During the fieldwork cycle, we write quick summaries of each interview session and send these immediately to our clients so they can start to circulate stories. At this point in the process we strive to stay descriptive; our goal is just to get stories about the people we’re meeting out to the extended team (us, our direct clients, and their stakeholders).

Here is the first of these highlights for Reading Ahead.

We met with Tracy (not her real name) and her two sons at their home in a suburb of Santa Cruz. Tracy is a stay-at-home mom and part-time massage therapist, and is going back to school in the fall to get an MA in Occupational Therapy.

Reading is a big part of her family’s life. She reads every night with her sons (including a two-hour Harry Potter session the night before), and told us she does different voices for each character in the stories.

Reading has always been important to Tracy, and she showed us several books from her own childhood that she keeps on her shelves–including one that her father had when he was a child. She also talked about sharing book recommendations with her Mom and her friends.

Childhood books

In addition to a regular set of reading rituals with the kids, Tracy reads on her own, which she describes as: “My way of getting completely unplugged.”

Tracy and her boys make a weekly trip to the library, which usually culminates in a big spread of books on the living room floor.

Back from the library

I asked them to show us what this is like. Watching the boys comb through the pile to choose a book, I was struck by how physical their interaction with the books was.

There was also an interesting family moment where I asked about a book Tracy mentioned (Tacky, a children’s story about an iconoclastic penguin), and all three spontaneously recited the names of Tacky’s friends in perfect unison.

Here’s a short clip from that part of the interview:

Tags: books, client services, consumer research, contextual research, design, design research, ethnographic research, ethonography, fieldwork, interview, project, reading, Reading Ahead, stories, user research, video

4 Responses to “Reading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Tracy”

ries: Reading Ahead Reading Ahead: Project Launch Reading Ahead: Figuring out who to talk to Reading Ahead: Secondary Research (part 1) Reading Ahead: The Interview Guide Reading Ahead: Props For The Field Reading Ahead: First day of fieldworkReading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – TracyReading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Erica Reading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Peter Reading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Chris Reading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Jeff Reading Ahead: Fieldwork highlights – Julie Rea

Pingback by Conversations with Dina 09.06.09 @ 5:13 pm





This is great stuff, Dan!

Comment by Steve Portigal 08.06.09 @ 7:01 am




Ahead, a design research project to explore the evolution of books, and reading. We’re blogging every step in the process including deciding what type of participants we want, the interview guide, and highlights from the fieldwork [ here andhere]. Coming soon are our earliest hypotheses, and more of the data from the field (including participant photo journals, and participatory design artifacts), leading towards a full presentation of findings, opportunities, and design concepts. You can

Pingback by Ad Flo Go 08.07.09 @ 10:29 pm




[...] what type of participants we want, the interview guide, and highlights from the fieldwork [here and here]. Coming soon are our earliest hypotheses, and more of the data from the field (including [...]

Pingback by Keep up with the Reading Ahead design research project - Core77 08.09.09 @ 9:06 am