Probing the Pandemic: Participants as Ethnographers at Home

• Main Author: Ball, Barith
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS) 2020
• Subjects: Participatory design; Interaction design; Auto-ethnography; Sensory ethnography; Design probes; Design methodology; Internet of Things; Engineering and Technology; Teknik och teknologier
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-21682

This thesis aimed to investigate ways to conduct participatory research practices that would gain knowledge of participants' relationships and experiences with/in their physical home environment by using a design probe. Through the probe, a new approach to participatory design research was formulated. This approach gives agency to participants through elements of auto-ethnography, thus shifting the traditional power structures that often exist between participants and designers. This new type of research could yield greater intimacy and mutuality between designers and their participants. Due to this, it has the potential to be meaningful when designing for the home environment, and therefore can be used for research and design within the Internet of Things.