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Using Ethnography to Make APIs Usable_HCD Community of Practice

Ethnographic methods that center systems thinking, how knowledge is constructed, and how knowledge is shared among communities are best for developing collective digital products like Application Programming Interfaces, known as APIs.

On Friday, December 17, at 1 PM ET, join the CCSQ HCD Community of Practice to explore APIs and human-centered design. Our guest presenters are Maria Vidart-Delgado, Senior UX Researcher, and John French, Senior UX Designer & Front-End Specialist with Ad Hoc LLC.

During the session, we will explore:

  • APIs as digital products that are built, maintained and consumed collectively.
  • The use of ethnography as a practical approach to researching the communities that use APIs and their end-products, understanding their information needs, and how they use an API.
  • Designing API functionality to answer end-user information needs, real-life questions, and easy-to-understand information architecture and documentation.

In this talk, the guest speakers will discuss Ad Hoc's approach to researching APIs by sharing their work with CMS Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) APIs and how qualitative research contributes to usable APIs. In addition, the presentation will include applying ethnographic methods to study end-users and communities of practice to design API functionality, architecture, documentation, and support. Finally, as a case study, they will demonstrate how ethnographic methods are highly effective in the context of APIs because these methods focus on understanding collectives and how they share information and knowledge.

Register today to join the discussion and to collaborate with a community of professionals.

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