Numbers Have Qualities Too: Experiences with Ethno‐Mining

Abstract

Field research holds a special place for those who conduct it. It is also our anchor for relevance in the corporation. This paper explores the authors' experiences with “ethno‐mining”, a way of joining data base mining and ethnography. Since 2004 we have been using a variety of sensing and behavioral tracking technologies in conducting field research. We will present the main characteristics of doing ethno‐mining, compare ethno‐mining to other field research technologies, highlight the strengths of ethno‐mining in co‐creating data with participants and conclude by noting how the representations have opened new conversations and discourses inside the corporation. In this way, these new opportunities to collect sometimes counterintuitive data contributes to the research itself as well as the ongoing process of constructing oneself as relevant.