Making technology fit users
Chicago Sun-Times published a (short) article about how ethnography can be of help in making sure that products can be used conveniently.
“When Lovie Smith calls in plays from the sidelines during Bears’ games, the television cameras showcase that he converses through a Motorola headset.
Motorola pays a fee for the right to furnish National Football League coaches with headsets, so it is critical that the equipment not only functions well, but also looks comfortable to the millions of viewers watching at home.
The practice of ethnography was written into Motorola’s game plan to achieve those objectives.
Ethnography is a field of anthropology that studies human activities and interactions through rigorous fieldwork. When Motorola was developing prototypes for the headset, it engaged the product design firm Herbst LaZar Bell in Chicago and its ethnographers to study how coaches were using and responding to the new technology.”
