Studying and Designing Technology for Domestic Life

Chapter 3

“Rainy Days Work Best for Us”

Lessons from Home-Based Family Interviews

Gilly Leshed^∗,  and Maria Håkansson^{§     ∗}Cornell University, Department of Information Science, Ithaca, NY, USA     ^§Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

In the spring of 2012 we carried out an interview study with thirteen families who live and work on small organic farms. The purpose of the study was to expand the design space for family technologies. However, we found that interviewing a unique demographic also expanded the methodological space for family studies. Based on the challenges we faced in studying farm families, we draw four lessons that can extend beyond the farm to other families in diverse situations. First, we suggest paying ...