Engineering Seminar: Prof. Kathleen Sienko

For the third seminar from We-Lab this year, Professor Kathleen Sienko from the University of Michigan Biomedical Department presented on her work in design ethnography. As a person who does not follow biomedical engineering, I was enlightened by her talk and learned a lot about health issues and the need for revamped medical tools and practices in developing communities.

I was intrigued by her discussion of the case study for the traditional male circumcision (TMC) and how it contains cultural significance in Uganda as well as health significance. (For one, I did not realize that TMC helps reduce HIV risk approximately sixty percent.) At first, I had a faint understanding of the term design ethnography, and I had to search for the definition to get a better understanding: "research designed to explore cultural phenomena" (1). Hearing of how she met with more than twenty-five focus group discussions, which included klan leaders, ceremonial cutters, circumcision candidates and the candidates' families, I could only imagine the amount of stress and pressure she underwent in trying to meet desired specifications and details that would meet cultural needs and successful implementation of the technology.

The most interesting part of her presentation was her outline of going about ethnography and her learned techniques:

1. She targeted specific stakeholders or those interested/would benefit most from a device;
2. identified thought leaders and early adopters;
3. conduct in-depth interviews with leaders; and
4. perform complimentary direct observations to confirm interview finding

She expanded on the experience as an educational program (which I would be interested in if I was a biomed student): Global Clinical Immersion -> Co-creation and Design -> Field Site Validation

I found her description of her research experience to be enlightening and a wonderful peak into the world of engineering and creating products for the real-world, not just academic study.