Presented by inChat Co-Founder & Design Anthropologist, Hector Fried and inChat Co-Founder & Technology Developer Rory Gianni at the 2021 Rasa Summit. Watch the talk recording on our summit site: https://rasa.com/summit/

1. Ethnobots: Reimagining Chatbots as Ethnographic Research Tools 🤔 ?

2. We combine design ethnography, chatbot technology, and data insights to
capture rich stories of users, customers, and services.

3. A design consultancy, we capture missing stories.

4. Ethnobot
(ethnographic chatbot)
Ethnography
Ethnos – ‘folk, people, or nation’
Grahpo - ‘I write’
Chatbot
“a computer program designed to simulate
conversation with human users”

5. Methods
We combine multiple approaches into one novel methodology and
approach:
• Mobile Ethnography,
• Diary Studies,
• Technological-Cultural Probes,
• Ecological Momentary Assessment,
• and the practice of Field Notes.

6. Strategic AI, Smart Design

7. Re-imagining field notes

8. Insights &
Advantages

9. Insights &
Advantages
Open ended
Chatbots that engage in open ended
conversation, enabling users to really
express themselves
Familiar, easy to use format
Chat apps are familiar so your users
don’t need to learn a new tool
Real time and context rich
User responses as and when things
happen, all captured for analysis

10. Decreased observer effect
Chatbots don’t judge! People express
themselves more freely
Insights &
Advantages
(continued)
Deployable remotely
Learn about your users and their
journeys wherever they are
Scalable
Capture stories and customer
journeys at scale

11. Royal Highland Show
RHS bot in Action
Participants Selfie
Participants Chat Log

12. Oops...

13. Edinburgh City Council
Public Art Project
Stakeholder in Conversation with Ethnobot

14. The User Journey

15. The User Journey

17. The User Journey

19. Key Takeaways
Basics for leveraging chatbots for research purposes :
• Leverage Co-Design
• Develop and define key questions and provocations
• Remove technological hangups
• Embed intervention as a research infrastructure
• Allow for unstructured or non-prescribed responses
• Make the most of anthropomorphisation
• Make analysis transcribable
(ie. You must design for the client and end user appropriately)

20. @inChatD
Chatbots for research purposes
https://inchat.design
✉
hector@inchat.design
rory@inchat.design

21. Applications / Market Prospects
We see our approach, methods and technology as
means to improve the following areas:
● Customer Experience Management
○ FinTech
○ Health & Health Care
○ Gaming
○ Software User Experience
● Product Marketing & Management
● Human Behaviour Analysis
● Public Services & Engagement
● Culture, Museums, & Galleries
● Parks and Nature
● Academic Research
Sectors in bold are high-growth potential areas

22. Applications / Market Prospects
Customer Experience Management Market Size [1]
Value in 2020 - USD 7.6 billion
Est. for 2027 - USD 23.6 billion
“...trend in investment towards customer retention
strategies than that of customer acquisition
strategies is further enhancing the growth of the
market for customer experience management.
According to Harvard Business Review, the cost to
retain a customer is 25% cheaper as compared to the
cost of acquiring a new customer.” [2]
Sources:
[1]: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/customer-experience-management-market
[2]: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-customer-experience-management-cem-market

23. The Company History Timeline
Coining the term ‘Ethnobot’ (ethnographic chatbot)
First Ethnobot deployment
First paper published at CHI 2018
Commercialisation approval from PETRAS
Resident Entrepreneurs programme at Creative
Informatics
Challenge Project 1: Fringe Festival Society
Challenge Project 2: Jupiter Artland
inChat becomes an LTD
2017
2021
First Ethnobot deployment under PETRAS research project

24. Co-Founders
Rory Gianni is a creative technologist and trainer. He has over 10 years experience
working with public sector organisations, start-ups, and universities helping them
take their early stage concepts to production. In his previous role as a research
associate at the department of Design Informatics, Rory focused on developing
technological probes and tools to conduct design led research. He is now working on
the edge of affective technologies to enhance conversational AI experiences.
Hector Michael Fried is a design anthropologist and artist. Hector’s research
explores the use of technological probes towards qualitative and ethnographic
inquiry, while applying it to industry issues around service design. He has specific
interest in IoT with an emphasis on contextualising the growing relationship
between things, humans, and AI. At Design Informatics he has worked with
Edinburgh City Council towards their Public Art Research Project and conducted
research under the Internet of Things Research Hub (PETRAS). He has become a
leading expert in Conversational User Interaction Design for research purposes.