The Ethnographically Informed Participatory Design of a PDA Application to Support Communication
Rhian Davies, Skip Marcella, Joanna McGrenere, Barbara Purves · 2004 · Proceedings of the 6th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets 04) · doi:10.1145/1028630.1028658
Summary
This paper describes an ethnographically informed participatory design process for creating a PDA-based file management system to support communication for a person with aphasia. The research was conducted at the University of British Columbia with one primary participant, SM, a 52-year-old man with aphasia and apraxia of speech resulting from a motorcycle accident two years prior. SM has severely limited speech production (mostly single words or short phrases), impaired reading and writing, but intact receptive language understanding and strong computer literacy from his pre-injury career as a graphic designer. The study had two phases: an ethnographic field study spanning over 70 hours of observation where the researcher (RD) spent time with SM in daily contexts (coffee shops, restaurants, buses, parks) to understand his communication strategies, followed by a participatory design phase where SM and RD collaboratively designed a file management prototype. The ethnographic phase revealed that SM uses a rich multimodal communication strategy combining speech fragments, writing on notepads, gestures, pointing, and autobiographical storytelling supported by photographs, sound clips, and written notes stored on his iPAQ PDA and desktop PC. The key finding was that the most significant barrier to using the PDA as a communication tool was not the communication software itself but the file management system — SM could not easily find, organize, or access the multimedia files he needed during conversations.
Key findings
The ethnographic observation identified several critical usability issues with the iPAQ's existing file management: accessing files required too many stylus taps, files lacked contextual organization (they were sorted alphabetically rather than by life event or conversation topic), and the system did not adequately support multimedia content types that SM relied on for communication. SM had developed a workaround by creating a "Skip" directory organized by life events (e.g., "Birthday") containing photos, sound clips, and notes, which reduced his search space and provided contextual reading cues. The participatory design phase produced a three-level-deep file facility with five pre-defined top-level directories (Past, Future, Stories, Lists, Other) colour-coded for quick identification. Key design requirements included: frequently used files accessible in 2-3 taps, new files placed in a directory of the user's choice, automatic archiving when syncing with the desktop, single methods for accomplishing tasks (to avoid confusion), shallow hierarchy preferred over deep selection, and the assumption that SM could accomplish all tasks without assistance. The prototype was implemented in C# on the .NET Compact Framework, with SM participating in ongoing feedback sessions during development. The rating scale approach (1-5) for paper prototypes proved effective for gathering feedback from someone with limited verbal expression.
Relevance
This research makes important contributions to accessibility practice on multiple levels. First, it demonstrates the value of ethnographic methods for understanding assistive technology use in natural contexts rather than laboratory settings — the 70+ hours of fieldwork revealed that file management, not communication software, was the real barrier, a finding unlikely to emerge from traditional usability testing. Second, the participatory design approach with a person with aphasia required careful methodological adaptations: using rating scales instead of verbal feedback, maintaining field notes instead of audio recordings (since SM was uncomfortable with being recorded), and balancing confidentiality with acknowledging the participant's contributions by name. Third, the finding that SM's primary communication strategy was autobiographical storytelling supported by multimedia artefacts has implications for AAC device design — these devices need to support rich personal content management, not just symbol-based message construction. A key limitation is the single-participant design, though the authors plan usability evaluation with six additional participants. The tension between researcher-led and truly participatory design is honestly addressed.
Tags: aphasia · augmentative and alternative communication · participatory design · ethnography · mobile technology · assistive technology · communication disability · PDA · file management