Back to the Future of Ethnography
Internal User Research at a Consumer Internet Company
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5948274 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrea Moed (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 2010 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 14-25 |
| Publication date | 2010-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings (CONFERENCE) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1559-890X • E-ISSN: 1559-8918 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1559-8918.2010.00003.x |
| OpenAlex | W1969457362 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
The Advertising Products research team at Yahoo! is building an internal research practice within an organization that is user-centered, but optimized for consumer product development. While our fellow researchers observe millions of consumers on our websites, we study our coworkers: their experiences with the tools of online advertising, and how those experiences shape the service that our advertiser customers receive. Adopting methods such as task-oriented interviewing and extended observation, we are reconnecting with a tradition of ethnographic inquiry in the workplace that is largely unknown at consumer Internet companies. This paper describes how we have re-learned and built company support for this approach. I describe our work with Yahoo!'s advertising sales and operations staff, highlighting the structural challenges of conducting and applying this research. I conclude by reflecting on how qualitative research can help a company bridge the gap between product design capacity and the ability to produce great services
Advertising · Bridge (graph theory · Business · Ethnography · Internet research · Interview · Knowledge management · Political science · Product (mathematics · Public relations · Qualitative research · Service (business · Sociology · Task (project management · The Internet · User experience design · User innovation · User Research · Work (physics · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Engineering · Persona Design and Applications · Marketing
| Highly cited | No |
|---|