Exploring Witnessed Presence (methodology)

The qualitative exploratory study ‘Witnessed Presence and Systems Engineering’ presented in this paper approaches networked reality from a ‘design as research’ perspective (Lunenfeld 2003), to understand how people integrate information and communication technologies in their day- to-day practices and the implications of the use of these technologies in their personal lives.
In the context of ‘Witnessed Presence and Systems Engineering’, 20 in-depth interviews explore how professionals from business, art, design, engineering, journalism, theatre, social science analyse changes in their practice and in everyday life around them. The interviews were held between November 2008 and April 2010. Eleven interviews were conducted with experts in India (8 in Bangalore and 3 in New Delhi), and ten interviews were conducted with experts in Europe (3 in London, 5 in Amsterdam and 1 interview was conducted with an expert from Barcelona). All of the experts have professional careers that are affected by the introduction of technology; their age is in the range of 35–75. The choice of experts is based on diversity of profession, field of expertise, cultural background and their conceptual eloquence.
In the in-depth interviews, the concept of witnessing and presence is explored. Each of the 4 dimensions of the YUTPA framework, Time, Place Action and Relation, is addressed in relation to trust in today’s global networked society. The interviews focus on how communication and practice differ ‘with the use of technology’ and ‘without the use of technology’. All interviews are filmed, to trace the lines of reasoning and emergence of new concepts. In the ‘thinking interviews’, the notions of Witnessed Presence and Trust are the main focus. Principal investigator (Caroline Nevejan) and experts engage in a shared endeavour to question perceptions, to better understand and articulate the phenomena inherent to technology enriched personal communication.
Taking full responsibility for the developing conversation, these interviews can be read as testimonies in which experts bear witness to current ICT’s impact on their lives and practices. Experiences, understanding and imagination are explored. As the principal investigator is ‘host’ to experts’ testimonies, the influence of the principal investigator is significant. The constructive process of ‘thinking interviews’ is the basis for the formulation of a new body of knowledge. In this paper, the experts’ contributions are presented in one narrative. No literal citations are provided, but instead, references are made to specific interviews. Transcriptions of all of the interviews, including film fragments, can be accessed at http://www.tmb.systemsdesign.tudelft.nl/witness.