Multisited Design: An Analytical Lens for Transnational HCI

Abstract

In this article, we present and articulate the analytical lens of multisited design to illuminate transnational connections between sites of design, and aid in the translation of knowledge between designers and ethnographers. This position emerges from the authors' respective engagements in ethnographic research and design engagements with a slum community center in Bangkok, Thailand, and with “makers” and entrepreneurs in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China. In both cases, we found design to be a site of engagement with and interpretation of wider connections between different locales, and between local and global networks. We identify four crucial aspects of design for the purposes of this discussion: It is normative, concerned with function and the attainment of goals; it is practical, and oriented toward constraints and opportunities; it frames and defines problems concurrently with solving them; and it takes a systems approach that accounts for the broad context of the design situation. Approaching and participating in these aspects of design evolved in concert with our ethnographic fieldwork and analysis, allowing us to take design seriously without sacrificing an ethnographic commitment to nuanced description. We conclude by touching on the epistemological similarities, rather than conflicts, between ethnography and design.

Notes

¹ http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_ALL_Hacker_Spaces

²This quote is from an informal interview that Dr. Lindtner conducted in November 2010.

³Arduino is essentially an easy-to-use microcontroller, a single-chip computer that supports the design of hardware-software-material interaction, and accompanying programming environment. It has popularized the design of interactive systems among hobbyists, and greatly reduced costs for professionals.

⁴Seeed Studio is a small-scale manufacturing and design house founded by Eric Pan in 2008 that produces an array of prototypes and products for and with the international maker community. Its biggest market today is the United States, http://www.seeedstudio.com/

⁵This quote is from an informal interview that Dr. Lindtner conducted in November 2010.

⁶ Byung-Chul Han (2011) argued that this idea of the copy as artistic expression was common not just in Asia but also in Europe. What eventually lead to the perception of the copy as a fake in Europe, he proposed, went hand in hand with tourist travel in the 18th century that led to the restoration of buildings and artworks to communicate their authentic historical and cultural identity. The preservation of artwork, as such, was embedded in projects of nation building, where authenticity and cultural belonging was essential.

⁷During the meeting described in this quote, it was also suggested that the children deliberately be brought to the police station with sticky hands and full bladders.

⁸Parallels can be drawn, also, to the sorts of permutations that open source projects go through, whether the many flavors of Linux adapted for different sorts of hardware or users (e.g., Debian for free software devotees, Arch for experience users who want a minimal OS, or Raspbian for the credit-card-sized Raspberry Pi computer), or the many variants of Arduino in different forms for different application areas (e.g., the Lilypad for soft circuits, the Nano for breadboarding, the Mega for projects that demand more memory or I/O resources, or the Seeeduino coming out new collaborations and partnerships). In all of these cases, design is approached not as the wholly original work of a singular auteur but as an exercise in resourceful appropriation and remaking, for specific situations.

Background. This article is based on long-term ethnographic research and participatory design conducted by Lindtner in China, ethnographic research and design practice conducted by Williams in Thailand, and close collaboration on analysis and synthesis among the four authors throughout the research.

Acknowledgment. We thank our study participants in China and Thailand, in particular members of Xinchejian, Seeed Studio, and the Mercy Centre. In addition, we thank the HCI journal reviewers and the editorial board of this special issue for their hard work and tremendous support to make this a much better article.

Support. This work was supported in part by the ISTC-Social (the Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing) at UC Irvine and Intel Labs and by the National Science Foundation under award 0917401.

HCI Editorial Record. First manuscript received May 2, 2012. Revisions received November 2, 2012, and May 5, 2013. Accepted by Lucy Suchman. Final manuscript received June 27, 2013. — Editor