Comments on: I Wondered When I’d See This http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/2007/11/08/i-wondered-when-id-see-this/ Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:51:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Heather http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/2007/11/08/i-wondered-when-id-see-this/comment-page-1/#comment-3458 Heather Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:31:33 +0000 http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/2007/11/08/i-wondered-when-id-see-this/#comment-3458 Designers are guilty of this too, I think. :~) For instance, designers have come with with "quick-Ethnography" methods. I wonder if thi isn't this an oxymoron. Not that these contributions aren't important. The development of new methods is what helps us to move forward as a profession, right? How do we develop new methods or tailor those of other disciplines while maintaining validity? What I think is really key to design thinking is lateral thinking - or the ability to work through a problem in a non-linear way. Do we do that in libraries much? Not really. I also appreciate how firms like IDEO are able to embed themselves in the world of potential users. Do we do that? Not much. One - I think as librarians we oftentimes think we are being empathetic, when in fact we are being assumptive, and two - I think we could spend more time than we do on "potential" users. We could use a lot more training in these methods - and in the analysis of the data we produce doing this research. That last part is the hardest part I think. Ironically, the first time I watched the Deep Dive was at the 2002 Immersion (ACRL Institute for Information Literacy). I don't think I was the only librarian in the room wishing I could work for IDEO! Intrigued by that experience, and influenced by the fact that I'm a librarian for Industrial Design programs, I started to learn more about design methods. For the past two years I've been co-teaching a course in Design Research (for ID students) and have tried to imagine how librarians might apply these same methods and ways of thinking to our own work. I just picked up your book and am looking forward to read it and your blog. Designers are guilty of this too, I think. :~) For instance, designers have come with with “quick-Ethnography” methods. I wonder if thi isn’t this an oxymoron. Not that these contributions aren’t important. The development of new methods is what helps us to move forward as a profession, right? How do we develop new methods or tailor those of other disciplines while maintaining validity?

What I think is really key to design thinking is lateral thinking – or the ability to work through a problem in a non-linear way. Do we do that in libraries much? Not really. I also appreciate how firms like IDEO are able to embed themselves in the world of potential users. Do we do that? Not much. One – I think as librarians we oftentimes think we are being empathetic, when in fact we are being assumptive, and two – I think we could spend more time than we do on “potential” users. We could use a lot more training in these methods – and in the analysis of the data we produce doing this research. That last part is the hardest part I think.

Ironically, the first time I watched the Deep Dive was at the 2002 Immersion (ACRL Institute for Information Literacy). I don’t think I was the only librarian in the room wishing I could work for IDEO! Intrigued by that experience, and influenced by the fact that I’m a librarian for Industrial Design programs, I started to learn more about design methods. For the past two years I’ve been co-teaching a course in Design Research (for ID students) and have tried to imagine how librarians might apply these same methods and ways of thinking to our own work. I just picked up your book and am looking forward to read it and your blog.

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