Mixing research methods in HCI: Ethnography meets experimentation in image browser design

Abstract

We report the specification and evaluation of a browser designed to support sharing of digital photographs. The project integrated outcomes from experiments, ethnographic observations, and single-case immersive observations to specify and evaluate browser technologies. As well as providing and evaluating new browser concepts, a key outcome of our research is a case study showing the successful integration of ethnography and experimentation, research and design methods that are often viewed as orthogonal, sometimes even mutually exclusive, in HCI. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2005.