Culture - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 89

Figure 4-7. Attributes and semantic relationships. cix
The folk taxonomy or “set of categories organized on the basis of a single semantic relationship”
is the core. Analysis may reveal the attributes and relationships for each folk term.
Here, ethnography and information architecture are indistinguishable. Taxonomies are bound-
ary objects used in many ways by many communities. But our practices diverge in their goals.
An ethnographer's work concludes with a “thick description” and the understanding of a cul-
ture, while the information architect aims to create or change a system.
So our approach to ethnography differs from that of an anthropologist. We have less time for
field work, but that's mitigated by more directed goals. Since we're focused on interactions with
systems and services, in addition to asking questions, we use sketches and prototypes to probe
for possibility. We're interested in what is and what if as well.