— 11 July 2003
The Rise in Popularity of Ethnography
Over the past few years ethnography and ethnographers have been popping up everywhere I turn. From human computer interaction, to branding, to computer supported co-operative work, to product development, to tangible computing, to advertising. The value of the unique insights offered by ethnographic approaches in a commercial context is now pretty much undisputed and lots of different entities are willing to meet the demand for ethnographic insights.
I would say ethnography is nearing commodity status, which is both a good and bad thing. It is good because ethnography helps a variety businesses get a deep understanding on what they need to do in order to succeed and sensitizes them to important aspects of their relationship to end-user/customer/audience. It is bad from the perspective that a lot of people purporting to do ethnography seem to be a little shy on the methodological and theoretical equipment necessary to do solid ethnographic research. Without question, ethnography can be learned. But if people who purport to be doing it don't take the time necessary to learn the craft, the promise of ethnography could diminish in the eyes of those who embraced its application in business in the first place.
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