Isa Hardemo
Isa Hardemo joined the School of Engineering as a PhD student in September 2002. With a background in Mediatechniques and Soundscapes and experiences from Graphic Design, she finished her Master thesis at the Interaction Design programme, School of Art & Communication, Malmo University in 2000.
“Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right”, is part of a lyric from singer/songwriter Ani Di Franco. I start from that sentence, to try and say something about design. It’s all about communicating design intentions. According to ethnomethodology, the specific use of a tool constitutes its function. In the Ani Di Franco example above, the tool only functions as a weapon when it is used as a weapon…
With experiences from interdisciplinary projects within the theme Design Lab: Future Living at the Space studio, Interactive Institute, Malmö, I’m now examining ways for a designer to approach ethnographic studies. Here at the Work Practice Lab (IAM, BTH) where I do my research studies, ethnography gives insights on “actual use” of technology. I joined the group to add my design perspective. The design agenda, as a process of abstractions and decisions, differs naturally from that of a social scientist. A designer usually allow oneself to assume answers to questions and suggest changes - the ethnographer doesn’t necessarily. Maybe that’s the most obvious and central difference between the two.
In my research studies I’m currently involved in three projects; Everyday Mobility (in cooperation with Voodafone), Drop In Dialysis and The Health Square (in cooperation with
Design Intentions
I agree with those arguing that ethnography is relevant to inform design, but my interest takes of from the design criteria’s. One design criteria is to look for things to design, but a designer’s primary criterion is not only to learn how humans make sense of the world and what that includes, but also why. Answering the question why, is done indirect through the design decisions that shape the design. Using a design approach to ethnography is a way of comparing a possible situation with a real one. The use of a design is clear first and foremost in the actual use. I believe that staging or imagining a design intention during an ethnographic study enables assumptions of what could be made differently – revealing design related questions. This activity of comparing possible and real images is to be carried out more or less explicit, as experiments in thought or as staged experiments.
Design Semantics
During my research studies I collect examples of designed objects, and insights on the semantics of them. Parallell to this, I’ll be doing etnographic studies to describe examples of ”actual use” related to the objects from my collection.
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