This case study discusses how friction plays a transformative role in reshaping relational dynamics within the...
Tag: nonprofit
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...
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 non-emergency 101 call with a man who had found himself face to face with a weasel in his back garden. She and her colleagues had been shaking...
Merging Institutional Logics and Negotiated Culture Perspectives to Help Cross-Sector Partnerships Solve the World’s Most Wicked Problems
Showcasing a sixteen-month ethnographic study of a coalition to end homelessness in Western Canada, we show how the integration of two theoretical perspectives—institutional logics and negotiated culture—can be used as complementary, yet distinct lenses to better inform the practice of cross...
Navigating Value and Vulnerability with Multiple Stakeholders: Systems Thinking, Design Action and the Ways of Ethnography
A growing cadre of organizations, corporations, NGOs and philanthropic foundations seek to address difficult global problems like poverty using social innovation and technology. Such problems are multivalent, deep-rooted, ever changing and culturally specific. Amid this complicated terrain,...
From Users to User Ecosystems: Applying Systems Thinking to Ethnography
User research typically focuses on intentional moments of contact between individuals and a product or...
Why I Joined EPIC: A GPS for the Organizational Rapids
[22 May 2017: We are deeply saddened to learn that Mike has passed away. If you don't know his work, we invite you to dive into Mike's website and learn about his tremendous research, writing, and impact. —ed.] I finally seriously joined EPIC. By "seriously" I mean "sent them money." It was high...
Tell Them I Built This: A Story of Community Transformation through Design, Youth, and Education
Good morning. I’m really excited to be here. Last time I was here, I was down the street at the Trustees Theater for all of five hours, while on a cross-country road trip. It’s nice to be back and to have a little bit more time to spend here and to tell the story — and to do so as part of the...