CARRIE YURY

Contributed Articles

Microbes That Matter

CARRIE YURY Fjord [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] [/s2If] [s2If !is_user_logged_in()] Join EPIC to access video: → Learn about Membership → Browse Video Library [/s2If] [s2If current_user_is(subscriber)] Join EPIC to access video: → Learn about Membership → Browse Video Library [/s2If] PechaKucha Presentation—While COVID-19 has made the world hyper vigilant about sanitization, I take a bottoms-up perspective on the threats of a microbe-starved world. Telling the story of Clostridium Difficile, I walk us through how—just as in ethnography—context is everything for microbes. Using different examples from the biosphere, I examine how microbial metaphors matter, and I make the case that understanding microbes in the context of larger environments and ecosystems can help move us toward life centered design. This Pecha Kucha uses microbes as a contextual metaphor to argue that it is our responsibility to change our perspective; to decenter the human, and start designing for the health of...

Remote Workshops and Collaboration: “Being There” when You’re Not in the Room

An EPIC Talk with NICHOLE CARELOCK (Ad Hoc LLC), MARTHA COTTON (Fjord/Accenture Digital), & CARRIE YURY (Fjord) [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] Approx 60 min → Download Nikki Carelock's "Cheat Sheet" for Remote Workshops [/s2If] [s2If !is_user_logged_in()] Please sign in or become an EPIC Member to access video. [/s2If] [s2If current_user_is(subscriber)] Become an EPIC Member to access video. Learn More. [/s2If] Overview The daily work of ethnographers requires being the room with key people, working through a range of challenges in shared spaces. We do this in workshop settings, for brainstorming and planning, and for the myriad ways we collaborate with teams, stakeholders, clients, and others. COVID19 has upended our ability to work together in this way. How do you make virtual collaboration not only effective but also feel authentic? How do you lean-in to digital instead of trying to force fit analog experience into digital boxes? There are best practices for remote and virtual ways...

Ethnography in Agile Contexts: Offering Speed or Spark?

EPIC2017 Platinum Panel Moderated by: MARTHA COTTON (Fjord) Panelists: JULIA KATHERINE HAINES (Google), BRIAN KING (HEC Montréal), MARIE-AGNES PARMENTIER (HEC Montréal), CARRIE YURY (Beyond Curious) & MICHAEL WINNICK (dscout) [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] [/s2If] [s2If !is_user_logged_in()] Please sign in or become an EPIC Member to access video. [/s2If] [s2If current_user_is(subscriber)] Become an EPIC Member to access video. Learn More. [/s2If] Overview This panel explores perspectives that emerge from the intersection of ethnography and agile methodologies—from real constraints to exciting possibilities. We seek to better understand what “agile” is and where it comes from and then explore tools and approaches that allow us to be relevant in agile contexts. Is being “agile” just about efficiency and speeding up our processes? Or is it about ongoing efforts that offer the right spark at the right time? Or maybe something in between? In this panel we explore this timely topic...

Tutorial: Agile for Researchers

CARRIE YURY BeyondCurious CHRIS YOUNG BeyondCurious [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] [/s2If] [s2If !is_user_logged_in()] Please sign in or become an EPIC Member to access video. [/s2If] [s2If current_user_is(subscriber)] Become an EPIC Member to access video. Learn More. [/s2If] Overview Agile is taking the design world by storm, and requiring teams—including researchers—to rethink how we communicate, plan, and act. But is it possible, or even desirable, to apply agile methodologies to ethnographic research? We respond with a resounding yes! While agile requires some new skills, and a different mindset, in our experience by adapting to agile researchers can have an even greater impact on teams. In this tutorial you will: Plan your own agile research sprints •     Resourcing, sprint planning, meeting cadence, reviews/retrospectives Become familiar with the terminology used by agile teams •     Epics, user stories, stand-ups Get an overview of common tools...

5 Things Great EPIC PechaKuchas Have in Common

by CARRIE YURY, BeyondCurious If you have never been to an EPIC conference and you are considering submitting PechaKucha proposal this year, welcome! This article is for you. EPIC people love PechaKucha. What the heck is it and why should you take on the challenge for EPIC2017? Powered by PechaKucha is a wonderful format for a conference presentation. Weighing in at only 6 minutes and 40 seconds, it is, in my opinion, the most compact, impactful, and fun presentation format available to EPIC-goers. Pecha Kucha is a very specific form—a visual presentation that is given at a staccato pace of one slide every 20 seconds. Merciless to the unprepared, it can be transformational in the right hands. Consider these 5 things that great EPIC PechaKuchas have in common. Great Visuals It may seem obvious, but in case it’s not, let me underscore here how critical visuals are for a PechaKucha. They aren’t simply illustrations. They’re a point of view. You must be absolutely intentional in your choice of visuals. When you perform...

Working For It: Feminist Art and Ethnography

CARRIE YURY Vice President, Experience Research, BeyondCurious Download PDF [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] [/s2If] PechaKucha—Feminist art and ethnography have something in common. We examine the everyday; are interested in activism and equality. As a practitioner of both, I assert that we need feminist ethnography, especially in corporate technology research, where women are discounted because of cultural stereotypes, in spite of being key users and consumers. We need to be open about being feminist ethnographers. We must turn ideas of “bias” inside out, as current bias against women in technology is rampant. It’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s work that is worth doing. Carrie Yury is a feminist researcher, writer, and artist. She is Head of Experience Research at innovation agency BeyondCurious, where she oversees all research, both quant and qual, to understand users, develop original thought leadership, develop experience strategy, and ensure great product design. 2016 Ethnographic Praxis in...

An Ethnographer Goes To Career Day

CARRIE YURY BeyondCurious, Inc. [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] [/s2If] As a working mother it’s important to me that my 5 year old knows what I do. This isn’t just so that she understands where mommy goes all day. It’s also because I feel that it is critical that I provide her as many examples as possible of women who are taking leadership roles and making an impact in the world. And I know that, as her primary role model, it’s important to both of us that I include myself among those impactful women. So without any hesitation when the form came home from my daughter’s elementary school asking for volunteers for career day, I filled it out. In the field for occupation I wrote “Ethnographer.” A few weeks later I received a formal invitation telling me that I would be giving a half hour presentation to two classes about what I do for a living. That is when panic struck. Everyone in this room knows how difficult ethnographic praxis can be to explain. In fact, sometimes I feel like I’ve spent my entire...

Breaking It Down: Integrating Agile Methods and Ethnographic Praxis

by CARRIE YURY, BeyondCurious Critical thinkers that we are, researchers are skeptical of buzzwords, one-size-fits all methodologies, and facile business trends. We scowl as ‘ethnography’ is invoked just because someone actually talked with a customer. We say things like, “If you want to be Agile, try yoga.” Even so, we remain deeply committed to the core value of these approaches when they’re done right. At BeyondCurious, we practice Agile Research. Why did we adapt our research practice to Agile? We did it because we had to. BeyondCurious is an innovation agency that specializes in mobile experiences for enterprise clients. Mobile moves incredibly fast. In order to be an effective, viable, and integral part of BeyondCurious’ mobile design and development process, research has to be done in sync with the rest of the team. And the rest of the team, from strategy and design to development, works in two week, agile sprints. It wasn’t easy, but we’ve adapted our research methods—from ethnography to UX research—to...