Studio 6 | Identifying research methods (1): Reading

With respect to usability testing of ubiquitous computing, ethnography entails:

• Testing 'in situ' or 'in the wild', i.e. within the situations which it would be used.
• Gathering of internal evidence, i.e. 'text messages... generated by users in their interactions together', as well as the more traditional external evidence such as observational recording of interactions.
  

The paper describes four ubiquitous computing systems which were analysed using ethnography:

• Can You See Me Now?, which involved online players interacting in a 3D model of the world with performers in the real world using GPS and WiFi technologies. The idea was that the performers had to catch the online characters by interpreting the GPS data.
• Uncle Roy All Around You, following on from the previous game, where the players were both in the streets and online. The goal of the game was to find 'Uncle Roy' by interpreting location-based clues and interacting with performers on the street.
  
• Savannah, an educational game designed to teach children about lions in the African savannah by overlaying a virtual environment on a school playfield using handheld computers, GPS and WiFi technologies.
  
• Treasure, where teams of players interact with handheld computers using GPS to pick up virtual coins. However, in order to store the coins, players have to take their handhelds within a WiFi hotspot. If an opposing team gets within their range before they reach the hotspot then their coins can be stolen.

When analysing Treasure, the observers recorded various information both on the game server and on the players' handheld computers which was then compared with recorded video and audio of the event. Using specialised tools, they were able to view each piece of evidence in synchrony with another. Interestingly, this allowed them to ascertain that the logged GPS position on the handheld device was often radically different to that which was logged on the game server.