Ethnography Reading

What is Ethnography Reflection

I have participated in an Ethnography before so this reading supplemented what I already know by building on it. Ethnography is a conduction of research to try and explain something about a counterculture. This is what I believed Ethnography was but it is much more based on a design perspective. Design can be used most effectively when the designer is educated on their target culture. Without knowing the norms of the culture a designer would fail to create something that would be beneficial to it. The process is engaging with the culture in the space and produces tunnels that would lead to the meaning behind interactions. The action of the people will yield better results that speaking two them because they are often different.
This reading explains as far as Ethnography goes there are important factors to investigate. How people organize, solve problems the roles people assume, and what people carry will all lead to answer the meaning behind the cultural norms.
After gathering all this information and knowing how to make sense of it according to the reading are totally opposite. An Ethnographer must analyze the data with is the most rewarding part of the process. Like an experiment their needs to be a problem. For a designer the first step is to figure out the problem so an overarching goal can be determined. The second step is to rethink the question because it could lead to other possibilities that were not initially sought out. One key point that seemed important to me was that thinking through the goal before going out in the field. This could eliminate many problems and wasted time and effort. Having a clear spot and game plan in place before one goes into the field and analyzes their data. Overall this reading eased my mind knowing that the results can be had by asking opened ended questions to generate a conversation. There is a lot involved that goes into this type of research but it can be rewarding.