On Dec 31, 2009, at 10:38 AM, marc resnick wrote: > A really good ethnographer can > anticipate (through ethnographic study) the value of a technology > that does not yet exist to satisfy a user need.
I've mostly seen this scenario during research --> product: "Assume there was a magic button that you could press that would help you. How would it work?" The subjects then describe that, and after compiling and distilling those answers, the designers/researchers look for existing or in-development technology solutions that could get (most of) the job done. I've seldom seen designers or researchers then propose a new technology that would then do what is necessary. At many companies, this would be laughed at. I assume this would be possible in some large companies, academia or research labs. (In theory, this should be what academic research and R&D labs are for.) But more often in practice, existing technologies are applied to new problems (which may spring from human needs), or new technologies are applied to existing problems (which may spring from human needs). (New technologies can also create new problems of course.) It seems a rare case indeed when an observed human need has driven a technological breakthrough. I think this is what Don has been saying, and since I can't come up with a set of reasonable counter-examples, I'm thinking he might be right. Dan Dan Saffer Principal, Kicker Studio http://www.kickerstudio.com http://www.odannyboy.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
