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Toward an Ethnography of Friction and Ease in Complex Systems
This paper offers frameworks and tools to support complexity- and systems-oriented approaches in design ethnography. The products and processes ethnographers wo...
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Government Forms as Friction: Identifying Opportunities for Innovation at the Intersection of Staff and Resident Needs
This paper explores a key friction in service delivery that is inherent in forms – the ubiquitous and seemingly mundane conduit between institutions and peopl...
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The Uncommon Good: Making Room for Radical Transition Imaginaries
Public, social and community organizations are, in many locales, driving systems change toward social and economic equity and environmental justice. But their v...
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In Pursuit of Authenticity: Commodified Community, Curated Experience, and Fandom
This paper assesses the economic impacts of hyper-monetization, immersive advertising, and general shifts in gaming’s fandom subcultures over the past dec...
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Friction into Traction: A Case Study of Friction in Strategic Ethnography
This case study highlights the transformative power of strategic ethnography in shaping frameworks that gain traction within organizations. We analyze three pro...
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A Tale of Two Frictions: Building Ethical Software Solutions by Challenging Tech’s Obsession with Efficiency
The enterprise technology ethos of efficiency biases corporate software development towards seamlessness. What happens when that ethos contradicts its clients...
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Introducing Ethnographic Practice to a 100-Year-Old Corporation in a Highly Regulated Industry
The Gulf Coast of the USA encompasses impoverished communities, vibrant urban centers, farms, and a rich culture. Climate change impacts are severe, yet residen...
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Local Frictions in the Energy Transition: Design Anthropology for the Emergence of Energy Communities
Critical challenges in energy transitions are social and cultural – not just technical and economic. This paper shares research in an interdisciplinary co...
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Observing Friction through Ethnography and Experience Prototyping in the Postpartum Period
During the postpartum period, significant clinical and social supports exist for the care and wellness of a newborn baby. Yet over the same six weeks, new moms ...
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How Friction Led to a More Intentional Stakeholder Feedback Model for a Federal Research Program
This paper describes the evolution of the “intentional” model for stakeholder feedback that mitigates risk and improves outcomes. The All of Us Research Pro...
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Frictions in the Future of Work
The concept of the “future of work”, though widely-referenced in mainstream media and policy discourse, remains persistently ambiguous, making it ri...
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Fluid Friction: The Case for Friction in Public Safety Design
I Don’t Know What To Do… The moment she heard the beep come through her headset, Tess switched gears immediately. Moments earlier, she’d just wrapped up a...