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In a couple of days I will be heading out to the 2009 UPA Conference in Portland, OR.  This year I took a course in ethnography, and since then have been interested in its adaptation into user-centered design.  At this years conference I will be presenting a poster on the history of ethnography in its source discipline of anthropology.  My poster is a timeline of what I have deemed important events, issues, debates, etc. in ethnography.  On the actual poster I have citations, but no full works cited.  Click here to see my poster including all of the references in my poster.

My classmate/colleague/friend Martha Kam and I presented at the Boston mini-UPA conference earlier this week.  Our topic was a bit controversial, although we attempted to keep our stance on the topic neutral.  The subject:  using ethnography in user-centered design.  The presentation was organized as a lively debate.  We brought up issues and debates in ethnography in its original fields of anthropology and sociology, and asked the audience questions about their thoughts on using ethnography in user-centered design.  The discussion was heated and as we hoped, lively.  We are happy that this dialog was brought up at a local level, and we hope discussions like this continue.  Click here to see our slides.