The Last Days of The Speedy Bead, The Last Class (Wednesday)

Today was my last class with the HCI Masters students.  Although I had hoped we would get further, things rarely go the way you WANT them to go, and last class we didn't finish categorizing the observations from our ethnography with Lydia for "The Speedy Bead" simulation project.  It can be very hard to get to closure and often the structure "breaks" part-way into the process (often just when it seems like it's gelling)  That's always frustrating and it certainly was for the students, but I'm proud of how most of them rose to the challenge and got consensus and closure.

I spent the last few minutes talking with them about what they could do with the data from the Affinity Diagram and then my time as a Professor was over.

It's funny how nostalgic I feel!  Or not funny, really, but definitely poignant.

Anyway, here are my students hard at work.

At work

Giankaris

Kaiser 

The whole class engaged
(and Giankaris as the Enforcer)

Working

Moving stuff around

The final product

"The Speedy Bead" goes into the wild (Wednesday)

Today, I took my students on a field trip into the wilds of a beader's life.  We had a blast!  (Well, *I* did anyway)

As you may recall, last week, I went with Lydia down Avenida B to two bead stores.  We had a great time as I observed and photographed her choices of beads.

Today, my class and I trooped to her house where I did an ethnographic visit - observation, interview, and contextual inquiry - to understand how she uses beads.  It was really fascinating!

Before class, I circulated the "Field Notes" from my trip last week, and a Protocol I constructed based on our design brief.  When we arrived and set up, I covered the non-disclosure + confidentiality + photo/video release form with Lydia, and then the camera started to roll.

For the next 2+ hrs, we talked and listened and watched as Lydia explained her beading.  Here are some peeks at what we learned.

Using Fire Mountain Gems catalog to help identify stones,
and to purchase (in the future)

She uses her laptop for her inventory and her iPad for pricing
specific pieces of jewelry

Inventory is in Excel

Her inventory is done with a sheet for each store

A student photographing the scene
(We had both photos and video)

Stringing

Almost done

Admiring the effect (we all admired it too!)

This was the work in progress

In the end, I think that Lydia was as happy as we were! 

Understanding how she keeps track of her stones

Describing how she catalogs her beads