Ethnodesignography

The more literature I read on the topic, the more frustrating is the gap between ethnography and design. More precisely, the fact that the imagined bridges, while often eye-catching from a distance, seem incapable of actually bearing any load--even that of their own weight.

This gap, this "design canyon", actually has two difficulties to surmount: The (only somewhat metaphorical) physical separation, and the (even less metaphorical) fact that the two populations actually speak different languages.

Ethnographers, for their part, are almost to a one hesitant and ambivalent about actually making a bridge. Most often what they do is construct a lovely scenic vantage point on their edge of the canyon and call it a bridge. These are easily enough detected (except by their creators, apparently) by the realization that they don't actually allow either side to step closer to the other. At best, they allow one side to imagine that they are speaking the language of the other. This can allow a certain self-congratulatory air of achievement without the threatening reality of ingress by the designers.

This physical threat seems equally strong on both sides. Neither wants to risk allowing the other into their business, making troublesome suggestions and asking constant questions (though the latter would certainly be of benefit to both in the long run). What each side seems to want is a bridge that acts as a (value-)neutral territory into which communications may pass, be magically translated, and emerge in the terms of the other without causing any disturbance.

But what seems to be the larger problem is language. The social-practice separation can frankly be easily enough solved, but only if they can communicate directly. This has a long history of historical (literal) parallels. My indictment--of the ethnographers, mostly, although what I know of the design side is hardly more impressive--is that its practitioners are pretending that a communication infrastructure is sufficient, and paying little attention to their inability to craft content. This is made worse when they make some obscure and arcane gestures which allow them to believe they are speaking the language of the other, when in truth they are merely undertaking an elaborate ritual which reinforces their own practices.

On the other hand, I have no surefire solution. The best (and only) productive route which I see out of this impasse is to create ambassadors; brave souls willing to immerse themselves in the foreign habits, understandings, and detailed knowldege of the other so as to become human bridges. Perhaps then these human bridges can design a means of structured communication. What will not work is continuing to believe that each side can start their own bridge, with no understanding of the others' plans, and meet successfully halfway.