What

1
Whats the difference?

• Hole in the wall experiment
• Rural internet kiosks
• English ATMs used by paanwalas and peons
• NGOs importing used PCs for Indian schools
• Widespread use of mobile phones in India

• Dabbawalas
• PCOs
• WLL technology
• Simputer
• Keylekh keyboard
• Bhav Puchhiye
• aAQUA
• Tools for bamboo craftsmen
• Navnirmiti products

2
Question

• Why are new solutions required for development?
• Why will current products not do?

3

• Today
• Contextual inquiry
• Next Class
• How CI fits in
• Case studies in contextual design

4
The Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• ICTs for Socio-Economic Development
• Anirudha Joshi

5
Contextual Design

• Hugh Beyer
• Karen Holtzblatt

6
Contextual Design Concepts

• Contextual Inquiry
• Work Models
• Interpretation Session
• Affinity Diagram
• Consolidation of Work Models
• Work Redesign
• User Environment Design
• Mock up and test with users

7
Basic Principles

• Go where the user works
• Observe the user as he works
• Talk to the user about the work

8
Models for Interaction

• Scientist / subject model
• Parent / child model
• Teacher / student model
• Master / apprentice model
• (Rather, apprentice / master model)
• Relationship models have two sides
• Playing one side drags the opposite person into
  the other side

9
Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

1. Master apprentice model

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Master Apprentice Model

• When you are watching the work happen,
  pre-planned teaching is not required
• Master craftsman teaches on the fly
• Master need not remember his work explicitly
• Seeing the work reveals what matters

11
Master Apprentice Model

• When you are watching the work happen,
  pre-planned teaching is not required
• Master craftsman teaches on the fly
• Master need not remember his work explicitly
• Seeing the work reveals what matters

12
Master Apprentice Model

• When you are watching the work happen,
  pre-planned teaching is not required
• Master craftsman teaches on the fly
• Master need not remember his work explicitly
• Seeing the work reveals what matters
• Talking while doing the work reveals details
• Being in the context of work reminds one of many
  tasks

13
Master Apprentice Model

• Seeing the work reveals structure
• Many instances and many interviews reveal the
  picture
• Every current activity recalls past instances

14
Master Apprentice Model

• Seeing the work reveals structure
• Many instances and many interviews reveal the
  picture
• Every current activity recalls past instances
• (CD 45)

15
Master Apprentice Model

• Apprenticeship suggests an attitude of inquiry
  and learning
• Humility, inquisitiveness and attention to detail
• Requires no user preparation

16
Master Apprentice Model - Differences

• Contextual Inquiry is apprenticeship compressed
  in time
• Contextual Inquiry tailors apprenticeship to the
  needs of design teams
• Not do the work, just learn about it
• Not study a single job, but several
• Remaining four sutras guide the adaptation

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Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context

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Context

• Go where the work is to get the best data
• Gather ongoing experience rather than summary
• Gather concrete data rather than abstract data
• Span time by retrospective accounts

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Context

• Avoid summary data by watching the work unfold
• Star Wars Episode III

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Context Summary Vs. Ongoing Experience

• Avoid summary data by watching the work unfold
• Star Wars Episode III

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Context Summary Vs. Ongoing Experience

• Avoid summary data by watching the work unfold
• (CD 47-48)

22
Context Abstract Vs. Concrete Data

• Start with real experiences, not abstractions
• You will abstract when you consolidate
• Indicators of abstraction in interviews
• Lean back and look at ceiling vs. lean forward
  and handle work
• Words generally, we usually or in our
  company
• Present tense vs. the past tense

23
Context Abstract Vs. Concrete Data

• Avoid abstractions by returning to real artifacts
  and events
• We usually get reports by email. Do you have
  one? May I see it?
• I usually start my day by reading email. What
  are you doing this morning? Can you start?
• Sometimes you need to understand things that
  happened in the past

24
Context Retrospective Account

• Span time by replaying past events in detail
• Tendency to skip details and give summary

25
Context Retrospective Account

• Span time by replaying past events in detail
• Tendency to skip details and give summary
• (CD 49-50)

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Context Retrospective Account

• Span time by replaying past events in detail
• Tendency to skip details and give summary
• Look for holes
• Ask questions to fill in the holes
• Use artifacts to provide context
• If story has not yet ended, go back to a story in
  the past that did end

27
Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context
• Ongoing work, Concrete, Retrospective account
• Partnership

28
Partnership

• Traditionally, interviewer has too much power
• You dont know what will turn out to matter
• Apprenticeship model tilts power back to the user
• Interviewer should create a partnership, not
  just an apprenticeship
• Alternate between watching and probing,
  withdrawal and return

29
Partnership

• Traditionally, interviewer has too much power
• You dont know what will turn out to matter
• Apprenticeship model tilts power back to the user
• Interviewer should create a partnership, not
  just an apprenticeship
• Alternate between watching and probing,
  withdrawal and return
• (CD 52)

30
Partnership

• Teach the user how to see work by probing work
  structure
• Users start interrupting themselves to reveal
  aspects of work or discuss design ideas
• A partnership develops

31
Partnership

• DONT squash design ideas if they arise
• Get instant feedback
• If it works, you understand the work practice and
  have a solution
• If it fails, you can improve your understanding
  of the work
• Find the work issues behind design ideas

32
Partnership Avoiding Other Relationship Models

• Interviewer / Interviewee
• You ask a question, customer answers and falls
  silent, so you ask the next question
• You arent there to get a list of questions
  answered
• Return to ongoing work

33
Partnership Avoiding Other Relationship Models

• Interviewer / Interviewee
• Expert / Novice
• You arent there to answer questions. If you
  developed the system in use, this is a temptation
• Help only if the user is stuck and you cant
  observe work
• Get back to CI asap

34
Partnership Avoiding Other Relationship Models

• Interviewer / Interviewee
• Expert / Novice
• Guest / Host
• Move closer, ask questions, be nosy
• Its a goal to be nosy

35
Partnership

• Let the user shape your understanding of the work
• Leads to truly user-centered design
• Partnership creates a sense of shared quest

36
Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context
• Ongoing work, Concrete, Retrospective account
• Partnership
• Withdrawal and return, Avoid other relationships
• Interpretation

37
Interpretation

• Interpretation is assignment of meaning to
  observation
• Good facts are only starting points
• Designs are built on interpretation of facts

38
Interpretation

• Interpretation is assignment of meaning to
  observation
• Good facts are only starting points
• Designs are built on interpretation of facts
• The watchman wont let us in

39
InterpretationThe Chain of Reasoning

• Fact
• The observable event (chart next to screen)
• Hypothesis
• An initial interpretation of meaning or intent
  (holdover from paper system)
• Implication for design
• (numbers dont matter, but accounts should be
  unambiguous)
• Design idea is realization of implication
• (identify accounts with names only)

40
Interpretation

• Fact
• Hypothesis
• Implication for design
• Design idea
• Design is built upon interpretation of facts
• Design ideas are end products of a chain of
  reasoning
• So interpretation had better be right
• Share interpretations with users to validate
• Will not bias the data
• Teaches the users to see structure in the work

41
Interpretation

• Instead of asking open ended questions
• Do you have a strategy to start the day?
• Not particularly.
• give users a starting point
• Do you check urgent messages first, no matter
  where they are from?
• Actually, things from my boss are important,
  because they are for me to do. Messages or faxes
  may be for anybody.
• Users fine-tune interpretations
• Probe contradictions until assumptions fit

42
Interpretation

• Non-verbal clues confirm or negate
  interpretations
• Yes and Nos
• Huh? way off
• Umm, could be usually means no
• Yes, but or Yes, and depends
• Commit to hearing what the user is actually
  saying
• People have not had others pay attention to what
  they are doing

43
Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context
• Ongoing work, Concrete, Retrospective account
• Partnership
• Withdrawal and return, Avoid other relationships
• Interpretation
• Validate your chain of reasoning
• Focus

44
Focus

• Focus defines the point of view
• Clear focus steers the conversation
• Everyone in the team should have an entering
  focus
• Focus lets the interviewer sees more
• Focus reveals detail
• Focus conceals the unexpected
• Focus on one, and loose the other
• Trick start with a focus and then expand

45
How to Expand Focus?

• Internal feelings guide how to interview

46
How to Expand Focus?

• Internal feelings guide how to interview
• Opportunities to expand focus
• Surprises, contradictions, idiosyncrasies
• Nothing any person does is for no reason
• Mobile phone games for the elderly
• Paanwala uses ATM cash deposit feature

47
How to Expand Focus?

• Internal feelings guide how to interview
• Opportunities to expand focus
• Surprises, contradictions, idiosyncrasies
• Nods
• Question your assumptions even if they match what
  the user says Do they really do that? Why would
  they do that?
• Internet kiosk operators

48
How to Expand Focus?

• Internal feelings guide how to interview
• Opportunities to expand focus
• Surprises, contradictions, idiosyncrasies
• Nods
• What you dont know
• Treat the interview as an opportunity to learn
  new stuff
• Something technical
• Even if user is not knowledgeable, the extent of
  knowledge / misinformation will be useful
• Village temple priest

49
Focus

• Convert a statement of solution to statement of
  user work
• Start with explicit assumptions
• Project focus gives the team a shared starting
  point
• Commit to challenging your assumptions, not
  validating them

50
Sutras of Contextual Inquiry

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context
• Ongoing work, Concrete, Retrospective account
• Partnership
• Withdrawal and return, Avoid other relationships
• Interpretation
• Validate your chain of reasoning
• Focus
• Statement of user work, challenge entering
  assumptions

51
The Contextual Interview Structure

• The Conventional Interview
• Introduce the project and focus
• Promise confidentiality
• Get permission to tape
• Explain that the work is primary and you are here
  to learn
• Break ice 3-4 factual questions
• Name, age, education, family, demographics
• Ask 1-2 open ended questions
• Opinions of tools, overview of the job
• Get summary data, not contextual data

52
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• Introduce the project and focus
• Promise confidentiality
• Get permission to tape
• Explain that the work is primary and you are here
  to learn
• Break ice 3-4 factual questions
• Name, age, education, family, demographics
• Ask 1-2 open ended questions
• Opinions of tools, overview of the job
• Get summary data, not contextual data
• Give 5-15 minutes

53
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• Explain the new rules of a contextual interview
• User will do the work
• You watch and ask questions

54
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• Explain the new rules of a contextual interview
• User will do the work
• You watch and ask questions
• 30 seconds, but crucial 30 seconds

55
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• The Contextual Interview Proper
• Observe and probe ongoing work
• Suggest and validate interpretations
• Analyze artifacts
• Elicit retrospective accounts
• Keep the user concrete
• Take copious notes
• Be nosy, allow interruptions
• Context, partnership, interpretation and focus

56
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• The Contextual Interview Proper
• Observe and probe ongoing work
• Suggest and validate interpretations
• Analyze artifacts
• Elicit retrospective accounts
• Keep the user concrete
• Take copious notes
• Be nosy, allow interruptions
• Context, partnership, interpretation and focus
• Could take 10-90 minutes

57
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• The Contextual Interview Proper
• The Wrap Up
• Summarize what you learnt from your notes
• Feedback and comprehensive interpretation

58
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The Conventional Interview
• The Transition
• The Contextual Interview Proper
• The Wrap Up
• Summarize what you learnt from your notes
• Feedback and comprehensive interpretation
• 5-15 min

59
The Contextual Interview Structure...

• The conventional interview
• (5-15 min)
• The transition
• (30 s)
• The contextual interview proper
• (10-90 min)
• The wrap up
• (5-15 min)

60
Contextual Inquiry Summary

• Running a successful interview is less about
  following specific rules than it is about being a
  certain kind of a person for the duration of the
  interview
• Let the four principles of Context, Partnership,
  Interpretation and Focus guide you to adapt the
  master / apprentice model

61
Homework

• Go to the field
• Slums, houses, railway stations, mess kitchens,
  post offices, garages, hospitals,
• Conduct some contextual inquiries
• Bring back one 10 min long video
• Try to answer these questions
• Why are new solutions required?
• What are the new possibilities in my field?

62
Thank You

• Master apprentice model
• Learn from the master on the fly
• Context
• Ongoing work, Concrete, Retrospective account
• Partnership
• Withdrawal and return, Avoid other relationships
• Interpretation
• Validate your chain of reasoning
• Focus
• Statement of user work, challenge entering
  assumptions
• Contextual inquiry structure
• Conventional interview, transition, CI, wrap up