CSC8605 - Video as Inquiry

Video for Inquiry Interaction Design methods

Image courtesy of James Price CSC8605 - 006

Video for Inquiry

Introduction •  Video in interaction design practice •  Tools to hand

Video Ethnography •  Co-discovery technique •  Design Documentaries

Video for Prototyping •  Documenting design process •  Experience prototyping

Video for Reflection •  Documentation •  Critical Reflection

Interaction Design methods

Using Video Tools to Hand

Video for Inquiry

Introduction •  Video in interaction design practice •  Tools to hand

Video Ethnography •  Co-discovery technique •  Design Documentaries

Video for Prototyping •  Documenting design process •  Experience prototyping

Video for Reflection •  Documentation •  Critical Reflection


Video for Inquiry

Ethnography is the systematic study of people and cultures in their natural setting – ‘in the field’.

Video Ethnography “is the video recording of the stream of activity of subjects in their natural setting, in order to experience, interpret, and represent culture and society”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_ethnography

•  Observation including filming of practitioners’

•  Reviewing recorded material with practitioners for reflexive discussion on practice

•  Transforming practice through practitioner-led change

Key reference: Sarah Pink. Doing Visual Ethnography. London: Sage Publications, 2007 (Chapters 5 & 9)


Doing Video Ethnography For empirical study:

- Video-making as data collection and analysis

Observation

Interviews and dialogue

Editing and story-making in production

- Video to generate qualitative forms of knowledge

Ethnographic

Phenomenological

Interpretative


Video for Inquiry

Doing Video Ethnography Use creative approaches: •  E.g. Storytelling

Use technical skill & good practice:

•  In filming

•  In editing and production

Engage with real world experiences for

•  Fostering empathy

•  Finding inspiration

•  Understanding life as lived

Key reference: Sarah Pink. Doing Visual Ethnography. London: Sage Publications, 2007 (Chapters 5 & 9)


How can video data be used?

- People-centred approach to design

- Interaction design methods grounded in understanding real-world experiences

- Fostering novel perspectives for empathy and inspiration

- Film/video as a resource for reflection and ideation


Co-discovery technique

- Researchers film participants in context of everyday life (multiple field visits)

• Observational footage is reviewed by researcher, relevancies are highlighted in edit

• Edited footage is presented back to participants to review with researcher

• Video is a stimulus for researchers and participants to discuss footage

• Shared as a stimulus for dialogue, reflection on the subject & setting

• Participants are invited to adopt novel perspectives on their lives

• Researchers & participants illuminate instances of potential significance

• Participants’ reflections direct the researcher's final edit

• Editing is a form of analysis, generating insights

• Final video edit is easily shareable with others whilst retaining a 'closeness' to the original data and experience.


Co-discovery technique

•  The participants are trying to make sense of their world;

•  The researcher is trying to make sense of the participants trying to make sense of their worlds


Co-discovery technique for video ethnography Example

Brief from Mobile Telecoms Client: ‘Working mothers‘personal time’

How do working mothers manage their time at home?

How do working mothers manage mobile phone use,

including when they are not using their mobile phones?

How do we open up a design space?


Media courtesy of Naked Eye Research


Working mothers’ personal time: Insights


Working mothers’ personal time: Insights

By getting up extra early, the family creates time together – no one rushes.

She talks about the aesthetics of experience

Seeing herself on here is revelatory:

•  Mum does everything she can to get others up in the morning

•  Kids make time for themselves by leaving the house 30 minutes early

•  This enables mum to make time (30 mins) for herself)

•  This helps create a relaxing morning for her husband

Mum is concerned to create a particular experience at home in the morning

Mum is concerned to create dedicated time for herself in the morning

Any services that helps Mum communicate to organise her family for creating this time would be valued


Doing video ethnography

Research with people, not on people, to co-discover

how people live in a real-world context (behaviour, experience)

what people see themselves doing

people’s reasons for their actions

articulated and latent needs and desires to inform design

Ethnographic inquiry is made through filming, editing and directing the video.


Doing video ethnography: criteria for evaluation

Sensitivity to context

grounding in existing knowledge of subject, showing empathy

Commitment to the subject

Seeing something through to the deliverable

Rigour, transparency and coherence

conducting and documenting a research process


Design documentaries

Researchers employ film-makers to interpret a designed artefact/ artwork

Take inspiration from documentary film techniques

Gain additional perspectives, interpretations

Use film-makers to engage with prototypes ‘in the wild’

Focus on everyday life, leaving the ‘erratic and elusive intact’

Documentary as a resource for reflection, evaluation, and ideation

Examples

The Plane Tracker by Interaction Studio, Goldsmiths College

Design Documentaries: www.designdocumentaries.com

Key reference: Bas Raijmakers Design Documentaries. Proc. DIS 2006, ACM Press


Design documentaries

Example: The Plane Tracker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvIVw1MDwYI

Observe how the video clip is working to communicate a design prototype

Critically reflect on how it communicates:

- lived experience

- real-world impact

- the users’ view

- other perspectives

-


Plane Tracker By Goldsmiths Interaction Studio


Video for Prototyping

Documenting a creative process Now we turn to consider video as a material and mechanism to prototype, to communicate.

Video is very effective for documenting a creative process. Video documentation affords you to quickly and effectively communicate the development of ideas, and how a designed artefact or artwork functions.

e.g. MAG+ BONNER & BERG Conceptual Video for a digital magazine layout (YouTube 2009)

.

IxD methods


Documenting a creative process •  Be mindful of good pacing in presentation of material

•  Interleave demonstrations of use with description of concepts

•  Provide appropriate level of detail for intended audience

•  Devise a well structured storyline

•  Make effective use of visual explanation

IxD methods


For experience prototyping •  Explore concepts without implementation

•  We just talked about how video can be used to document designs. Video affords us a means to effectively and engagingly explore how a novel technology design might be used, without needing to implement it.

•  Build a coherent story, use cheap and cheerful tricks: Hot Wheels prototype

IxD methods

For experience prototyping •  Explore concepts without implementation

•  Hot Wheels prototype:

•  http://vimeo.com/5125096

“This is a concept video for Sketch-a-move: A toy car that allows you to explore the unique relationships between small surface doodles and actual physical movements. If you draw a circle on the top of the toy car, it will move in a circle. If you draw a complicated spiral, the car will move in a spiral. The video visualises the varied experiences of interaction and scenarios of engagement.” -- Anab Jain & Louise Klinker

Video for Prototyping IxD methods

For experience prototyping

Exploring multiple interpretations of potentially controversial or future design proposals

•  Contravisions

•  Design Fictions

•  Invisible Design

Key references:

Clara Mancini et al. Contravision: exploring users’ reactions to futuristic technology. In Proceedings of CHI 2010, ACM Press

Julian Bleecker. A short essay on design fiction. Near Future Laboratory 2009

Pam Briggs et al. Invisible Design: exploring insights and ideas through ambiguous film scenarios. In Proceedings of DIS 2012, ACM Press.

Video for Prototyping IxD methods

Video: the reflexive medium

•  Video is an electronic medium, dependent on the transfer of electronic signals. Video signals are in constant movement, circulating between camera and monitor.

•  Arguably, video is not merely an intermediate stage between analog and digital but a medium in its own right. Video has metamorphosed from technology to medium, with a set of aesthetic languages that are specific to it.

•  Video is a flexible sensor. After Spielmann, video may be considered as "transformation imagery" acknowledging the centrality in video of the transitions between images.

•  There are different kinds of practice for handling video as a material and medium: e.g. documentary, experimental art, and experimental image-making.

Key reference: Yvonne Spielmann. Video: The Reflexive Medium. 2007, MIT Press

See also: Satellite Lamps: http://technorhetoric.net/19.1/inventio/martinussen-et-al

Video for Reflection IxD methods

Tips for good video production: •  Think about continuity, in terms of narrative and visual communication.

•  Look out for continuity errors, in terms of visual and narrative communication.

•  Think about pacing your message, and pausing for impact.

•  For observational research, give space to real-time, real-world interactions.

•  Give particularly significant content sufficient lead-in time.

•  If your video footage but has poor quality sound, consider using a voiceover.

•  Vice versa, if the sound is good, consider using an image in place.

•  When you have poor quality footage/ audio, is it vital to the project?

•  Can it be reshot/ re-recorded/ replaced?

•  Make sure text is on screen long enough to read it

•  Make sure text is big enough to read, and high enough contrast.

Using video IxD methods

Strategies for critically evaluating your video documentation

•  Seek feedback, not complements

•  Detach yourself emotionally from the work for the duration of the critique.

•  Explain don't defend blindly.

•  In one sentence, what is your video trying to communicate?

•  Ask a stranger to the work what the video communicates.

•  How does the video support the message or idea that you want to get across?

•  Can you explain why you made the work and how; explain your process?

•  Critique it before it's finished!

•  View criticism on finished pieces as feedback for improving future work.

Video for Reflection IxD methods



Further reading Sarah Pink. Doing Visual Ethnography. London: Sage Publications, 2007 (Chapters 5 & 9).

Bas Raijmakers. Design Documentaries: inspiring design research through documentary film. In Proceedings of DIS 2006, ACM Press.

Clara Mancini et al. Contravision: exploring users’ reactions to futuristic technology. In Proceedings of CHI 2010, ACM Press.

Pam Briggs et al. Invisible Design: exploring insights and ideas through ambiguous film scenarios. In Proceedings of DIS 2012, ACM Press.

Julian Bleecker. A short essay on design fiction. Near Future Laboratory 2009.

Yvonne Spielmann. Video: The Reflexive Medium. MIT Press, 2007. (Chapters 1 & 2).



For next week: Working in your module groups, please make a short, two-minute video piece.

This should be a reflective, ethnographically-informed piece capturing either

(a)  your experience of working in Space 10 or

(b)  your experience of using a local civic amenity.

Next week for CSC8605 – 008 we will do a ‘Show and Tell’ to discuss the pieces.

Draw upon resources you have to hand and the shared expertise within your group.

CSC8605 - Video as Inquiry

Education

video tools

production video

researcher video

ideation video

video recording

inquiry introduction

inquiry ethnography

insights final video