The product ecology: Understanding social product use and supporting design culture Export

@article{citeulike:2743042, abstract = {The field of interaction design has broadened its focus from issues surrounding one person interacting with one system to how systems are socially and culturally situated among groups of people. To understand the situations surrounding product use interaction design researchers have turned to qualitative, ethnographic research methods. However, stripped from underlying theory, these methods can be prescriptive at best. This paper introduces Product Ecology as a theoretical design framework to describe how products evoke social behavior, to provide a roadmap for choosing appropriate qualitative research methods and to extend design culture within HCI by allowing for flexible, design-centered research planning and opportunity-seeking. This product-centered framework is illustrated as a method for selecting a set of design research methods and for working with other research approaches that study people in naturalistic settings.}, author = {Forlizzi, Jodi}, citeulike-article-id = {2743042}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/viewFile/220/136}, comment = {...Kurvinen, Koskinen, and Battarbee (in press), [who] articulate three main issues specific to doing research to construct design theories. First, research must be done in the place where the product is naturally used, with attention to the physical structures and social norms of the environment rather than the laboratory. Second, understanding the same experience from multiple perspectives is important. Third, looking at experiences over time is important. The Product Ecology takes these issues into consideration... p. 14 ---=note-separator=--- [Place] ...Issues of place indicate ways that designers can discover how physical and social context might affect the design of future technology products. ...focusing on the product as a lens through which to view combined elements of place and time. p. 14 [Multiple Perspectives] ...Product Ecology seeks to find differences among individuals that help form patterns relative to product use and adoption. p. 14 [Time] Designers must pay attention to the ebbs and flows of time, and the phrasing of interactions with products, combined with particular hours, days, and seasons and the ages and lifestages of key people using a product to best understand how to shape the experience that results. pp. 14-15 ---=note-separator=--- The Product Ecology is useful for structuring design activity between explicit information and intuitive judgment. Unlike more focused research methods...it allows for simultaneous investigation of the many phenomena that contribute to the design problem. p. 15 ---=note-separator=--- The Product Ecology framework provides an alternative way of understanding the complex physical and social context of use around a product, and a means for suggesting change within the current state of the world. Like Participatory Design, Experience Design, Cultural Probes, and Contextual Design, it is focused on real world contexts, and plays a role in developing future products. Like Prototyping Social Action, it focuses on groups of people using a particular product or products. Unlike Participatory Design, Contextual Design, or Prototyping Social Action, it allows for exploration of new phenomena arising from groups of factors in combination, and the discovery of how different people think about the same products, creating social, emotional, and symbolic relationships with them. Unlike Cultural Probes, it offers a framework for systematically exploring a design problem and opportunity for change. To further articulate the differences in the Product Ecology framework, two key points should be highlighted. First, the Product Ecology approach involves doing fieldwork over an extended period of time. Numerous observations are done, including observations of several people interacting with the same product. In addition, Product Ecology fieldwork involves understanding related activities of all people, as well as the physical and social environment in which product use unfolds, the interdependence of how people interact with a product, how people interact with each other around a product, and how the physical and social environment interacts with products. Second, the Product Ecology framework involves introducing a prototype (or a new product) into the context of the research. This activity serves several functions. First, the prototype acts to codify understanding of the current situation. Next, it serves as a way to investigate a means of improving that situation. Finally, it allows researchers to understand the changes in the Product Ecology over time. In some cases, it may be useful to compare two prototypes or products in order to see comparative changes. pp. 18-19 ---=note-separator=--- The Product Ecology framework is useful for broadening the view of what a product is. For example, many products are much more than functional objects of use — they serve important emotional and social functions in people's lives. These uses and meanings of products evolve over time and are often not revealed in single-visit fieldwork. p. 19}, journal = {International Journal of Design}, keywords = {design\_theory, interaction\_design, product\_ecology, social\_use}, number = {1}, pages = {11--20}, posted-at = {2008-05-01 17:21:26}, priority = {3}, title = {The product ecology: Understanding social product use and supporting design culture}, url = {http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/viewFile/220/136}, volume = {2}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2743042 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2743042 N2 - The field of interaction design has broadened its focus from issues surrounding one person interacting with one system to how systems are socially and culturally situated among groups of people. To understand the situations surrounding product use interaction design researchers have turned to qualitative, ethnographic research methods. However, stripped from underlying theory, these methods can be prescriptive at best. This paper introduces Product Ecology as a theoretical design framework to describe how products evoke social behavior, to provide a roadmap for choosing appropriate qualitative research methods and to extend design culture within HCI by allowing for flexible, design-centered research planning and opportunity-seeking. This product-centered framework is illustrated as a method for selecting a set of design research methods and for working with other research approaches that study people in naturalistic settings. IS - 1 JF - International Journal of Design EP - 20 TI - The product ecology: Understanding social product use and supporting design culture VL - 2 SP - 11 KW - design_theory KW - interaction_design KW - product_ecology KW - social_use N1 - ...Kurvinen, Koskinen, and Battarbee (in press), [who] articulate three main issues specific to doing research to construct design theories. First, research must be done in the place where the product is naturally used, with attention to the physical structures and social norms of the environment rather than the laboratory. Second, understanding the same experience from multiple perspectives is important. Third, looking at experiences over time is important. The Product Ecology takes these issues into consideration... p. 14 N1 - [Place] ...Issues of place indicate ways that designers can discover how physical and social context might affect the design of future technology products. ...focusing on the product as a lens through which to view combined elements of place and time. p. 14 [Multiple Perspectives] ...Product Ecology seeks to find differences among individuals that help form patterns relative to product use and adoption. p. 14 [Time] Designers must pay attention to the ebbs and flows of time, and the phrasing of interactions with products, combined with particular hours, days, and seasons and the ages and lifestages of key people using a product to best understand how to shape the experience that results. pp. 14-15 N1 - The Product Ecology is useful for structuring design activity between explicit information and intuitive judgment. Unlike more focused research methods...it allows for simultaneous investigation of the many phenomena that contribute to the design problem. p. 15 N1 - The Product Ecology framework provides an alternative way of understanding the complex physical and social context of use around a product, and a means for suggesting change within the current state of the world. Like Participatory Design, Experience Design, Cultural Probes, and Contextual Design, it is focused on real world contexts, and plays a role in developing future products. Like Prototyping Social Action, it focuses on groups of people using a particular product or products. Unlike Participatory Design, Contextual Design, or Prototyping Social Action, it allows for exploration of new phenomena arising from groups of factors in combination, and the discovery of how different people think about the same products, creating social, emotional, and symbolic relationships with them. Unlike Cultural Probes, it offers a framework for systematically exploring a design problem and opportunity for change. To further articulate the differences in the Product Ecology framework, two key points should be highlighted. First, the Product Ecology approach involves doing fieldwork over an extended period of time. Numerous observations are done, including observations of several people interacting with the same product. In addition, Product Ecology fieldwork involves understanding related activities of all people, as well as the physical and social environment in which product use unfolds, the interdependence of how people interact with a product, how people interact with each other around a product, and how the physical and social environment interacts with products. Second, the Product Ecology framework involves introducing a prototype (or a new product) into the context of the research. This activity serves several functions. First, the prototype acts to codify understanding of the current situation. Next, it serves as a way to investigate a means of improving that situation. Finally, it allows researchers to understand the changes in the Product Ecology over time. In some cases, it may be useful to compare two prototypes or products in order to see comparative changes. pp. 18-19 N1 - The Product Ecology framework is useful for broadening the view of what a product is. For example, many products are much more than functional objects of use — they serve important emotional and social functions in people’s lives. These uses and meanings of products evolve over time and are often not revealed in single-visit fieldwork. p. 19 AU - Forlizzi, Jodi PY - 2008/// UR - http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/viewFile/220/136 ER -