Structuring the Social
Structuring the Social
Inside Software Design
This chapter describes the role of ethnography within a technical design process, as understood from an engineering perspective. It pays particular attention to the distinction between research prototypes and manufactured products, arguing that there is often little resemblance between the academic study of technology users and the pragmatics of design for global markets. Software design depends on structured accounts of social affairs, and constructs these using methods appropriated from the social sciences. However, the designed artefact itself should also be read as a craft achievement that emerges into a socio-economic context.
Keywords: Software Design, Applied Ethnography, Ethnomethodology, Design Research, ICT4D
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