Paper Reading #19: Reflexivity in digital anthropology

Reflexivity in Digital Anthropology 


Authors - Jennifer A. Rod


Authors Bios - Jennifer A. Rod I am an Assistant Professor at Drexel's School of Information and has a PhD in Computer Science from UC Irvine.


Venue - This paper was presented at the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Summary


Hypothesis - In this paper, the researcher compares different styles of anthropology with the goal of forming a style to be coined digital anthropology that people can use reliably in the future when studies like this are needed. The hypothesis of this paper is that through examination and study digital anthropology can be created and will benefit CHI in future research.


Content - There are 3 approaches to ethnography and anthropology that can apply to HCI although only one is currently used in digital anthropology. The realist approach focuses on the process of collecting information over a long period of time and determining causes for what was observed through careful observation and experimentation without much connection to the author performing the study. The confessional approach relies on the ethnographer explaining their own involvement with the subject being studied and allows for a greater understanding of the perspective being observed. The impressionistic approach focuses on telling a story and letting detailed observation speak for itself in setting the stage for the ethnography and allowing for future analysis. 


Methods - The 3 approaches to ethnography mentioned above each bring some unique new aspects to the field of digital anthropology. Discussing rapport, the relationship between the observer and subjects being studied, allows for readers to have a better understanding of how data was collected which is crucial when acting on ethnographic results. Participant observation is important in ethnography because it gives us an experiential account of the subject being studied and gives more voice to the author. The use of theory in ethnography is very fundamental considering that it is usually on this level that any advancements are made from ethnography and theory allows for quicker immersion of the author into the setting they are studying. 


Results - There are 3 specific forms of ethnography that can applied to HCI developed from the information above. Formative ethnographies study current use of a product or tool and make observations as to how it can be improved. Summative ethnographies focus purely on how a digital tool is used by a specific group of people and explain this relationship in depth with no suggestions for improvement allowing these studies to be untainted by goals but not providing too much usefulness to the field of HCI. Iteratively evaluative ethnographies are studies that are conducted by putting a prototype product or tool in use and studying how it becomes used by participating in its use and observing others allowing for more iterations to be created and evaluated all over again until a compelling and complete product has been created.


Conclusion - The researcher concludes the paper by stating that standards need to be adopted for ethnography in HCI in order to continue improving on technology and its relationship with users. The results from this paper help to explore some specific areas where HCI can get these standards from and allow for a more reflexive approach to digital anthropology than what is currently being used preserving the author's voice in these studies which is crucial when moving forward with technological advancements.


Discussion


I think the researcher partially succeeds in developing digital anthropology practices  that can result in better HCI research in the future because although many suggestions are made in the paper most of them are just regurgitation of facts from other sources just applying them a little more towards HCI than they have in the past. I did find the paper mildly interesting as I do think that HCI needs a better way to evaluate interaction with technology instead of just producing "better" offerings in theory only to frustrate and fail.