In our seminar we have been doing readings in anthropology–specifically covering Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture (by Clifford Geertz). Out of this method for understanding cultures grew our first exercises and a project. In groups, we spent time at particular coffee shops observing the cultures there. We attempted to create “thick descriptions” of what went on–looking at both the obvious happenings and the underlying motives and transactions that occurred. Drawing from those descriptions, we crafted stories about one of the characters we had observed. And using the descriptions as springboards, we created hypothetical culture probes–tools designed to find out more about a culture and context in which to design–and in our case, directed at finding out more about ritual.
Another of our readings, which seemed to play a large part in my thought process during this time, was an interview with Bill Gaver. I found his discussion about culture probes working to help discover a picture of people’s lives, as opposed to hard facts and information, pretty fascinating. Ambiguity and uncertainty become no longer weaknesses, but assets.
It’s a picture that is fragmented, and often impossible to interpret with any confidence. That is crucial to the approach. Taken the right way, that uncertainty becomes a license to imagine and over-interpret, to tell stories that can lead to designs.
With this as inspiration, I set off to design a culture probe, which would theoretically be placed in the coffee shop Global Village. At first I generated some simple ideas involving tracking foot patterns and people drawing on their tables (in the spirit of the 1000 Journals project). Then, after a conversation with Denise about ritual, I started thinking about how interference with a person’s ritual could tell you more about it. If ritual involves a measure of emotional attachment, how will a person react if their routine is interrupted?
One of my observations from the shop included a young woman who was there to study. I found it interesting to watch her preparations for the process of studying, and wondered if this could be a ritual. It was most likely procrastination–getting coffee, then getting up again to get food, checking the cell phone, fiddling with the ipod–all before settling down to work. But wouldn’t people have a sort of attachment to that procrastination? Perhaps it is a ritual for some, and not for others.
So I wanted to create a table that would interfere with someone’s ritual somehow–perhaps the ritual of studying, and/or procrastinating. My idea was for a table made with thermochromatic material (what mood rings are made from), which would respond to changes in temperature. How would a person sitting at this table react when they discovered that it would respond to them? Would they play with it and enjoy it, or ignore it, run from it?
In revisions I added journal gifts for users of the table, to be displayed at the ordering counter, which would direct them to use this table for studying (in exchange for allowing us to videotape them–the method of retrieving feedback). I wanted to lead people into the mindset of studying, and then see how they would respond to a table that would distract them. Perhaps some people have a routine of procrastinating which would easily incorporate a playful piece of furniture. Perhaps some would ignore it and go on with their study ritual. Perhaps others would invite friends to interact with the table and create a new social ritual.
Although I struggled with it some (with that whole “ambiguity” thing), at the end I decided that I’d really enjoyed the culture probe project. It’s exactly the sort of thing I imagined myself doing in grad school. I imagined myself using design to solve problems, but more than that, using it to venture out into the unknown and discover new things, in the style of good old-fashioned research. I’d like to push the bounds of what design can be used for, and not in the typical sense of pushing artistic boundaries, as designers in the professional world speak of. Not just what can be more “cool,” but what can be more useful, more illuminating, more educative?
