The lecture started off with Dr. G saying , "One of the things a person loves the most is his or her name." And this statement was in honour of our guest of the day, Taka Aki San, the Japanese student from Keio University in Japan. Taka seemed like an interesting boy, ready to listen to what everybody was saying with the utmost attention. He seemed to be making notes in his head about what was happening around, a first hand experience of the Indian Culture, some part of it at We School.
Dr. G explained to us that every language had tones and gave a few examples. Thai for example has 5 tones while Vietnamese has 6 tones. And it is because we have these tones we are able to pronounce things as 'Th' instead of 'T'...Interesting.
Next, he proceeded to define a Problem as "A gap between the actual and expected results."
This was further cleared out in the head when he asked us, "What is the result you want?" If there is a gap in what you want and what you get, there is a problem. Otherwise there is no problem.
Also, we were told to, "Never start with a solution. Always start with a problem."
At this point, Dr. G emphasised on not just describing things and that did not mean just describing things as they were. He kept asking us, "What do you See?". He wanted us to see beyond the obvious. It was pretty much like how Sherlock Holmes would observe a person walking on the road and could clearly give you a whole character evaluation of the person right away. The same was to be applied here. By observing so keenly, we would be able to identify a lot more than just what we see.
The problem in the video was that there was a certain generator which was bound to break down because of the condition it was in. Dr. G pointed this out and hence this breakdown could be completely avoided and the line was saved in the nick of time by diverting it to a back up generator and making the necessary repairs in the current one.
Then he proceeded to show us the second video. This was a Chinese Factory and there was a Barbie Doll being assembled on an assembly line. This was a way in which Dr. G was trying to take us to the Gemba by actually showing us the procedure right there. Once again we were asked to observe and the observations were..
(Will insert the image later)
After observing the video, the key factors to be concentrated on were:
No Quality
No Standardisation
Variation in Cycle Time
Now the question arises: How can you maintain Quality??
The best answer to this question is: The JIDOKA system.
Give power to the girl at the touch up station to not let the Barbie doll go ahead. The defect stops at that point.
Stopping the line is essential for Zero Defect. People always argue that if you have stopped the line for the sake of quality, the production will suffer. What they do not understand is that, the moment you are sending across products which are of inferior quality, you are either calling upon yourself, rework or maintenance issues with respect to the defective product you have just passed. This is going to come back to your line and hamper the productivity eventually and will take up extra manpower, set up time of machine and a lot of other resources which can actually go into production will go into rework.
The Jidoka system all over is very connected with the usage of the Andon Lamp, the red light which signifies that everybody has to stop whatever they are doing as a defect has been found. So what do the other workers do since the line has been stopped? They come up to the worker who has stopped the line and help the operator make the problem alright. This is how an ideal JIDOKA system should work. Jidoka works on "Detect the Problem Right Now".
One of the best ways to recognise where you can use the Jidoka system is to find out which is the maximum error and go to that station and stop and tell the person that their station is giving the maximum error. This will lead to trying to find out the root cause of the error, ie Differential Diagnosis and hence the defect can be eliminated right away.
Now the role of the Supervisor. How will the Supervisor know where the defect is?
He can observe the touch up station and see which is the maximum error occurring. He should observe what is the maximum error the girls are having to correct. Eg. If it is the hair, he should go up to the person(station) who is fixing the hair and tell them "Look you are not combing the hair properly. This is how it should be done" And demonstrate and stay with the person till he / she learns how to comb properly. This will eliminate the defect happening at a later point in the line and hence will avoid rework on the hair. This is reducing the defect rate and in turn increasing the efficiency of the operators which can lead to more productivity. Hence breaking the myth that increase in Quality will lead to a decrease in Productivity.
Hence, Jidoka refers to the concept which does not allow a Defective operation to go through at all.
Another thing which Dr. G asked us as soon as we finished watching the video the first time was if we believed that the Doll should be assembled on an assembly line or should a single doll be assembled by a single person. He asked the class to get divided into groups as per their beliefs. Then he asked each one off the groups as to why we thought our method was superior. Many points were raised in the process and the one which was of importance was the fact that a person has to be given responsibility of a particular job and hence he/ she is responsible for the defect that is occurring in the job. This is in a way giving the person the power and thus leading to the practice of the Jidoka system more effectively. This which we realized later was the way we realized how Unification of Labour was superior to Division of Labour.
Automation + Human Element = Autonomation... Dr. G told us.
Dr. G further explained to us why the Genchi Gembutsu technique was superior. He had clearly demonstrated this by showing us the Barbie Doll assembly. The concepts which we learnt through the exercise like Observation, Jidoka, etc, none of them would have been clear had we not seen the video. If he had just given us a case study and asked us to record our deductions from the case study or the stated facts, the understanding would have been much less and this would not have led to as good an understanding of the Jidoka principle.
A literal translation of Genchi Gembutsu, as I suspect you are going to be seeing a lot of it.
Genchi - The field where work is actually happening.
Genbutsu - Things in the Work place. Eg. - Jigs & Fixtures
Dr. G further went on to tell us that even Kishore Biyani, the founder of Future Group believes that Case Study is not an appropriate method of understanding things. He believes in "Scenario Building", something very similar to Genchi Gembutsu.
He further urged us to work in the Q square way, First look at Quality and then at Quantity. Dr. G then told us to look closely at the bottle neck operation. He told us that this operation decides the speed at which the entire operation will move. Hence, the Bottle neck becomes the rate controlling factor. In the video that we observed, the Bottle neck is the touch up operation on which 3 girls are working.
The best way to identify a bottle neck is to look for a PILE UP. There is always a pile up before the bottle neck operation.
Common practice is to add operations to the Bottle Neck operation. This will increase the cycle time for the manufacturing of the product. Instead wouldn't it be much more clever as to eliminate the defect entirely.
The Golden Rule remains that the line cannot produce more than what the Bottle Neck produces. Hence, the Cycle time automatically becomes the Bottle neck time.
Dr. G mentioned a few other concepts. Throughput and Takt time.
Throughput - It is the rate at which the output comes out.
Takt Time -
He then proceeded to ask us a question. "What do you do when the Line stops?" All the students started giving all sorts of answers. But Anila managed to give the correct answer and this was " Go and Help". Dr. G was very pleased with this reply.
This was actually an eye opener. Mostly because in Western Management, communication is never emphasised upon. It is never about Team Work and helping out. It is always about Individual Work and What I can accomplish for myself. Dr. G told us that in Japan they spell "Competition" as "Cooperation" and Japan practices this to the fullest extent. Everything works in cooperation. The intrinsic need that fighting and working against each other will never give a good result in the end. For the end result to be good at any time, it is required that we cooperate and work towards the common good. Another example to support this statement which Dr. G made was about the Baseball players in the US and in Japan. He said that the Baseball players in the US play for their own glory while in Japan people play for the team. Relative ranking is actually a result of this competitive nature and lets face it, it hasn't done any of us any good. Now once again the question arises as to why is US successful inspite of all these bad practices. The answer lies in each and every one of us. We all go to the US and make it successful, a thought of Dr. G's I totally am in sync with.
Dr. G then told us about a few of his Gurus (Sensei). They were Dr. Naoto Sasaki, Taichi Ohno, Prof. Yoshikazu Tsuda and Masa aki Imai. He then mentioned to us with a chuckle as to what had woken up the Quality expert in him.
He was just like us, when one day in Professor Tsuda's class, he asked a question to the professor, Prof. Tsuda said "Don't ask me. Ask the process." And to this day, Dr. G follows this method. He says that the Genchi Gembutsu talk to him. And that is the reason he does not need data because the process and the tools give him all that he required.
The class taught me a lot. Much more than what I would have learnt in a normal operations class room. We were taken to the place where the process happened through a video and were asked to apply ourselves and understand the principles by applying them to the scenario. Thank you Dr. G for the wonderful lecture... :)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
My happy moment!!
I saw this book when Dr. G introduced held it up in the class and said that he and a student of his had written it together. The name looked very interesting, "Chronicles of a Quality Detective". The name was a combination of 2 things I really loved. One being my passion of yesteryears, Detective novels and stories and the other thing ( the one thing I truly loved in engineering), The study of Quality. And to add to everything, this was by my very own professor, Dr. G. I decided to look it up online cos I did not really have the guts to go and ask him where I could get a copy, cos well he has his own ways and I was not certain as to how he would react. So, google I did, and with good result. I found an online copy of the book on Google Books and started reading it. Going through it, I realized that its main characters were Dr. G and his student Payal Sheth. Also, I got to know things about Dr. G like his wife was a Doctor and things like he loved Sherlock Holmes..ahh...and I think it was at about this time that my dad had rediscovered Sherlock Holmes and kept trying to make me read it again in spite of my telling him that I had read my share of Doyle and I thought Holmes was phenomenal. And it was only today after I finished reading Dr. G's book that I suddenly realized how I got into the habit of observing. Yes, u guessed right. It was from Sherlock Holmes. My memory is not that good and its been about 10 years, so I cannot recollect the various stories I ve read, but the amazing detail that Sherlock Holmes used to go into the moment he saw a person always fascinated me beyond anything. I guess, it is since then that I have tried to observe people in my own way and deduce maximum I can about them by just looking and observing them. Wonderful, I tell you. The method and the results that it can give you. I am not that bad at observing people I think and by reading the book I have clearly understood that I can apply this trait to a lot many other places and that it need not be necessarily limited to just analyzing people and their behavioural patterns. It might be useful somewhere else too..yippee!!
I loved the method of differential diagnosis. I want to write a detailed review on this book which I will be doing soon, not cos of anything else, but the sheer reason that the book, its authors and the technique..all three clearly deserve it. And if not for anything else, for making me happy and taking me back to the two places I was actually happy in...the Mystery and the Quality worlds.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Ask - Part 1
A ride in the Mumbai train. This is how much a single one way ride can make you think. A lot of unanswered questions in my mind. Hope to analyse and find answers to all of these. So, here goes...
Is "You own what you use" an Indian mentality?
Collage - Expressing things effectively...is it at some level a Mind Map with pictures???
How high is the "Risk" factor in entrepreneurship? Is risk the reason why we have more workers than entrepreneurs?
Helplines and their manifestations around us. Are they really effective? The chain in the train is a kind of helpline. Is it really effective?
Why are maps routing devices? Is that really the best way to figure out places?
Can the mind be called an exploding device? Is the working of the human mind actually like a periodic bomb which has to erupt in the end in the form of emotions?
Is tagging a person really required? What if we were all just faces?
We design everything keeping in mind the "Aesthetics" factor. So shouldn't everyone make aesthetics a part of the human manufacturing system? Are aesthetics over rated in general? Do you really think it is important for anything to look pretty? If yes, how much prettier and how much time and money cost should you allot for this performance factor?
Can we design a beautiful human being? Will it work? What will be the use and the utility of this product?
Why is the toy store the best place to come up with ideas? Does stimulating the right brain really make that huge a difference? We are happier when we enter the toy store. Is happiness correlated with the right brain? Is it required to be happy to be free and creative?
The importance of structure.
How important is structure? Is it as important in the thought process as in a building?
Advertising space in trains.
Lease it out and in return get better quality trains and good maintenance. Government needs to learn to let go.
How easy is it to catch the swine flu in Mumbai?
Or you could just count the number of strangers who sneeze into your face in a single day.
Is the Earth thinking? Are all her actions planned?
Don't just think from our perspective. Think of what we have done to her. Think of 'Gaya' and what she must think of all that is going on.
And is she really dying?
What is the point in Yellow and Blue light? People know that blue light consumes less electricity, but still yellow lights are used everywhere. Understandable that it sets the atmosphere, but is there really any other use? Then why not just switch to Blue.
Why does RED scare us? Are we actually scared of a color? Can a paradigm shift take place?
Who came up with stripes and checks? Why?
Why is the 'Circle' the defining and the end all of everything? Is the 'Spiral' better?
How strong is the illusion of Wind? Speed is the reason. Is wind a complete illusion and just an effect of something?
The bespectacled boy. How the spectacles are a part of him. It completes him. He feels incomplete if he is not with them.
Are bags / accessories shaped like animals really a huge market? Everybody finds it cute. A new opportunity to explore.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Thinker
Today was so crazy!! Especially the end of it. It took me the whole journey back home to shake the effect. None other than my professor Kaustubh Sir. Gem of a person. Finally they reason as to why I came to Welingkar and a good reason to stay there. So the task at hand is to get the site www.potentialsandpossibilities.com up and running. The ideas which came out of the whole session with sir were beyond crazy. After hours and hours of brainstorming with my friend along with reading on Branding a person, it finally went down to the basics. The fact that doing something with your hands is most important(unrelated) and that doing things basic and simple is as always good(related). I made a note of some of Sir's ideas and I am going to list them down here mostly because I am not in a mood to type it out elsewhere...lol...
1)Rs. 1 activity - Outcome..Phonecall...inspired by the Stanford Example.
2)Breaking the shackles of thinking - Cognition Theory - Inspired by Mitch Resnick - The new theory which came out of that - The never ending Helix
3) No secondary data, Primary data always better - Ethnographic study - Hiranandani Estate Stores observation
4)Amul Branding for all the Sandwich walas
5)Chocolate Slice in the Sandwich like the Amul Cheese Slice
6) Dough Balls to reduce the Salt - Manufacture
7) Mind Mapping
8) Understanding things at the basics
9) Mental Models
10) Jugaad
11) Be a futurist - Glasses with news papers and wat not fitted, Electronic Newspaper(Which I ridiculed when I first heard about it)..but its there..no escaping the leap in techno
12) Pain Points - Give Sectoral Reports
13)Business Design Model
14) Innovation Measurement Model - IPR KD Sir - WIP
15) Sectoral Analysis - IPR KD Sir - Applied 8 places - 3 success
16)Touch Technology @ MIT
17) Plant a Tree for every We eee - 2nd year's Idea inspired by An Inconvenient Truth
18) New Find - http://businessdesigner4u.com/ - Handled by a senior
19) New teaching techniques in school - Bridge made out of Straws and Sand and Strings and Ice cream sticks - Understanding Geology with stones.
After the mind blowing session by sir, I definitely felt charged and now I think I know and am sure that everything in life happens for the good.
Sir to give his work...asked him to record his ideas throughout the day....Ah...who said its easy being brilliant.. :D
Day 1 - Sales Vs. Revenue
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Motherjane
Motherjane has been around for a while now. I heard ‘Mindstreet’ and fell in love with the song right away. And once I like a song, it has to go and on and on for the whole day. Sometimes it could go on for a few days. There comes a point in my day when I actually need the song like water and get cranky if I don't get it. Crazy I know, but that is what music can do to u, and good music at that. Hope all of you have experienced that at some point of time in your lives. Of course co existing with this is always the ever popular dullard music which just makes you want to pull your hair off. Bottom line, Motherjane was a success with me from the very first minute. The crazy Indian zing in their music combined with some amazing progressive riffs makes it difficult for anyone to dislike their music.
‘Insane Biography’, their first release has some really good tracks like 'Soul Corporation', 'Shh...Listen' and of course 'Mindstreet', the song about just going out there and doing your thing, as one of the band members rightly put it. 'Maktub', their next album has some tracks which are even better. ‘Maktub’ definitely has more work put into it and the band seems to be more tight in this album. The enhanced version of 'Mindstreet' is real neat, making you feel more free and empowered. 'Broken' evokes a different emotion. Makes me sad every time I listen to it. Feels like something is really broken somewhere or something is messed up. The 'Taka Takita' start in 'Chasing the Sun' sends a chill through your body, makes you feel like you are standing right there in a 'Kalari Payattu' ground watching 2 people charge at each other. And the song just keeps getting better after the mind blowing start. 'Fields of Sound' has some amazing sound with the guitar flowing in the typical Motherjane style and some kick ass off beat drumming to accompany it. From their sound, there is a clear Dream Theater and Steve Vai influence which takes them on a very high scale in the progressive scene. We all know how hard it is to try and play anything to match up to that level. ‘Karmic Steps’ and ‘Before 1 million’ are clear testimonies to this. The combination of the different styles and sounds totally blows you away.
The half painted faces and the crazy tunes are gonna make these guys massive. Today they are pretty huge in the country and they are referred to as one of the biggest progressive rock bands the country has seen. Maybe one of the first amazing rock success stories from
Its been 13 years since Motherjane played first in the Indian Rock scene, a typical Jugaad band formed for the college festival, which today pretty much speaks a lot about Indian Progressive Rock. Coming from conservative Kerala, we cannot begin to imagine the resistance they must have faced to get out there in the open. Too bad though they have come out only with 2 albums till now and there is a huge gap between their releases. The second release ‘Maktub’ though brilliant doesn’t justify the 5 year gap. But their stamina for live shows has to be admired. Continuous playing for more than an hour this time at iRock they blew the audience away. The rain loved them too and every time Baiju started playing a solo, the rain would start and the solo would peak with the rain pouring like crazy. The experience was amazing. To be there in the sand and mud listening to Motherjane’s music. Hoping for many more days like these.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Julie and Julia
So today after a long long time I went to the movies. Watched Julie and Julia. A lovely movie. Made me really hungry. Something about the movie now.
It started off with the life of Julia Child played by Meryl Streep. The American who has moved to France. A lot to cook, a lot to eat and a life anyone would love living...at least I would. During the movie we come to know that Julia was actually a govt employee, a secretary of some sort who falls in love with Stanyley Tucci in the course of an assignment or something and then they get married and move to France. The whole French thing in the movie is just beautiful. I loved the way they dressed...the way they ate...the way they interacted...with the enchante...lovely to watch and hear.
Though I think a lot of the aura has to do with the fact the movie is supposed to be shot somewhere in the 40s...And yes..Julia loved food.
In contrast to this peaceful setting somewhere in France was the fast moving life in Queens. Thats where Julie lived. A young married girl who loved food. Other than that everything else seemed to confuse her. She was so in search of the love of her life and she did not know how to find out what it was. So guess what she does. She starts a blog and cooks with a countdown with 524 recipes to be done in 365 days. A task...yes indeed...not impossible..cos she does finish it in the end. The dreamy look Amy Adams has throughout the movie is just so beautiful. There is an extra light in her eyes each time something makes her happy. And then of course the supportive husband...an archaeologist of some kind I believe. Such a lovely and supportive man...except when she says that the house is too small....lol...Everytime she says dats, he flips. And then there is a huge fight always and the worst in him comes out but otherwise he is a really pleasant character.
Contrary to Julia and Paul, Julie and Eric are a much more simple couple I felt. They were less boisterous and their presence was not an in your face thing. It was more of a delicate thing if u ask me. Paul and Julia were loud and did not care what the world thought about anything. The point remains that neither did Julie and Eric at the end of the movie, but they seemed a little more in tune with what was happening around them. For example, there was a lunch scene where Julie was with her friends..and she almost looked upset because of the way the others around her were. Julia on the contrary had a very huge presence. A lot to do with the casting too I guess. Meryl Streep after all....she has a huge huge presence. And Stanley Tucci complimented her very well...being a small man and accepting Julia for what she was in her true spirit...a good pairing. Stanley Tucci, I last remember seeing him in the JLo movie where he was a bald dancer...a very well played roll....that man definitely has a presence and some good style...
Then there was the sister in Julia's life, a pretty massive woman and a similar friend in Julie's life...Well, I am really not sure if the similarity was intentional, but it definitely was there to some extent.
The clothes....ahh...so lovely...fell in love with all of them. The ones set in the 40s and the 2000 ones too. Both the women were dressed so beautifully with lovely accessories...a dream wardrobe for any girl I think. Julia's and Julie's shoes, both were so pretty and petite....Someday hope to have a lot many like those in my wardrobe. Then there was Avis, who wore plaid. A triking style statement. And if you notice her throughout, in the scenes that she has, she wears plaid mostly. There was this one particular skirt which Julie wore. It was beautiful. She wore similar skirts a few times in the movie, but well..I still don't know the name. Definitely a must have for anybody.
Now let me move onto the most important thing in the movie..The FOOD!! Oh man, it was delicious. Each and every thing was so tempting, from the sauces to the desserts. Oh my my...mouth watering and most of it looked like it came from some amazing land. Another movie which had a similar effect with food was "The Waitress". With all the pies the lady used to bake, it just threw you to another level of happiness and ecstasy..and all this I am just saying by looking at the food. I wonder if there would be an orgasm if the food was eaten.
In today's movie, a lot of it was meat and fish and egg. But everything looked beautiful. Even the killing of the lobsters looked playful and the boning of the duck and stuffing of the chicken. Frankly, normally I am a little appalled by such things. But it dint seem so bad today. All of it felt like it would turn out to be something beautiful in the end. I guess its a lot to do with the presentation in food. The better it looks, the better it is supposed to taste. But well, if it doesn't taste as expected, disappointment, I know...but well..there is always something you can do about it I guess. Add something here and there or something like that..the last minute saves. But the sad thing is, the good saves are always known only to the cooks..I mean why would somebody who doesn't know how to cook well, know the saves. But well, thats how the game goes I guess.
There was this one technique in the movie which was used and my friend noticed how beautiful it was. A very effective technique to come up with names. Think of different names you want to give and then join them word by word to come up with a good name..giving a few add ons here and there. Dying to tell Kaustubh Sir about it. Chances are he already knows it, but still will tell him.
So well, I will not type each incident in the movie and spoil the movie for anyone who reads this. But its a movie worth going to. If you think its too girly, think again. The food and the clothes are just brilliant. Definitely worth the 130 bucks my friend spent on the movie.. :)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Be happy and Gay
I was coming back home in the rick the other day from station and I happened to look at the vehicles around. I was stuck in a traffic jam. There was many couples on bikes all around me. There were gal - guy couples, guy - guy couples. It dint really strike me till I saw this one bike where the pillion rider was holding onto the one who was riding so tight, almost like he dint wanna let go till death...or maybe even after dat.
The girl doing that is understandable..well she could be his girlfriend...but it is not often that we think that the guy could be the boy friend.
No no, I am not being close minded. It is only then that I realized, how easy it is to be gay...from inside...i mean..still..in the closet kinda thing...and still be enjoying all the things u want to enjoy. And by Gay I mean Lesbian as well. The way people are over here is so very crazy. I have heard guys call each other Sweetheart and gals holding hands like they are in love, guys with hands on each others shoulders and touching each other all the time. It is so damn easy to be gay in the country. And I think, even if u aren't gay, there is a good chance that seeing the number of options in front of u...u might easily consider it...Obviously, its easier to tell mama dearest always that u are going for a sleep over with the same sex than with someone of the opposite sex. Its the whole thought process in us since childhood. Something about being with the same sex makes us feel safe and less threatened. But I really don't agree with this feeling at all. How can u be sure that just because she is of the same sex as u are, she is not hitting on u when she is brushing off that bread crumb off ur blouse?
And with guys, I really don't get how they pee in their stupidly designed bathrooms...its almost like u can check out the next guy's thing and he still might think that there is nothing wrong...while the truth is that, u are Actually checking out his thing...weird huh...
The article 377 being passed and a couple of hindi movies in the market have made being gay a little more joked about these days. Each and every professor of mine has used this reference atleast once so far.
Its a standing joke....Everybody assuming that there is no gay person anywhere who is actually witnessing the joke. Not only is it insensitive to the gay community but also kind of distasteful , I think.
The fact remains that even today in India, a guy wearing pink clothes can pass of as straight, even after he fondles other guys right in front of u....the fondling thing is more like a touchy feely bonding....I have realised over the years...having been in an almost boys grad school.
I think, in girls it might be easier to make out if people are gay or not. Well, not completely sure about that, but yes, girls are more vocal about things and feelings and dont keep a lot of it inside. So u 'll probably know of ur best Friend is gay...dont worry bout it gal!!
The song which comes to my mind is "I kissed a girl and I liked it" by Katy Perry...Crazy lyrics...
Well...getting back to the topic....It is easy to be gay or lesbian in India and not even know it urself at times I think. Cos u are just doing what u do everyday...nothing is different...the "brotherly" or "sisterly" touch u think might not be that after all.
My advice to everyone here would be that dont let people touch you for no reason and if they do...with how much ever love or affection they do, just ask them on their face if their intentions are good. The person might think twice before doing that again I think. And maybe...if we are lucky, even think about it and reflect.
This post is not to make people feel uncomfortable about being around each other...but guys come one...its high time we looked at thigns clearly and without so much love in it.....
So everybody be happy and gay....come on..I meant gay in the right sense!!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Ash to Ash..Dust to Dust
Is India really underdeveloped?
Or are we pretending...and playing dumb...so that we can beat the rest of the world in the actual race??
My theory is based on a few thoughts which came to me...here goes...
We consume very less power. We are among the least in the world in the per capita power consumption. We consume less resources as well. Be it food...we dont have enough of it...even land is kinda less for us...and we arent really thinking of reclaiming huge amounts of land from the sea or anything like dat. Technology wise also we are lagging. We are a really huge nation. So these things are counted as some of the factors that is keeping us in the developed country range and not letting us move on to a better place in the world.
But there is this one truth we are all forgetting while measuring the GDPs and the like..
Dint we all come from nature and dont we all go back to nature?
Yes we do. So its a cycle. All of life is a cycle. The whole earth is a circle too.
We are actually operating on the principle of 'Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust'..and face it people, we are no pheonix going to rise out of it.
Everything is to go back into nature and if u really think about it, we have not really gone very far from nature. Our economy is even today heavily dependent on agriculture. We have not really moved away from the sand and dust part have we...
So, isnt it safe to say that India is one of the few way ahead on this road. Finally not meeting the standard of being underdeveloped is paying off someplace..
It is not that we want to be ash first, but it always makes sense to work with nature than against it. Global Warming is a blaring reality of what the earth can do to us, or rather what we can make the earth do to us. India, Even today in many ways as a nation is very close to the primitive man who has just bitten into the apple. She seems to want to go the technology way and go ahead int he world, but is that not at a huge cost of destroying the world, destroying a lot of what is pure within the nation??
We need to understand and respect Mother Nature and the good things she has given to us rather than trying to get ahead in a race which a century down the line will be the reason for our non existence.
So..I can end with the metallica song...
Ash to ash..dust to dust...fede to black and the memory remains!!!
Hand power
Its crazy how we miss the obvious.
He stands right there in front of us every single day and just with a movement of his fingers..his hand..he commands so many to move. Everyone is just waiting for that one gesture. To capitalise on the movement....to not miss out on a single second of the time he has given them.
Donno if you figured out who he is...but I am gonna let the cat out of the bag..its our very own Traffic Policeman.
Think about it.
How many lives does he hold in his hand...in a day...how many lives he saves.
The people are idiots...known fact.
They always need somebody to direct them. Left to the people alone without a governing force, its going to the dogs...oh no...dogs is too good a term to use here...the world wud be in utter chaos...in simple words.
So everyone needs a traffic policeman. As much as they think that signals have replaced him, the fact is that in the end, if there is an increase in the traffic, he has to be called.
And in today's world..in no way is he less than the one standing on the border and defending our country.
He fights against death..slow death here....a death which is certain..with all the pollution and the chance of an angry driver running him down any moment.
He is doing more than what we do at most of our jobs. Inhaling all the dirt and dust and standing in the sun...in the rain...all so that we can go by without ramming into each other. I have to say, it is a very noble profession...putting urself out there...someone could probably observe the traffic policemen all over and write a book on them...the someone might be me.
So saluting some of the most powerful front line men in our country...The traffic policemen of our country...hope they keep doing their jobs..so idiots like us can drive like fools on the road....
Thank you Mr. Pandu!!
The UID process
Its been a while since I ve been here. Mostly cos I haven't had the time with all the exams which were on. But now I am here finally...and I missed this space...in the true sense of the word.
There were so many ideas which came into my head and well..I think I wrote some of it down on the last pages of the books I could locate at that time. But well, nothing concrete.
So I shall write down here...whatever is there on the last pages of various books now.
Nandan Nilekani talks about the UID process...
I think this is a very huge step for India and the country is going to benefit from this big time. The feasibility of this thing though has to be thought about properly. In the interview which I was watching, he conveniently avoided all the implementation and utilization questions. Well...lets hope for the best. I donno the number of countries in the world which use biometrics to keep a tab on the people. And a country like India is no easy deal. Its gonna take a lot of money, manpower( of course we dont have a problem with that), technology, strategy and what not to keep this running. A very ambitious project undertaken and if India is able to pull this off, I dont think there is much anyone can do to stop her.
In a way, if you think about it, this is a kinda socialist policy. The biggest capital that we have today is in Humans...Human resource..And this is the best way they can completely own it. All decisions will be taken by the government eventually. But, I do think India needs this one force to direct it someplace proper. We need a dictator. Don't think we can get that. So this is the best we can do for now. And it should work.
Also, another sector this is going to affect deeply is the Biometric equipment manufacturers. Once the entire country is organised, this information can be sold to so many people, organisations , etc..and even if this data is not for sale, it can be used in much more easier manner than it is now. Cos the moment people get accustomed to being barometrically identified, it will become an easy thing to replicate and use as per the necessity.
So that sector is definitely going to see a huge boom in the years to come.
Next thought...in next blog
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Time
Man tricking nature with the Clock....
If u ve noticed...every time there is a storm approaching..Animals get worried...of course they have the sixth sense and they get the premonition that something is going to happen...
Another thing they start believing is that it has become night....
If it werent for the clock...I would believe that too....completely...The clock is the only way I realize dat its actually just 4 and not 7...The funny thing is I wouldnt even know how much of time I was losing...For that matter I wouldnt know anything at all...It would be a timeless world...
Everything today runs on time....anything u can think of has at some level a time constraint....Eliminating time would be adding a degree of freedom...and a huge one of that...
Even the concept of Fast and slow would not be there....That means..everything would be equal...or at least people would believe that things are all equal....Cos there would not be a way t grade things....hmm...a crazy world at that....
So we ve played with nature...and tried taking the balance in our hands....taking control of nature...by inventing time....
Monday, September 28, 2009
Orkut Vs Facebook
I feel sad for Orkut...There was a time when people used to only want to be online on orkut 24 by 7...Its sad to see something like dat completely replaced by Facebook and all because it looks a little better..Orkut looks way simpler...But then again...FB has a lot of apps...Orkut did not think beyond friends and interests... FB thought of how well they can keep people occupied...something Orkut did not think about...Google buying over Orkut was also not the best idea...hmm..I wonder if they can do something to make it better...
More to come!!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Examples of Ethnographic study and their impact in different work environments.
Examples of Ethnographic study and their impact in different work environments.
Health Care Industry: Control Room Study
This example is about the work conducted in the control room of an ambulance service of a large metropolitan region in the
1) It was noted that ambulance dispatch is a contingent affair with multiple considerations impinging upon dispatch selections. Commonly, Dispatchers can resolve these contingencies through interaction with the different resources available to them.
However, oftentimes contingencies will be managed not merely through the interaction of individual Dispatchers with system resources but through social interaction amongst Dispatchers and Supervisors. Indeed, on occasions, the significance of a contingency may be resolved through interaction between control room personnel and others outside - a member of the public still on the line or an ambulance crew. For example, it was noted that the timing of meal breaks for crews has to be considered in making dispatch decisions. The severity of an overdue meal break and hence its significance for the work of dispatch is often argued out between Dispatchers and the crew themselves. Observations like this make everyone sceptical about the feasibility of automatic decision making systems in the ambulance service systems which might, say, dispatch ambulances on the basis of algorithms operating to satisfy multiple constraints. Accordingly, the ethnographer’s development agenda is to investigate how systems can be designed for a socio-technical setting where co- operation is a normal feature of how work is done.
2) It was observed that the staff was used to dealing with many emergencies at a time. Some were dealt individually while others were dealt with the help of other staff members somewhere in the control room. Technologically, the systems were homogenous and not user dependent in any manner. Hence the end result of whatever process was being carried out was the same irrespective of who the user was. Workers complain of the high levels of noise as people shout at each other at peak times when they need solutions from other people seated in various places. If some of what is achieved through that noise (an awareness of what others are doing) is removed from the medium of speech and supported with enhancements , the 'air would be clear' for managing the most difficult contingencies. Rearranging the seating or adding of some kind of technology to clear this air was an area of improvement noted by the ethnographers.
3) While several features of the centre's GPS are frequently used, the 'flagship feature' often promoted by the manufacturers, a map like display of ambulance locations on a large computer screen is rarely consulted. The Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVL) is typically turned away from the sight of the Dispatchers even though it is on the work surface alongside them, and only easily inspectable by Dispatchers or Supervisors if they come close. To understand this, it is important to realise that obtaining geographical fixes on the ambulance fleet is only one part of judging which to dispatch and how to maintain adequate cover (there are many contingencies together at a time), and a swiftly visible presentation of the relevant aspects of ambulance location can be given by the GPS's computation highlighting proximal, available candidates. A literal visual representation of ambulance locations might require a worker to engage in further deliberation to extract these details from a cosmetically impressive display. Furthermore, the AVLS screen only shows one part of the region at any one time. Horizontal and vertical scrolling to find visualisations of ambulance locations on a map mostly full of 'empty' streets and countryside is needlessly time consuming when, in contrast, the Vehicle Availability Map (VAM) compactly shows ambulances with a geographical sensitivity that is appropriately approximate for dispatch decisions. Importantly, on the VAM, all the ambulances are represented there (along with relevant status information), they do not have to be found in a 2D map-space.
In short, for the purposes of dispatch and cover, seemingly crude lists may be the most appropriate form of representation, giving an easy impression of how many ambulances are available at every station. However, again, it is possible that more cover relevant information could be introduced to the Dispatchers' own resources for ambulance selection. In this regard, re designing of the Dispatch Selection screen to contain 'at a glance what if information' is necessary.
4) The opportunity to design for third parties, that is, to design interaction techniques, key sequences, screen changes and so forth so that they can be detected by others as appropriate occasions for, say, initiating interaction. In the ambulance control room, ethnographers gave the observation that considering re designing of the screens and interaction techniques used in dispatch would be good to make it more noticeable by third parties when selections are made and when (and which) changes in view take place. This way the process will be understood by any third party coming into the control room.
Kitchen Cabinet Case Study
A team of researchers along with a group of ethnographers from Diamond Cabinet, a division of Master Brand Cabinets Inc. studied the American kitchen area by living with different households for one full day to observe, photograph and videotape families as they interacted, cooked and cleaned in their kitchens. The ethnographic study spanned a geographically diverse area of the
Among those features, Diamond Cabinet researchers found, are the following:
• No wasted space. People conceptualize "wasted space" as a very bad thing, the Diamond research revealed. "They want to use every nook and cranny in their kitchens, regardless of how much storage space they actually have," Small explains, emphasizing the need for cabinets to carve out space where none existed before. For example, a new "Toe kick Cabinet" creates extra storage space beneath base cabinets, just above the floor. A tap of a toe opens a hidden storage compartment.
• Overflow storage. Almost everyone has a kitchen overflow storage solution in the garage, basement or closet. However, research indicates that the concept of having "extra" or overflow storage may be a positive thing for some. It provides an "out of sight, out of mind" option for items used infrequently, or which people aren't ready to part with yet. It also provides a space to stock up on items purchased in bulk, reinforcing feelings of taking care of their family and saving money. Cabinets with pantry-like storage features can solve this need, anywhere in the home.
• Drop zones. With so many people coming in and out of the kitchen, homeowners expressed a need to keep track of all of the "droppable" items that clutter up their countertops: keys, cell phones, coupons, notes from school, etc. Diamond recently introduced a unit called the "Mini Message Center," a three inch deep bonus storage unit that features a row of key hooks, a metal cubby divider, fixed shelves and a write-on message board, all concealed behind a cabinet door. And because it fits on an end run of cabinets, it takes up no additional wasted space.
•Changeable solutions for changing lives. Depending on people's life stages, they have different organizational and storage needs. For example, older people or those who have trouble bending and reaching can benefit from well designed lazy cabinets that make it easy to see and reach items that would otherwise become lost in a "black hole" corner cabinet.
•"Junk" drawers. Everyone seems to have junk drawers, and surprisingly, "they like them the way they are," according to Diamond. Many consumers have multiple junk drawers and even "specialty" junk drawers containing sub sets of "junk" items. For some people, access to built in drawer organizers gives them control over the contents; for others, simply having items "out of sight and out of mind" gives them a temporary feeling of organization.
•Kitchen cabinets as medicine cabinets. Researchers discovered they were, in effect, peeking into medicine cabinets after all, upon learning that some medicines are stored in the kitchen. Although the majority of medications are stored in the bath, many people are keeping at least a few items in the kitchen because it helps them remember to take them. Cabinets with flexible interior configurations can meet this need, Diamond researchers point out.
Diamond cabinets used these insights to create better designed cabinets for different segments to cater to their needs.
Ethnography at Intel
Ethnography at Intel initially focused on new markets. The company had provided products only for the workplace, but in 1995 managers wondered whether users at home would become a distinct market. Ethnographic research showed so much potential that Intel set up a business unit to concentrate on processors and platforms for home use.
Recently, Intel ethnographers have veered into strategic questions. Like many high tech companies, Intel makes long-term bets on how markets will play out. Will television and PC technology converge? Are baby boomers retaining their PC and TV habits as they age, or are they comfortable shifting to new media? Will smart phones take over most of the functions of personal computers?
Intel can analyze the latest buying patterns and customer surveys for useful data. But people often can’t articulate what they’re looking for in products or services. By understanding how people live, researchers discover otherwise elusive trends that inform the company’s future strategies. With smart phones, for example, we can contrast the technology perspectives of teenagers, who have used cell phones since they were in elementary school, with those of older generations, who came to them only after becoming proficient with PCs.
Ethnography has proved so valuable at Intel that the company now employs two dozen anthropologists and other trained ethnographers, probably the biggest such corporate staff in the world.
Virtual Ethnography
Many firms today are using Virtual Ethnography to study the way their customers behave in the virtual world and try and relate the behaviour to something they can benefit from. Many video game designers, social media designers and most of the people making a living out of web 2.0 believe it important to study the way a person behaves in a virtual world as it reflects a lot of their likes and dislikes which enable better designing of applications.
Tom Boellstroff’s book: “Coming of age in second life. An anthropologist explores the virtually human”, explains this in great detail. The book is an account of two years field work and an anthropological ethnography of avatar life in Second Life, a virtual platform, designed for social interaction and collaboration. Avatars are virtual personages created and Tom’s avatar was the anthropologist in 2nd Life, interviewing, observing and, first and foremost, participating in social life. This resulted in a good understanding of social life at Second Life. Tom explained that although it was difficult to tell whether the avatar you were talking to was a man or woman, different persons or human at all, social interaction between avatars in 2nd Life was ‘real’.
Dmitri Williams of the Annenberg school for Communication studied all server logs of 3-D game Ever Quest and concluded that gamers have behavioural patterns online. An example, players who live 10 kilometres of each other play five times more intensively than people who live at larger distances. And Sony, the owner of Ever Quest is very interested to work with ethnographers that could help them understand their gamers’ behaviour.
In order to facilitate learning of public and private partners in construction, a simulation game on 2nd Life centred on a megaproject, the tunnelling of train, road and tram infrastructure in Amsterdam’s corporate suburb Zuid-As. One group played the public office, three others played private construction firms trying out a competitive alliancing tender model. In this model, partners have to collaborate in order to get the best solution for a complex problem, without knowing yet who will get the assignment. Employees (better: avatars) were first trained how to behave themselves at the research island. The island was bought out as a separate game area, so as to have a selected group of people in the project. However, at one stage of the game the thought of opening up the island for a broad audience to let them make a pubic choice of what the best design would be was floated. This has not been applied yet. But, this was an excellent study method to understand the way public and private construction partners worked as also what exactly the optimal design would be based on the peoples’ choice, once it was opened to them.
Large companies such as the ABN Amro Bank have built digital offices to attract young customers and to try out virtual services. So, the field of virtual ethnography is but obviously of tremendous importance in the days to come.
Ethnography in the Cross Cultural work place context.
People from so many cultural background study and work in close cooperation at universities and public and private organisations. The so called essentialistic perspective has become very popular in contemporary management literature and consultancy and is highlighted by European authors, such as Hofstede (1990) and Trompenaars (1993). The work of Hofstede and Trompenaars, who have developed ‘cultural maps of the world’ in which each country can be situated based on their score on different indexes, fitted perfectly in the assumption that culture is a (more or less) stable entity that can be ‘engineered’, and managed. However, recent evaluations of these essentialistic cultural programs are not positive in regard to organizational costs and sustainability.
A large project management firm had asked help to manage their large diversity of workforce. The company had employees of more than 35 different national cultures working in complex projects. Instead of training the management on all these cultures , the collaboration practices at the work floor were studied from a socio material perspective which includes spatial settings, materiality and social behaviour. It was found that engineers and project employees of both the company and the client gathered around so called “roller boards”. These are tables that can roll and have large paper drawings of installations on them. Around the roller board, 6 different professionals stand, hang and are bending over the drawings. In debating which objects had to be left out, changed or added, each of the 6 professionals got time to explain their view, experience, perspective. If agreed upon, different colours were used to materialize the debate and colour the drawings on spots were the debate was on. The manager was surprised as he wanted to replace the roller board by a computer system, which would have ruined this efficient cross cultural collaborative practice. In this way ethnography can be used to study cross cultural collaborations in organisations all over the world and eliminate a number of problems thus increasing productivity manifold.
Downloading Firefox 3 and the digital divide
The new version of the Firefox web browser was released on June 17th 2008 with much fanfare in circles that get excited about web browsers. The Mozilla folk were attempting to crack a Guinness Book record for the most downloads in one day, and they appear to have been successful with reportedly more than 8 million copies of the program downloaded in the first 24 hours.
Mozilla, on their website provided an interactive map of global downloads. Although it is not Mozilla’s intention to relate their launch with any kind of anthropology or ethnography, it provides a graphic example of the discrepancies between access to IT globally. Most striking are the grey areas with low downloads which cover most of Africa. Note that the figures are raw numbers of downloads rather than per capita figures, so this skews the impression somewhat. For example, China seems to be right up there with best of them but the figure of 160 odd thousand downloads about the same as Australia, with only about 2% of the population.
The most intriguing detail was the large number of downloads in Iran, the USA’s enemy number 1; more than downloads in Australia, China, Russia, Canada, Italy or Brazil. It is upto us to wonder what is going on there. What is the source of this enormous Iranian interest in the premier open source web browser? Is there widespread hatred of Internet Explorer and Microsoft? This is definitely an area where ethnographers can play a major role.
A few Ethnographic techniques used in Corporate Ethnography
Pure Observation
In this technique, the researcher is taken out of the equation and acts as an objective observer. A researcher might use this method by observing how customers interact with an ATM, videotaping customers’ interaction with a point-of-purchase display or watching a client navigate a website and recording their key clicks and mouse clicks.
Contextual Interviewing
This method uses a master-and-apprentice approach rather than an interviewer-and-subject model. The researcher plays the role of an apprentice who is curious and wants to learn. This technique is used for uncovering unstated details of a work process, new uses and features for a process, and actual versus intended use of a product or service. It is often valuable in user interface design and usability studies.
Guerrilla Ethnography
For unfiltered, reality-based encounters, researchers can observe and talk with people in their natural environments without disclosing their intent. It is often used only in pilot research to help in the preparation of interview guides and survey question preparation.
The Environment Agency – Erosion Map Case
This is a good example of ethnography can be translated into design.
Flow, an agency was commissioned to conduct contextual research and subsequently design an interactive map that will provide users with coastal erosion information – a national project that will affect 2.1 million houses on the coast. Simon Johnson, User Experience Consultant at Flow explains the process followed. The key objectives were to establish what an erosion map should look like, how it should work and what sort of information should accompany the map. Claire Mitchell, Flow’s Principal Consultant on the project and Simon started the project with a research phase that included ethnographic field observations in two coastal settings: Norfolk and Hastings. Simon spent two weeks documenting the lives of coastal communities, interviewing local people and immersing himself in their lives. Additionally, Simon interviewed eight professionals at Flow’s experience labs in London.
The research that Claire and Simon conducted described how emotive the coastline is, an institution in British history that invokes strong feelings and forms a strong part of a shared heritage. The implications were the need for the Environment Agency to communicate that it cares and to reassure people that action was being taken to protect the coast. It was also clear that people trust locals and distrust central government, erosion maps caused alarm and that a certain amount of local knowledge derived from ignorance and/or myth. An example of a myth was the commonly repeated argument that the government was making money dredging ‘their’ sand.
The design approach focused on a simple website that addresses the needs of both professionals and locals. Claire and Simon decided that the design should answer core questions and myths, stick to plain English, use local materials and represent risks without alarming local people.
Result:
The Book store Ethnography
The goal of the study was to understand how bookstores use space to create and maintain brand identity and shape customer experiences. More broadly, the study was to understand practices, patterns and meanings associated with different types of bookstores.
Chain bookstores are seen as stores for everybody, whereas independent bookstores are often conceptualized as catering to repeat customers, “regulars” and certain clientele. These impressions are partly determined by the layout and signage in the store. There is a sense that one can find things on one’s own in chain bookstores, with well labelled sections, large overhead signs, and short shelves so one can see the span of the store. The feeling that one can find one’s own way in the store also allows shoppers to avoid interaction with employees. This gives them a greater sense of anonymity, and a greater level of comfort. In addition to the anonymity found in some bookstores, other qualities of a bookstore can be comforting.
One is a store’s layout. Layout matters most when a store is busy. Aisles that are broken up help so that one can get lost in the books and not see the crowd. Hidden alcoves with overstuffed chairs, lend themselves to a less hurried atmosphere.
Interactions with employees also affect comfort level. This often depends on the customer, as some seek this interaction in order to feel welcome while others prefer to shop with as little interaction as possible.
When shoppers set out to purchase a book, they conceptualize their experience as either a journey or goal oriented shopping. In the journey, shoppers conjure images of adventure and treasure hunting, where the search is the thrill. One participant described this as being “like flea market shopping”, you aren’t looking for anything but you like the experience and it’s hard to walk out without something cool.
Those who are interested in the journey are more likely to find this experience in independent and used bookstores. Here, stores are set up in a way to accommodate this explorative aspect of shopping, with hidden nooks and cranies, no giant overhead signs directing one to certain sections, and inability to see the entire store at a glance. In this case a haphazard, difficult retail space works. In contrast, shoppers who are in the market to find a specific book may be more likely to shop at a chain bookstore with new books. They won’t waste time looking at used bookstores. At new bookstores, they can get in and out with the correct book without fuss.
One participant mused, “We are all brought up with reverence for books”. It was clear through our participants’ stories that books are much more than a commodity. They are seen as a vehicle for knowledge and discovery, as something to be cherished. Books are as investment in the future, more meaningful and significant than the monetary values placed on them.
So, customers cringe when books are treated as commodities by stores, and when customers perceive that the stores are more focussed on volume of sales than respect for books. Many customers feel that independent bookstore owners have a reverence for books and treat them in a way that chain bookstore owners and employees do not.
The study explains as to why there are different kinds of bookstores and how different customer needs can be satisfied by understanding the customer using ethnography.
References:
Websites:
http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy/ar/1
http://www.ethnographic-research.com/bookstore/
http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/ethno.htm
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1119117
http://www.ethnographic-research.com/research/researcha.html
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=305151
http://www.customer-experience-labs.com/category/ethnography/
http://www.ams-inc.com/npd/ethnography.asp
http://it.toolbox.com/wiki/index.php/Ethnography
http://www.nps.gov/ethnography/training/TAPS/attachment.htm
Books:
Social Science Methodology -
Ethnography - An Introduction
Ethnography, the word means Writing Culture. It is therefore rooted in the notion of description of a particular society, culture, group or social context. The most common conception of the descriptive character of ethnographic accounts is that they map the morphology of some area of the social world. Thus, an ethnography is a specific kind of written observational science which provides an account of a particular culture, society, or community. A typical ethnography attempts to be holistic and typically follows an outline to include a brief history of the culture in question, an analysis of the physical geography or terrain inhabited by the people under study, including climate, and often including what biological anthropologists call habitat. The fieldwork usually involves spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and learning about their ways of life.
For example, if within a group of people, winking is a communicative gesture, it is first sought to determine what kinds of things a wink might mean. The next step is to determine in what contexts winks are used, and whether, as one moved about a region, winks remained meaningful in the same way. In this way, cultural boundaries of communication can be explored, as opposed to using linguistic boundaries or notions about residence.
There are three central ideas in Ethnography– Induction, Context and Unfamiliarity. Ethnographers think of everything in the context of the subject under consideration. Ethnographers tend to be context driven, not only their research but also their research questions and methodological practice.
Invention of the Ethnographic Method
Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish expatriate at the London School of Economics, was researching in A ustralia in 1914, when war broke out. As a Pole, he was technically an enemy citizen, but rather than being incarcerated, he was allowed to spend the war years in the
Design Ethnography
Design ethnography is thought of as being a way of understanding the particulars of daily life in such a way so as to increase the success probability of a new product or service or, more appropriately, to reduce the probability of failure specifically due to a lack of understanding of the basic behaviours and framework of consumers. Businesses, too, have found ethnographers helpful for understanding how people use products and services, as indicated in the increasing use of ethnographic methods to understand consumers and consumption, or for new product development. Ethnographers' systematic and holistic approach to real life experience is valued by product developers, who use the method to understand unstated desires or cultural practices that surround products. Where focus groups fail to inform marketers about what people really do, ethnography links what people say to what they actually do, avoiding the pitfalls that come from relying only on self focus group data. Design ethnography deviates from formal and idealistic rules or ethics that have come to be widely accepted in qualitative and quantitative approaches to research.
How does an Ethnographer work?
The ethnographer has to first select a culture and review the literature pertaining to the culture and identify a few variables of interest. The next thing he has to do is try and gain an entrance into the culture. Then comes the cultural immersion which involves understanding the culture thoroughly. Data analysis and theory development come as the last stage of the study.
Seven principles to be considered for observing, recording and sampling data
1. The groups should combine symbolic meanings with patterns of interaction.
2. Observe the world from the point of view of the subject, while maintaining the distinction between everyday and scientific perceptions of reality.
3. Link the group’s symbols and their meanings with the social relationships.
4. Record all behaviour.
5. Methodology should highlight phases of process, change and stability.
6. The act should be a type of symbolic interaction.
7. Use concepts that would avoid casual explanations.
Different Kinds of Ethnographers:
“The kindly ethnographer” – Most ethnographers present themselves as being more sympathetic than they actually are, which aids in the research process, but is also deceptive. The identity that we present to subjects is different from who we are in other circumstances.
“The friendly ethnographer” – Ethnographers operate under the assumption that they should not dislike anyone. In actuality, when hated individuals are found within research, ethnographers often crop them out of the findings.
“The honest ethnographer” – If research participants know the research goals, their responses are likely to be skewed. Therefore, ethnographers often conceal what they know in order to increase the likelihood of acceptance.
“The Precise Ethnographer” – Ethnographers often create the illusion that field notes are data and reflect what “really” happened. They engage in the opposite of plagiarism, giving credit to those undeserving by not using precise words but rather loose interpretations and paraphrasing. Researchers take near fictions and turn them into claims of fact. The closest ethnographers can ever really get to reality is an approximate truth.
“The Observant Ethnographer” – Readers of ethnography are often led to assume the report of a scene is complete – that little of importance was missed. In reality, an ethnographer will always miss some aspect because they are not omniscient. Everything is open to multiple interpretations and misunderstandings. The ability of the ethnographer to take notes and observe varies, and therefore, what is depicted in ethnography is not the whole picture.
“The Unobtrusive Ethnographer” – As a “participant” in the scene, the researcher will always have an effect on the communication that occurs within the research site. The degree to which one is an “active member” affects the extent to which sympathetic understanding is possible.
“The Candid Ethnographer” – Where the researcher situates themselves within the ethnography is ethically problematic. There is an illusion that everything reported has actually happened because the researcher has been directly exposed to it.
“The Chaste Ethnographer” – When ethnographers participate within the field, they invariably develop relationships with research subjects/participants. These relationships are sometimes not accounted for within the reporting of the ethnography despite the fact that they seemingly would influence the research findings.
“The Fair Ethnographer” – Fine claims that objectivity is an illusion and that everything in ethnography is known from a perspective. Therefore, it is unethical for a researcher to report fairness in their findings.
“The Literary Ethnographer” – Representation is a balancing act of determining what to “show” through poetic/prosaic language and style versus what to “tell” via straightforward, ‘factual’ reporting. The idiosyncratic skill of the ethnographer influences the face value of the research.
Difference between Quantitative methods and Ethnography
Firstly, quantitative methodologies have a set mindset about the structure of the society, thereby over determining results and eliminating the possibility of data emerging from unexpected arenas.
Ethnography, in contrast is often an exercise of serendipity, in which openness to chance finds or unpredictable social and political developments generate new research orientations.
Secondly, quantitative techniques attempt to derive an understanding of what happens in normal social conditions from the decidedly abnormal contexts of the experiment or formal interview.
Third, their reliance on people’s own account of what they do is considered very naive. Ethnographers focus on conducting their research in a normal fashion. As long term participants rather than mere observers, their effect on social life is minimised and they are able to gauge the relationship between what people say about what they do and what they actually do.
Fourth, Quantitative methods were seen to reify social phenomena by treating them as distinct and isolable from the social context in which they emerge, develop and change.
Fifth, they were seen as overly behaviouristic in their assumption that people’s actions are mechanically determined, thereby neglecting to take account human agency.
Ethnographers may also validate findings through conventional archival research, consultation with experts, use of surveys, and other techniques not unique to ethnography. At the same time, ethnographic interviews are far more in depth than survey research.
Ethnographers respond to charges of subjectivity by emphasizing that their approach is all about preconceived frameworks and derives meaning from the community informants themselves, whereas survey instruments often reflect the conceptual categories preconceived by the researcher prior to actual encounter with respondents.
Ethnographers use methods such as Chain Sampling where an informant who has a good idea about what is happening is first selected and he further helps to select the next level informants.
Ethnography is more of a descriptive rather than analytic endeavour.
Some ethnographers advocate the use of structured observation schedules by which one may code observed behaviours or cultural artefacts for purposes of later statistical analysis.
Symbols are of great importance in ethnography. The ethnographer strives to understand the cultural connotations associated with symbols.
Ethnographers also use the theory of Situational Reduction. This involves reducing the situation under observation from the macro level into the micro level. This helps in better understanding.
Ethnography considers the view points of both the members of the non – members of the situation under consideration. This refers to having an emic (member perspective) as also the etic perspective (non member).
One another method used is conceptual mapping, using the terms of members of the culture themselves to relate symbols across varied forms of behaviour and in varied contexts.
Another method is to focus on learning processes, in order to understand how a culture transmits what it perceives to be important across generations.
A third method is to focus on sanctioning processes, in order to understand which cultural elements are formally prescribed or proscribed and which are informally prescribed or proscribed, and of these which are enforced through sanction and which are unenforced.
Interpretations of the deep implications that the culture has in the way a community sees the world is also very important for the ethnographers.
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