Abstract
Within the wider Human-Computer Interaction community, many researchers have turned to ethnography to inform systems design. However, such approaches have yet to be fully utilized within auditory interface research, a field hitherto driven by technology-inspired design work and the addressing of specific cognitive issues. It is proposed that the time has come to investigate the role ethnographic methods have to play within auditory interface design. We begin by discussing “traditional” ethnographic methods by presenting our experiences conducting a field study with a major UK-based computer games developer, highlighting issues pertinent to the design of auditory interfaces, before suggesting ways in which such techniques could be expanded to consider the role sound plays in people’s lived experiences and thus merit further research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Blomberg, J., Giacomi, J., Mosher, A., Swenton-Hall, P.: Ethnographic Field Methods and their Relation to Design, in Participatory Design: Principles and Practices. In: Namioka, A., Schuler, D. (eds.), Hillsdale, NJ, USA, pp. 123–154. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah (1993)
Norman, D.A.: The Invisible Computer. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)
Bannon, L.J.: A Human-Centred Perspective on Interaction Design. In: Pirhonen, A. (ed.) Future Interaction Design, pp. 31–51. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg (2005)
Hallnäs, L., Redström, J.: From Use to Presence: On the Expressions and Aesthetics of Everyday Computational Things. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction TOCHI 9(2), 106–124 (2002)
Brown, J.S., Duguid, P.: Borderline Issues: Social and Material Aspects of Design. Human-Computer Interaction 9, 3–36 (1994)
Cooper, G., Hine, C., Rachel, J., Woolgar, S.: Ethnography and Human-Computer Interaction. In: Thomas, P. (ed.) The Social and Interactional Dimensions of Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 11–36. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995)
Plowman, L., Rogers, Y., Ramage, M.: What are Workplace Studies For? In: ECSCW 1995: Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Stockholm, Sweden (1995)
Green, T.R.G., Davies, S.P., Gilmore, D.J.: Delivering Cognitive Psychology to HCI: The Problems of Common Language and of Knowledge Transfer. Interacting with Computers 8(1), 89–111 (1996)
Macaulay, C., Crerar, A.: Observing the Workplace Soundscape: Ethnography and Auditory Interface Design. In: Proceedings of the 1998 International Conference on Auditory Display. ICAD, Glasgow, UK (1998)
Bannon, L.J., Bødker, S.: Beyond the Interface: Encountering Artifacts in Use. In: Carroll, J.M. (ed.) Designing Interaction: Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface, pp. 227–253. Cambridge University Press, New York (1991)
Bannon, L.: Activity Theory. University of Limerick, Limerick (1997), http://www-sv.cict.fr/cotcos/pjs/TheoreticalApproaches/Actvity/ActivitypaperBannon.htm
Hughes, J., King, V., Rodden, T., Andersen, H.: Moving Out from the Control Room: Ethnography in System Design. In: Proceedings of the 1994 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. ACM Press, Chapel Hill (1994)
Macaulay, C.: Inside the Palimpsest: A Study of Newsroom Information Gathering, PhD thesis, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland (2000)
Boyle, J.S.: Styles of Ethnography. In: Morse, J.M. (ed.) Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods, pp. 159–185. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (1994)
Chambers, E.: Applied Ethnography. In: Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S. (eds.) The Handbook of Qualitative Research, pp. 851–869. SAGE Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks (2000)
Wolcott, H.F.: The Art of Fieldwork. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek (1995)
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M.: Qualitative Data Analysis. SAGE Publications Inc., Beverly Hills (1984)
Hughes, J.A., O’Brien, J., Rodden, T., Rouncefield, M., Blythin, S.: Designing with Ethnography: A Presentation Framework for Design. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods and Techniques. ACM Press, Amsterdam (1997)
Burke, J., Kirk, A.: Ethnographic Methods. University of Maryland, Maryland (2001), http://www.otal.umd.edu/hci-rm/ethno.html
Coleman, G.W., Hand, C., Macaulay, C., Newell, A.F.: Approaches to Auditory Interface Design - Lessons from Computer Games. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Auditory Display, Limerick, Ireland (2005)
Gaver, W.W.: Auditory Interfaces. In: Helander, M.G., Landauer, T.K., Prabhu, P.V. (eds.) Handbook of Human Computer Interaction, pp. 1003–1035. Elsevier Science B.V, Amsterdam (1997)
Malone, T.W.: Heuristics for Designing Enjoyable User Interfaces: Lessons from Computer Games. In: The 1982 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, Gaithersburg (1982)
Dyck, J., Pinelle, D., Brown, B., Gutwin, C.: Learning from Games: HCI Design Innovations in Entertainment Software. In: The 2003 Conference on Graphics Interface, Halifax, Canada (2003)
Rollings, A., Adams, E.: Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Games Design. Pearson Professional Education, Boston (2003)
Green, W.S., Jordan, P.W. (eds.): Pleasure with Products: Beyond Usability. Taylor & Francis, London (2002)
Norman, D.A.: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books, New York (2004)
Blythe, M.A., Overbeeke, K., Monk, A.F., Wright, P.C.: Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment. Kluwer Academic Publishing, London (2004)
Federoff, M.A.: Heuristics and Usability Guidelines for the Creation and Evaluation of Fun in Video Games. 2002: MSc Thesis, Department of Telecommunications, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA (2002)
Pausch, R., Gold, R., Skelly, T., Thiel, D.: What HCI Designers Can Learn from Video Game Designers. In: CHI 1994 Conference Companion, Boston, Massachusetts (1994)
Deutsch, S.: Music for Interactive Moving Pictures. In: Sider, L., Freeman, D., Sider, J. (eds.) Soundscape: The School of Sound Lectures 1998 - 2001, pp. 28–34. Wallflower Press, London (2003)
Back, M.J.: Designing the Auditory Narrative: A Methodology for Sound Design. In: Greenebaum, K., Barzel, R. (eds.) Audio Anecdotes II: Tools Tips and Techniques for Digital Audio, pp. 305–328. A K Peters, Ltd, Wellesley (2004)
Hughes, J., King, V., Rodden, T., Andersen, H.: The Role of Ethnography in Interactive Systems Design. Interactions 2(2), 56–65 (1995)
Feld, S.: Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics and Song in Kaluli Expression, 2nd edn. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia (1990)
McGregor, I., Crerar, A., Benyon, D., Macaulay, C.: Soundfields and Soundscapes: Reifying Auditory Communities. In: Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Auditory Display, Kyoto, Japan (2002)
Jordan, P.W.: Designing Pleasurable Products. Taylor & Francis, London (2002)
Schafer, R.M.: The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Destiny Books, Rochester (1994)
Truax, B.: Acoustic Communication. Ablex Publishing, Westport (2001)
Wrightson, K.: An Introduction to Acoustic Ecology. Soundscape 1(1), 10–13 (2000)
Gaver, W.W.: What in the World do we Hear? An Ecological Approach to Auditory Event Perception. Ecological Psychology 5(1), 1–29 (1993)
Chion, M.: Audio-Vision: Sound On Screen. Columbia University Press, New York (1994)
Ozcan, E., van Egmond: Characterizing Descriptions of Product Sounds. In: Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Auditory Display, Limerick, Ireland (2005)
Jordan, P.W., Engelen, H.: Sound Design for Consumer Products. In: Hey, Listen! 1998. Royal Swedish Music Academy, Stockholm (1998)
Beyer, H., Holtzblatt, K.: Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems. Academic Press, San Diego (1998)
Baillie, L.: The Home Workshop. In: Home-Orientated Informatics and Telematics International Working Conference, California, USA (2003)
Berendt, J.E.: Third Ear: On Listening to the World. Element Books Ltd, Dorset (1988)
Barrass, S.: Auditory Information Design, PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra (1997)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Coleman, G.W., Macaulay, C., Newell, A.F. (2006). Listen to This – Using Ethnography to Inform the Design of Auditory Interfaces. In: McGookin, D., Brewster, S. (eds) Haptic and Audio Interaction Design. HAID 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4129. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11821731_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11821731_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-37595-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-37596-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)