Designing for Field Biologists: A Case Study in Participative Design

This paper describes the design of a real world data acquisition system used by ecologists monitoring the environmental evolution of coastal wetlands. In this paper, we describe how field studies, interviews, low fidelity prototypes and pilot studies both informed and misinformed the design of a data collection tool. To fully expose the process and lessons learned, we first describe our design process. We highlight current data collection techniques. We explain the process of participative design which made use of low fidelity prototypes. Finally, we highlight how the artifacts of participative design misinformed us in the creation of a data collection system that allows ecologists to capture field data. We summarize some of the lessons learned, and provide guidelines for the introduction of new technology into the work practices of field scientists.