Cultural Probes in Real Life

Gerry GaffneyInformation & Design

www.infodesign.com.au

Probes are “…designed to prompt and elicit information from people about their lives and

local culture” (Bill Gaver)

“Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted” ( 孙子 )

Photo: I, Shane, flickr, creative commons license

Image: NASA

• The area or subject is sensitive

• Our presence may interfere too much

• We need to observe over a long period.

We can’t observe if…

A “probe” may contain

• Diary (or blog)

• Camera

• Video recorder

• Audio recorder

• Postcards

• Anything that enables participants to self-report

Analysis?

“We don’t analyse the data… we’ve got real returns from real people…

It’s nice to work with the… raw materials because they force you to re-interpret them pretty much every time you look at them.”

– Bill Gaver, in an interview with Gerry Gaffney

Commercial necessity

• The objective is likely to be more immediate than in an academic context

• A focus on deliverables

• Frequent or ongoing re-interpretation is not encouraged!

• So analysis and synthesis are necessary.

• www.linkme.com.au

• Studied 6 people who were looking for employment (key part of the target audience)

• Asked them to keep a diary over a three-week period

• Interviewed them during & after the study

• Analyzed the diaries and associated materials.

Case study

Handling the flood of data

Photo: Alexis Rondeauflickr, creative commons license

How to estimate?

• Comparable to contextual enquiry in terms of:– Preparation time– Recruiting time (but requires more care)– Quantity of data– Analysis method and effort.

• Participant payment/incentives more costly• Amount of consultant time theoretically

may be reduced.

Conclusion

• Relatively simple technique

• Needs careful planning

• Deliverables include– Personas– Scenarios– Artefacts.

• A useful technique to add to your toolkit – applied to the appropriate projects.