Feb 9

CS Tea Talk Series

Thu, February 9, 2017 • 4:00pm - 5:00pm (1h) • CMC 209

Janell Rothenberg, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Carleton College
Celeste Sharpe, Academic Technologist for Instructional Technology at Carleton College

TITLE:  Learning From Users: Ethnographic Methods for Technology Design

ABSTRACT:  Given increasingly fast product cycles of the tech industry, success or failure of a particular technology in the marketplace often depends on user buy-in rather than just the quality of code. At the same time, users for any given technology are increasingly diverse. How do we make products that leverage that diversity? More and more, anthropologists and other social scientists are collaborating with engineers to build more usable technologies for these diverse groups of users.

In this talk, we will address some of the ways in which anthropological tools can be applied to this question, and how our own research has been driven by user-centered inquiry into the everyday practices of technology. We will draw on design anthropology to propose ways to make technologies more socially and culturally sensitive, and highlight specific examples of applied anthropology in technological domains. This talk also introduces a new course for Spring 2017 in SOAN titled “Designing for Diversity: Anthropology and New Technologies,” which centers on the theory and praxis of design anthropology and the technologies present here at Carleton’s IdeaLab.

BIOS:  Janell Rothenberg is Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton College. She received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California at Los Angeles, where her dissertation research on the user experience of infrastructure in Morocco was supported by the program in Science, Technology, and Society of the National Science Foundation.  

Celeste Sharpe is Academic Technologist for Instructional Technology at Carleton College. She earned her Ph.D. in History from George Mason University, where her research focused on disability studies, visual culture. and accessibility. 

Event Contact: Sue Jandro

Event Summary

CS Tea Talk Series
  • Intended For: Students, Faculty, Staff

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