Gaining empathy for non-routine mobile device use through autoethnography

2014. Aisling O'Kane, Yvonne Rogers & Ann Blandford
CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Abstract

In this paper, we report on autoethnography as a method to access non-routine usage of mobile devices, such as during business trips, vacations, etc. Autoethnography, a self-study method with the researcher as participant, was employed for the evaluation of a wrist blood pressure monitor used by people with conditions such as hypertension. The findings from the study were surprising, especially with respect to the environmental and social impact on the use of the technology. Although the autoethnographic method can be disruptive for the researcher, it enables them to understand and empathize with the experiences mobile device users can face in difficult to access contexts. This method allows HCI researchers to better understand user experiences with mobile devices, including mobile medical technology, especially during non-routine times that can be difficult to study in-situ with traditional user studies.

Read the full paper here ›

Citation

O'Kane, A. A., Rogers, Y., & Blandford, A. E. (2014). Gaining empathy for non-routine mobile device use through autoethnography. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in Computing Systems (pp. 987–990).

BibTeX

@inproceedings{o2014gaining,
  title={Gaining empathy for non-routine mobile device use through autoethnography},
  author={O'Kane, Aisling Ann and Rogers, Yvonne and Blandford, Ann E},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in Computing Systems},
  pages={987--990},
  year={2014}
}