A case study of the deployment of cultural probes in remote schools

Abstract

Cultural probes have emerged as an effective user requirements capturing toolset for sensitive environments, such as domestic and educational settings. Previous efforts with cultural probes have been done on a small scale with no more than 20 users and have mostly considered urban environments. In contrast, we have collected cultural probes from more than ten remote schools and involved more than 100 students and teachers. We have found that some of the original analog probes might be already outdated in the face of contemporary digital tools and technologies, even in places that have remained greatly unaffected by modern life. The results of this study provide a framework for employing, administering, and analyzing cultural probes in longitudinal studies of remote places.