Get out of the lab and design it on the fly! In-situ is trendy - observing existing practices is so yesterday.

 

When researchers "Turn to the Wild," they're turning their backs on the traditional ethnographic approaches of Human Centered Design & Engineering. Instead of observing users and then attempting to satisfy the needs identified, these researchers introduce new technologies to see how people react in different places and settings. 

A major part of the theory is the encouragement to disrupt existing user behavior while understanding how the new technologies are integrated into the users' daily lives. Sometimes studies can last months and weeks to make sure the effects observed are sustainable. Unfortunately, this leads application of the theory to have the potential to be very expensive.
 

In the wild research is a fresh, new way of understanding and practicing prototyping in our field. New prototypes are integrated directly into the lives of users for extended periods of time to reveal different results from traditional lab studies.

So, the question is, how wild are you willing to get?