): Systematic Fieldwork. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Forsythe, D.E. “It's Just a Matter of Common Sense”: Ethnography as Invisible Work. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 8, 127–145 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008692231284
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008692231284