002 AEIOU

A framework for structuring field observations

• This can be used to guide any ethnographic or observational method, corresponding to five interrelated elements:

– Activities are goal-directed sets of actions or the pathways that people take toward the things they want to accomplish.

– Environments include the context in which activities take place, including the atmosphere and function of individual and shared spaces.

– Interactions are the routine and special exchanges between people and between people and objects in the environment.

– Objects are the key elements of the environment, sometimes put to complex or even unintended uses.

– Users are the people whose behaviors, preferences, and needs are being observed, including their roles and relationships.

See also   Contextual Inquiry • Fly-on-the-Wall Observation • Observation

Fieldwork observations of Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects, and Users are converged onto a team worksheet for synthesis and analysis by the design team.