This
is a story of an avalanche (Buxton, 2007)
that demonstrates the inextricable relationship between design methodology and
social context.
I\Summary
Five people: Saul, Judy (Saul’s wife),
Shane, Steve, Steve’s wife traversed through an avalanche prone terrain. The
avalanche happened, affecting 3 people traversing in the middle: Saul, Steve’s
wife, Shane. Steve’s wife was buried to the shoulder, while Saul was totally
buried by snow.
II\ Difficulties
·
No
one in 5 people has experienced avalanche before.
·
Saul
is the husband of July, which put more stress on the situation.
·
Saul
was caught in a trough 2m under the surface
·
It
is hard to figure out what position of Saul because the flow of snow may take
him far away from the position he was caught.
III\ Advantages
·
They
had transceivers, avalanche shovel and avalanche probe
·
They
worked professionally:
·
They
spread out so that there are always lookouts
·
They
did triage - rescue the most able first (and they may be able to assist
later).
·
Judy remembered position of Saul
right before the avalanche happened
IV\ What saved Saul
It was the combination of
on-the-spot problem-solving, training, procedure and equipment. One may say
that the transceiver is the first help to figure out Saul’s position, but it
wouldn’t help if Saul didn’t wear the device, or in case Saul was the only
person who worn the device. And even though Judy and Steve worked very
skillful, Saul would not have been saved without the equipment. Therefore, even though each part was essential, both the human and
the technological factors, neither was sufficient on its own.
V\Conclusion
From the thinking of design
of tools used in the case (transceiver, probe and shovel) I think that design methodology must take full account of the relevant
ecosystem.
Reference
BUXTON,
B. 2007. Sketching User Experiences:
Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment