Nickname: dan

Review: I think they key point here is that it was bound to happen. Researchers are always on the hunt for new methods and smart tools to capture, analyze and incubate concepts and ideas harvested out of consumers. There's a wave of change happening in the research space and many of us are taking cues from the Web 2.0 scene, what flickr does with interestingness and clustering is not that different from what researchers are doing in analyzing ethnographic results. I disagree that companies don't know what's going on. I feel firms do have a hint to what's wrong. What they lack is an actionable process in discovering it, weeding it out, acting on change and making it happen -- and then not forgetting. Capture and analysis tools are fine and dandy. What's really missing in the research space is immersion. Design teams need to swim in the data, remember the big picture, think about the customer and make change. Immersion is where we need to focus next.

Date reviewed: Sep 7, 2006 6:05 PM

Nickname: p

Review: What was the point of this article? Are readers supposed to be so interested in the research they they'll buy the tool?

Date reviewed: Jun 26, 2006 2:05 AM

Nickname: Prof

Review: One approach to quickly doing ethnographic inquiry makes use of a team of researchers and is called Rapid Assessment Process (RAP). Results can be produced in as few as five days but usually takes longer. For more information see http://www.rapidassessment.net

Date reviewed: Jun 23, 2006 6:02 PM

Nickname: Patricia Boman

Review: Recognition that ethnography can yield meaningful insights which, in turn, can guide businesses to develop more valuable products has long been the focus of Darrel Rhea, CEO of Cheskin, An Innovation Consulting Firm, and of Sara Little Turnbull, Director of the Process of Change, Innovation, and Design Laboratory at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Rhea and Turnbull will be featured speakers at Icograda Design Week in Seattle, Defining Design on a Changing Planet. This international design forum will take place in Seattle, USA, July 9 ? 15 July 2006. Rhea and Turnbull will be among other renowned international speakers to discuss how design has and may serve the economy and society and will also address the major topics design faces: cultural, political, economic and environmental issues at work in a global society. For conference information: http://seattle.icograda.org/web/

Date reviewed: Jun 22, 2006 3:27 PM

Nickname: Zach

Review: I disagree with monk's assessment that there are diminishing returns in this area. In my experience, most companies lack a deep understanding of their customers' needs and behaviors. What could be more relevant for a business? I recently published an articule (http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/index.php?cid=2973) that describes a more data-intensive (but not dissimilar) approach to understanding customer behaviors. It's a worthwhile endeavor that typically offers valuable insights about how to better serve customers.

Date reviewed: Jun 19, 2006 3:55 PM

Nickname: monk

Review: The laws of diminishing returns has hit the mktg field hard. More and more sphisticated tools to yield ever smaller insights in substantative terms... I'm an aspiring mktg academic and somehting tells me all the big things to be discovered may have been done so already. (OK, that was a tad too pessimistic).

Date reviewed: Jun 13, 2006 1:17 AM