University of Bergen IFI seminar 26.
Usability is still one of the major problems of software development.
Nonetheless, the traditional software engineering community regards the methods for participatory design and the ones making use of ethnographic methods to understand the work practice of users as impracticable. In 1998 and 1999 we developed a course joining ethnographic work practice studies, participatory design and software development. Based on Floyd's Design Perspective on the software development side we were able to integrate the different methodological approaches. From this experience we learned that both ethnographic work practice studies and software development will change if brought together. This has been confirmed by others, including projects in industrial settings.