HCI class today discussed fieldwork, and more importantly, ethnography.
Interesting snippets (which may or may not have anything to do with
ethnography):
- "A good way to have conversations with complete strangers it to have a notebook." People are very much interested in telling pretty intimate details of their lives to complete strangers, because they're likely safer people to tell. Also, because they're American.
- People don't know what they actually want. They know what they don't want from the visceral reaction, but they don't think about what they do want, so they tend to not be able to describe it in a way that's useful to people. People don't tend to think about what they want until you probe them. Solution: ask the right questions once to get them to think about it, and then again
- "In business, success means dollars. In positive terms."
- "There are two ways to bridge the gap - make everyone rich, or make everyone poor."
- On Ghanan scammers: "It is a highly...productive process."
There were many more things that we talked about that I've already forgotten.
I love the CS grad lounge in the mornings. The great big windows fill the room
with light, it's quiet, and I seem to read papers with an unusual efficiency
when I'm located there.
I've been on campus for 14 hours today. :/