ethnography study: is online time "good for kids?"

I have a Facebook account which I use now and again, and I find it very useful for keeping in touch with friends whom I may otherwise have lost contact with. It's true, if Facebook did not exist then I would have lost touch with some friends from High School, so why use this new tool as a method of communication with people I would otherwise have forgotten about? 

I suppose in a way it makes me happy to keep in touch with these people. After all, these friends from the past are tagged with many memories, some of which would have evaporated if it weren't for the occasional email from them to my Facebook homepage.

However my opinion of social networking sites is not all that of hope, happiness and reminiscence. children and teenagers are spending far too much time surfing the internet and socializing online through the likes of Facebook and MySpace. 

There are many dangers related to these past-times such as childhood obesity and the risk of meeting pedophiles disguising themselves as teenagers through the mask of the virtual world. In fact,  25% of 8-15 year olds in the UK admit to having "Facebook" friends; people they have not met in real life but have befriended through the social networking website.

However this morning I read how a study has shown that spending time on social networking sites is important for teen development. 

The report really counters my opinion and probably the stereotypical views of parents and teachers nationwide.

"They are learning the technological skills and literacy needed for the contemporary world," said Dr Mimi Ito, the reports author. 

"They are learning how to communicate online, craft a public identity, create a homepage, post links. All these things were regarded as sophisticated 10 years ago but young people today take them for granted."

The aim of the Digital Youth Project was to provide an ethnographical view of how children use social media to socialize, learn and relax. More than 800 teenagers took part in the study.

Dr Ito also says that the internet provides teenagers the opportunity to explore in their own creativity whilst providing a "hang-out" place for teenagers, rather than public places where some are perhaps likely to cause nuisance or even commit petty crimes.

This has made me realise that there are opposing advantages and disadvantages to online socializing. On one side we can argue that children are not getting out enough to exercise, for example, as they spend so much time in front of a computer screen; surfacing issues such as childhood obesity which then leads to health problems in later life. There is also the danger of children not always knowing who exactly they are talking to online. 

However the on the other side, the argument is more related to the younger generations ability to use technology and explore their creativity. 

As a designer interested in technology, it would make sense for me to now argue for the latter, however I am indecisive (for a change) and find myself swaying between both arguments. 

So here is a final thought: "Modern" learning has become very peer-based and networked, so with more teenagers now possessing technical abilities partnered with creative thinking, will this path the way for a new breed of designer?

Introducing Ethnography

On Friday, Lauren and I introduced Ethnography to our 1st year Design Studies students; encouraging them to be visual listeners and critical thinkers. As it is important to publish our work, thoughts and ideas as designers, we also offered the students a chance to be published on our blogs. 

Lauren gave the students a quick presentation on Ethnography, referencing the work of IDEO and showing examples from Thoughtless Acts by Jane Fulton Suri. We the asked the students to go away and observe people and how they interact with the world around them, giving them 3 days to take a photo of a particular observation and write a little insight description.

AND THE WINNERS ARE... (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):

GAVIN BORTHWICK

 for his excellent portrayal of his critical thinking.

DOUGLAS WOOD

 for his excellent illustration of "adaptation"

Congratulations to these guys. Here are the images and insights they produced.

GAVIN

"I chose to look at the unusual tradition of using old newspaper as a wrapping/ packaging for chip shop foods.

To notice something lying infront of your eyes, is a process that can be processed in a very short period of time. Before your mind can begin analysing information, it searches for anything that stands out or seems a little more unusual than anything else. In my case, the newspaper clipping used for the packaging for a deep fried food seems almost rediculous. When the object or thought is identified, the unusualness of the item is emphasised until it cannot be taken to any further stage. As the newspaper is and has always been designed to present news and information to the reader, the connection between news and food is non existent. Although people may identify that they are recycling their paper goods and 'saving the trees', their is no reason to combine the overall idea together".

DOUGLAS

"The cooking pot. Not only a utensil for suitably cooking foodstuffs in but when next to a sink, a useful place to store cutlery waiting to be washed or if the pot is clean, a place to store clean cutlery needing to be dried and/or put away. One of the main reason why the pot is used is because there is a lack of storage space in the kitchen area for the individual to put their cutlery and other utensils. This does however make more sense than leaving forks and knives etc lying about were someone could injure themselves. Some other uses for the pot (not shown) include a helmet or hat and a low value drum (both of these are mainly practiced by children)".

design against terrorism

These images show barricades which have been built in front of Westminster, presumably to prevent terrorists driving a vehicle filled with explosives into the Houses of Parliament. 

Could it not have been designed to look a little more pleasing on the eye?

I don't understand the purpose of this sign.

art meets design through the middleman of ethnography

I have observed people in lots of different ways as a designer. My last interaction design project, Fable, started off as a research project entitled Rituals in the Way We Eat (The title inspired by designer Dean Brown with his research project Rituals in the Way We Sleep). One of the most interesting pieces of research was the cross cultural comparison exercise where I asked families in the UK and Italy to take photos of there eating environments.

I was trying to uncover as to why it means so much to Italians to spend mealtimes together as a family. Here in the UK we don't seem to care as much and only just over half of British families spend mealtimes together regularly; compared to over 90% of Italian families. The photo below shows the inside of (newly weds) Ivan and Melissa Rocca's cutlery drawer.

But I'm not going to go into detail about the project; the purpose of this post is to show a link between design and art, in this particular example, photography.

Photographer Paho Mann has photographed junk drawers and medicine cabinets for 8 years. His work examines the resolute mark of individuality in a culture that advocates conformity. He explains that even among people who try hard to fit into society there is an abundance of information each person reveals in "near-private" spaces, such as drawers and cabinets.

Mann goes on to conclude that these semi-hidden spaces force people to deal with our human impulse to collect and categorize. Through doing so on a subconscious level, individuals reveal insights into their personality and identity.

I love the way Mann has visually communicated his work, photographing all the drawers looking down against a black background. I'm not sure if there is a hidden message in this consistency. It's almost as if he is suggesting that every human has the same natural desire to collect and categorize; and the only thing that differentiates us from one another is the way in which we do it.