Studies of Design and Use

Things to look up later…from Oudshoorn, N., Rommes, E., & Stienstra, M. (2004). Configuring the User as Everybody: Gender and Design Cultures in Information and Communication Technologies. Science Technology Human Values, 29(1), 30-63.

There are only a few studies that study the use as well as the design of artifacts.The most comprehensive biographical study of an artifact including both design and use is the study of Cynthia Cockburn and Susan Ormrodon the microwave oven (Cockburn and Ormrod 1993). They studied the whole “circuit of gender and technology,” by following it from design, manufacture, marketing, sale, purchase, and use to maintenance. Other exceptions include Rachel Weber’s analysis of the gendered design of cockpits; Anne Jorun Berg’s study of the life trajectory of various artifacts, including the smart-house; and Paul du Gay’s biographical study of the Walkman (Weber 1999; Berg 1996; du Gay 1997).