文化探針(Culture Probes)這方法的理論是藉由某些物品刺激參與者反思自己對於某些事物的看法、觀點，並以研究者所提供的某數種形式記錄下來。可以呈現資料的多樣性，以及讓研究者與參與者所始料未及的資料浮現。

1. Culture Probes
{ Dorian Lai
User Experience Research Lab | INSIGHT Center
August 1, 2011

2. A European Union–funded research project
looking at novel interaction techniques to increase
the presence of the elderly in their local
communities.
Three community sites:
 Majorstua, a district of Oslo
 Bijlmer, a large planned community near
Amsterdam
 Peccioli, a small village outside Pisa.
Background

3. The cultural probes were designed to provoke
inspirational responses from elderly people in
diverse communities.
Purpose

4.  Understanding the local cultures was necessary so
that our designs wouldn’t seem irrelevant or
arrogant
 We didn’t want the groups to constrain our designs
unduly by focusing on needs or desires they already
understood.
 We wanted to lead a discussion with the groups
toward unexpected ideas, but we didn’t want to
dominate it.
Why Use Culture Probes?

5.  Maps
 Postcards
 Cameras
 Booklets
Probe Packages

6. Example: Postcards

7. Example: Camera

8. We weren’t trying to reach an objective view of
the elders’ needs through the probes, but instead
a more impressionistic account of their beliefs
and desires, their aesthetic preferences and
cultural concerns.
Role:
 Doctors(X)
 Servants(X)
 Provocateurs(√)
Inspiration, not Information

9. Sorting through the masses of maps, cards, and
photographs that we received, strong and
differentiated views of the three sites began to
emerge. Some items acted as beacons for us
Example:
 A photograph of friends at an Italian café
 A map of the Bijlmer with extensive notes about the
“junkies and thieves” in the area
 A joke about death from Oslo.
The Returns

10.  In the Bijlmer, our ideas respond to the paradox
of a strong community in a dangerous area: We
have proposed building a network of computer
displays with which the elderly could help
inhabitants communicate their values and
attitudes about the culture.
 The group in Oslo is affluent, well educated, and
enthusiastic: We are proposing that they lead a
communitywide conversation about social issues,
publishing questions from the library that are
sent for public response to electronic systems in
cafés, trams, or public spaces.
From Probes to Designs

11. The probes didn’t directly lead to our designs. They
were invaluable in making us aware of the detailed
texture of the sites, allowing us to shape proposals
to fit them.
User-Centered Inspiration

12.  What we learned about the elders is only half the
story, however. The other half is what the elders
learned from the probes.
 The probes helped establish a conversation with
the groups.
User-Centered Inspiration (cont)

13.  Gaver, W., Dunne, T., and Pacenti, E. Cultural
Probes. Interactions. Vol VI, No. 1
January+February (1999), 21-29.
Reference