This section contains a number of guides to ethnographic methods..
* These guides were produced as part of the Esprit funded 'COMIC' Project (Computer-based Mechanisms of Interaction in Cooperative Work) and the DTI/EPSRC funded 'SYCOMT' Project (Systems Development and Cooperative Work: Methods & Techniques). There is a slide presentation to accompany each guide.
1. What is ethnography? - presents a general outline of the background and procedures of ethnography
2. Types of ethnography - identifies four uses of ethnography in various phases of the design cycle
3. Case studies of ethnography - a series of studies done over the last few years motivated by CSCW concerns.
4. Practicalities of ethnographic research.
* Other resources you might look at include
The Ethnographic Turn: Why It Has Come About and How to Do It - by Richard Harper
"Ethnography is now one of the key methods used within the CSCW community to specify the role of computer based systems in work practice. Yet the exact nature of ethnography, how it is done, what field work techniques it incorporates, and what might make ethnography in CSCW a distinct practice is only discussed in a piecemeal way in the literature. This paper attempts to make up for that absence. It provides a history of why ethnography has been turned to in computer systems research and outlines one fieldwork program developed over a number of projects in which ethnography has been allied with computer systems and work practice design. The discussions will be of interest to both expert practitioners of ethnography and novices".