I think it's a false argument. A really good ethnographer can anticipate (through ethnographic study) the value of a technology that does not yet exist to satisfy a user need. But there are few "really good" ethnographers.
Until the user knows the functionality is possible, they are not going to pine after it. So it helps to have a technology to point to so that users can get a sense of what is possible and imagine what they could do with it that would create a new need. And to be honest, whether you call it ethnography or design research is just semantics, as long as there are people doing it and doing it well. We can call it boogedy boogedy and it is just as valuable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48144 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
