I543 Interaction Design Methods | Spring 2014
BROKEN PROBES Craig Harkness, Ke Zhang, Alisa Avigan 1
USER PROFILE •
The subject was Kas Roth, a 31 year old woman, divorced after a ten year marriage, now in a same sex relationship and engaged to her partner.
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Kas works as a Biomedical Technician at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio, as well as a Content Writer for an online media company.
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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES •
The objective of our probe was to investigate the financial loss experienced through the subject’s divorce and to attempt to pivot that as a means of exploring the emotional experiences of the subject during this period. We focused on the financial element of the divorce as a means to approach this delicate subject after consulting the subject’s partner, who advised that trying to address the emotional elements of the subject’s divorce in a more direct way might be too emotionally taxing, and so suggested the financial dimension as a means of approaching the topic.
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PROBE CONTENT Overview:
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We wanted to include a mixture of items in the probe that range from abstract to direct. The more direct items focus the reflections of the subject on financial loss. The more abstract items were included to incite unforeseen reflections and interactions, which we hoped had the potential to provide significant insights concerning loss.
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We wanted the subject to encounter the more direct objects from the outset, in order to give her a frame of reference from which to view the other objects that were more abstract in nature. Consequently we chose a chest to contain the items, because of its association with finances.
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The sequence of interactions with the probe was also an important consideration. The subject first encounters a chest that is locked with interlocking male and female padlocks. The male and female padlocks were intended as a symbol of her prior heterosexual marriage. By unlocking the padlocks, i.e. unlocking her marriage, she now has access to the chest and must face her financial loss. We wanted the process of opening the chest to mirror her story of financial loss.
PROBE PACKAGE A. Description: The chest which holds the contents of the Broken Probe. Reason for Inclusion: We chose to contain the probe within a chest, because of its financial connotations. Chests are usually used to safekeep valuable items.
B. Description: Interlocking padlocks with masculine and feminine gender symbols. Reason for Inclusion: In order to represent the subject’s liberation from her prior heterosexual relationship, we had the subject unlock two interlocking male and female padlocks. Since the chest can only be opened through unlocking the padlocks, the subject is reminded that financial loss was one of the consequences of this liberation.
C. Description: A key ring that held the key to unlock the padlocks as well as aged house keys. Reason for inclusion: In addition to needing to provide the key to unlock the padlocks and chest, we wanted to include some additional keys that resembled aged house keys. After divorce, one of the most significant financial losses is the home. We wanted to use house keys as a way to provoke thought about the loss of this fundamental asset that has sentimental value and many associated memories.
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PROBE PACKAGE D. Description: An eviction notice. Reason for Inclusion: Through the eviction notice, we wanted to evoke feelings concerning financial instability. The eviction notice might conjure up memories of losing a shared home after a divorce, or might provoke the subject to reflect on the financial instability that ensued after the divorce.
E. Description: A dollar bill with an I.O.U message written on it. Reason for Inclusion: Owing money is a sign of financial instability. This was a more blatant way of directing the subject to focus her thoughts on financial loss.
F. Description: A journal that is bound by covers from old/used books that tell the stories of women in financially precarious situations. These books include: The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and Pride and Prejudice. Reason for Inclusion: The journal acted as a place where the subject could reflect on her interactions with the probe and conduct the requested activities. Since the subject has a literary background, we used covers from famous books about women in financially precarious situations to provoke her to think about financial loss, instability and womanhood. We chose to use covers from books that were old and used, to let the subject understand that she is not alone, but many others have read these books and relate to her story of financial loss.
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PROBE PACKAGE G. Description: A ten-minute timer. Reason for Inclusion: We wanted to encourage the subject to think about the amount of time she spends working to support herself. Through an activity at the workplace, we have the subject engage with the ten-minute glass to facilitate these thoughts.
H. Description: An audio file that contains the sounds of people whispering. Reason for Inclusion: When people experiences financial loss, many fear that others will notice and begin to comment on it. We had the subject listen to this audio file as she opened the probe, because we wanted the sounds of whispering to illicit the social insecurities that accompany financial loss.
I. Description: Paper images of modern and traditional homes cut into fragments. Figures of people and pets were also included in the stack of fragments. Reason for Inclusion: We wanted the subject to use the fragments to assemble a collage of an ideal home. Through this exercise, we wanted to provoke the subject to reflect on her ideal financial situation and compare it to her current one.
J Description: A glass gem. Reason for Inclusion: Gems represent financial success and value. This was a more blatant way of directing the subject to focus her thoughts on financial loss.
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WORN OBJECTS Use of worn objects:
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We utilized worn objects to provoke both feelings of nostalgia and community.
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To illicit nostalgia, we leveraged a set of used house keys. Through interacting with this set of aged keys, the subject was incited to remember a home of the past, either with her ex-husband or parents. The aged nature of the keys prompts the subject to reflect on the past and reminisce over a financial asset that she no longer possesses.
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To illicit community, we utilized aged book covers to bind the provided journal. The worn nature of the book covers prompts the subject to feel the presence of past readers. The feeling that others have read these books that deal with financial burden is intended to help the subject feel communal support while facing the consequences of financial loss.
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PROCESS The probe was deployed on Tuesday 18th March with the instruction that it be opened and interacted with at subject’s main workplace, a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Each evening the subject was given an envelope containing a handwritten card with the following day’s tasks written on it. The probe was with the subject until the evening of Friday 21st March when it was returned to a member of the team. The task envelopes contained the following instructions:
Day 1: 1. Arrange the pieces in this envelope to create a scene that is ideal to you. You do not have to use all the pieces! Use as many as you see fit. Affix the arrangement to one of the pages of the notebook using whatever means you choose (ex. glue, tape…). Write an explanation in the notebook of why you arranged the pieces the way that you did. Day 2: 1. While you are at work pull out the timer and turn it over. After it empties, turn it over again. Repeat this action whenever you are stationary and sitting at your desk. 2. Write a Craigslist advertisement in the provided notebook for a valued item that you previously were forced to part with. Day 3: 1. Calculate your earnings for each of your work shifts and mark them down in the notebook. Also note your expenditures for the day. 2. Which one of the items in the box resonates with you most and why? Write a reflection in the provided notebook.
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RESULTS
Day 1 Day 3 Day 2
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TASK RATIONALE Day 1
In some respects, an ideal home is synonymous with an ideal financial state. By having the subject assemble a collage of her ideal home, we provoke the subject to reflect on her ideal financial situation and how that compares to her current one, which is tarnished by financial loss. It begs such questions as: What have I lost? What have I gained? And how can I achieve my ideal state?
Day 2
The first task was intended to make the subject more conscious about the time they were spending at work by giving them a physical reminder of the passage of time for them to interact with while at their workstation.
The second task was aimed at getting the subject to reflect on something that they may potentially have had to part with as a result of their divorce. This was framed as a Craigslist ad in an attempt to appeal to the subject’s background with creative writing.
Day 3
Having the subject calculate their earnings from each of their shifts was designed to make the subject more conscious of how much their time is worth, and to prompt them to think about the reason they work so much.
The final task was aimed at grounding their reflection on the contents of the probe, as a potential bridge between the probe exercise and the follow up interview.
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REACTIONS Reactions and perceptions of your subjects to the Broken Probe package: From the follow-up interview, during the period the probe was deployed, the subject apologised that on the first day of the probe that she had been too busy to undertake the day’s task, having been “on call” at the hospital, followed directly by a busy regular shift. She was apologetic, stating that she “wanted to be a good subject” and would try to catch up when she had the opportunity the following day.
The subject also expressed curiosity about the intent of the probe, and about some of the contents, particularly the house keys, though this was deflected by the team member, who expressed that it would be addressed when following up once the probe was collected. This approach was taken in an attempt to prevent the introduction of bias into the subject’s interpretation of the probe.
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REFLECTION The Broken Probes package in particular:
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How compelling was your Broken Probe package in provoking the subject(s) into sharing personal and difficult life events?
Our Broken Probe package includes items ranging from abstract to direct. They all reflected one aspect dealing with financial loss after divorce. As we addressed before, we wanted our subject to reflect on the whole experience from the moment she is ready to open the package. Some of the items are fairly provocative, such as the padlocks with masculine and feminine signs and the eviction notice. From the follow-up interview, we learnt that not all the items worked well as a trigger to interaction and reflection. The probe package, especially the eviction notice, successfully provoked the subject to talk about her story of growing up and the difficult time when she was in financial difficulty. In her own words, "I was shocked". But she didn't mention the financial situation particularly related to her divorce. In this case, the probe package didn't clearly convey the relationship between divorce and financial loss. But it did trigger her to share her stories about how difficult the period was for her and how she overcame these financial difficulties.
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REFLECTION The Broken Probes package in particular:
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How would you do it differently?
Be provocative. Since the topic is sensitive, we found it was hard for us to handle. On the one hand, we didn't want to depress or irritate the subject too much. On the other hand, we tried to provoke her to share her unpleasant feelings. Hence, we used metaphor and symbolic items to represent the point we wanted to address. Results turned out that the shocking items got more attention, direct feeling and further reflection. The abstract items tended to be neglected or hard to understand, such as the padlocks and old keys for a house, they are a good representations with explanation, but are hard to get the meaning when they are showed just as items. So being provocative is essential to get strong and rich feedbacks.
Be aware of the context. The package included an audio of whispering to illicit the social insecurities that accompany financial loss. However, we didn't consider the situation where she wasn't able to listen to the audio. Also the workplace had an influence on the depth she reflected on the past experience. In the interview she mentioned that it was really busy those days so she didn't give enough time for the study. Since this method is open-ended in nature, it's very hard to control in what context will the subject engage in the probe. But to make the package more effective, differences between contexts should be considered in advance.
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REFLECTION The Broken Probes package in particular:
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How does your probe package bring about your own sensibility about the problem space? While none of the team had first hand experience of going through a divorce prompted by a same sex relationship, one of the team knew the subject, giving some insight which was conveyed to the group in addition to the insight provided by talking with the subject’s partner. This insight helped to ground some of the elements within the box, and some of the activities.
With regards to the financial dimension, as students, we all have issues relating to finances to one degree or another and this gave us a means of merging the horizons of our lifeworlds with the subject.
By discussing these experiences as a group it was possible to take our specific experiences and abstract from them in order to create some of the more conceptual elements of the probe.
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REFLECTION The Probes in general:
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Stepping back and critiquing the use of artifact probes in general as a method for design research: What kind of insights can be generated? What kind of insights does this technique fail to provide? The use of artifact probes provides a provocative way for the subject to think about their environment and experience. The probes create a conversation between the subject and researchers, especially when traditional methods can be detrimental to handle sensitive themes. It is an effective way to explore novel design possibilities and stimulate designers' imagination. According to Boehner et al, although the probes can generate a dialogue, it doesn't support the design process in a explicit way, that is, " moving directly from data gathering to final design". It's reasonable to argue that how information results generate inspiration and ideas can be articulated and documented. But in this method, this process is uncovered. The open-ended nature of probes is good for extending opportunity space instead of narrowing down to a specific one. But similarity, designers and researchers have comparatively weak rationale for further idea generating without complement from other methods.
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REFLECTION The Probes in general:
The items are well designed to put into the probe package. The abstract or direct nature of the item itself gives designers very different expectations and assumptions of the feedback. Designers can get explicit insights from some aspects of the probe. However, the more abstract the items are, the harder can the probe provide a clear and in-depth design direction. On the other hand, it's better for exploration and imagination.
Moreover, quality of the response from the subject can not be guaranteed. In our case, the subject volunteered to participate in this research. Unfortunately after session, the subject failed to listen to the audio we prepared which was an important part of the package to set up the emotional context for her. So the results are somewhat insufficient and incomplete. Also, the subject opened the package at work, which could change how much the subject was engaged. How to control or not to control these influential elements in a way determines the quality of the results, which directly affect what kind of insights can be generated. We assume in other cases, the subjects are paid or strongly self-motivated to participate in the study, hence the results can be better gathered.
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PROCESS PICS
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