Cynthia DuVal

Current

Leadership Team Volunteer at e426 The Innovation Corps for America
Founding Director at Pacific Ethnograhic Research Center

Past

Design Researcher at Volt Technical Resources
Design Research and Ethnography at Microsoft - Zune - FILTER
Director at Rock Hollow Studios

Design Researcher at Anthro-Tech, Inc.
On-line Portal Concept Design Project Manager at Red Hat
Senior User Researcher at IBM Lotus
Senior Member of the Research Staff at Verizon Laboratories
Ethnographer/Usability Specialist at Microsoft Mobile Electronics
Ethnographer at Microsoft
Consultant: Activity Theory and Learning Research at Apple Computer
Qualitative Market Research Intern at Interval Research
Ethnographer at Xerox PARC
Ethnography Intern at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Founder, Designer and Artist at Visual World Design (Sole Proprietorship)
Production Assistant at Lucas Films

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Education

University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Oregon

Recommended

16 people have recommended Cynthia

Connections

228 connections

Industry

Research

Websites

Cynthia DuVal’s Summary

I have experience working as a pioneering ethnographer and design researcher with program, process and product innovation teams at Xerox PARC, Interval Research, Apple Computer, Microsoft, Verizon Labs, IBM, Radius Development and most recently Pacific Ethnographic Research Center.

Ethnography is a great tool for cultivating insight that can open up new ways of thinking about people, business and the world. I help innovators across disciplines and industries understand their target markets and audiences and help businesses how and when to apply ethnographic research and user centered design principles to business goals, problems and strategies. I also mentor ethnographers in applied ethnography and innovation discovery.

I recently Founded the Pacific Ethnographic Research Center in Enumclaw, Washington to focus on using applied ethnography to discover innovation opportunities and drive outcomes based on open innovation, sustainability and social entrepreneurship principles.

PERC Services:
1) Targeted state of the art applied ethnographic research designed to discover innovation opportunities
2) Mentoring in applied ethnography and innovation discovery for the greater good
3) Think tank, education, advocacy and entrepreneurial program development
4) Create knowledge and action communities around complex social organization challenges

Cynthia DuVal’s Specialties:

Cultural Psychology

Conducting and applying ethnographic research to innovation discovery and concept design goals

User-centered design research and business strategy consulting.

Teaching and developing applied ethnography competencies in corporate settings

Innovation Discovery Research

Internet Lifestyle Mentoring for Non-technical Entrepreneurs

Cultural Field Research Mentoring

Cynthia DuVal’s Experience

Leadership Team Volunteer

e426 The Innovation Corps for America

(Non-Profit; Information Technology and Services industry)

July 2009 — Present (6 months)

e426 The Innovation Corps for America is a non profit working to help laid off information technology workers by developing job opportunities that bring emerging technologies to economic stimulus projects.
Founding Director

Pacific Ethnograhic Research Center

(Research industry)

April 2009 — Present (9 months)

The Pacific Ethnographic Research Center is dedicated to doing work that matters to people and the world.

One of our projects is called Internet Lifestyle Mentoring. This involves being a liason between non-technical individuals and businesses that want to understand and use emerging Internet applications (and visual media) and the investors and vendors who design, develop and market these applications.

PERC Activities:

-Researching, undestanding and documenting contemporary work and family life in the Pacific NorthWest using visual ethnographic methods

-Advocating for people in the areas of Internet Lifestyle, Sustainable Communities, Small Farm Life & Rural Business Development

-Providing individuals and businesses with field research photos and videos for use in family and business communications

-Investigating and developing entrepreneurial opportunity

-Providing cultural field research students with research opportunities and educational support
Design Researcher

Volt Technical Resources

(Staffing and Recruiting industry)

December 2008 — February 2009 (3 months)

Design research planning
Design Research and Ethnography

Microsoft - Zune - FILTER

(Research industry)

2008 — 2009 (1 year )
Director

Rock Hollow Studios

(Internet industry)

July 2005 — January 2009 (3 years 7 months)

---Rock Hollow Studios is currently transitioning to a new business model and entity: Pacific Ethnographic Research Center. Rock Hollow Studios provided independent ethnographic research consulting. PERC will have a different scope of work and include research, education, advocacy and entrepreneurial activities. Too often applied ethnographic work fails to have the impact that it should for many reasons. One of these is that compelling research findings are not applicable to the direct goals of corporate project sponsors. Complicating this is the fact that when innovation opportunities are discovered the development of those opportunities requires cross-company, cross industry and/or multi-national collective action and the economic and social networks aren't in place to drive these opportunities forward. PERC will work on these difficult problems by housing a think tank dedicated to the development of economically viable ethnographic research collectives with social entrepreneurship and cultural change and preservation goals.
Design Researcher

Anthro-Tech, Inc.

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

November 2008 — December 2008 (2 months)

I'm working on a user-centered research and design project with Anthro-tech. Anthro-tech specializes in user centered design consulting, design and training for government and non-profit agencies. We are doing an intranet redesign and community portal concept design in preparation for a field test early next year.
On-line Portal Concept Design Project Manager

Red Hat

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

December 2005 — September 2006 (10 months)

In this consulting engagement I worked with on-line business and IT strategists, global business managers, developers, operations teams, marketing program managers and Red Hat partners and customers to define requirements for on-line customer and partner portals. I facilitated portal concept design and website design activities, facilitated collaboration among global stakeholders and delivered a set of concept designs and a strategy roadmap for customer and partner portals.
Senior User Researcher

IBM Lotus

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Computer Software industry)

July 2001 — July 2005 (4 years 1 month)

--I advised on the development of user-centered design and user research work practices and planned and project managed several collaboration software research studies.
--Worked with high profile customers including JP Morgan Chase, Hewitt Associates, GlaxoSmithKline, Countrywide and IBM Research/Watson to improve customer satisfaction and retention related to the design of emerging software applications
--Facilitated a collaboration between software architects, service engineers, designers, writers and curriculum develpers to improve the delivery of new products
Senior Member of the Research Staff

Verizon Laboratories

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

August 1999 — July 2001 (2 years )

It was my job to plan and conduct ethnographic research to identify product design opportunities related to broadband to the home. I also did a user experience field study of the Verizon Video on Demand service. Some of the outcomes of these research projects can be accessed via www.verizon.net today.
Ethnographer/Usability Specialist

Microsoft Mobile Electronics

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

July 1997 — July 2000 (3 years 1 month)

This was a three year contract position in which I planned and conducted research to support the Mobile Electronics Interaction Design Team. We were responsible to design and user experience test emerging Windows CE PDA's, the Auto PC and Microsoft's first smart phone. I did a "day in the life" field study with 20 mobile professionals, conducted usability lab tests of technical prototypes, and did several user experience test studies of small screen devices in use for the first time. I also helped coordinate the multimodal user interface design for the Auto PC and earned two patent awards with my colleagues for the speech interface design.
Ethnographer

Microsoft

(Research industry)

1997 — 2000 (3 years )
Consultant: Activity Theory and Learning Research

Apple Computer

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 1995 — October 1995 (6 months)

Planned, documented and analyzed a field study of collaborative learning activities for the Apple Advanced Technology Learning Group. The research was designed to inform an interactive learning prototype being designed to support collaborations between Apple, area schools and the San Francisco Science Museum staff.
Qualitative Market Research Intern

Interval Research

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

June 1994 — December 1994 (7 months)

I was hired to do ethnoraphic research for the Qualitative Market Research Group at Interval. I traveled with a team of videographers and market researchers to Lollapalooza concerts across the US and photographed teen culture as it related to the music, the venues and human computer interactions with Electronic Carnival kiosks. It was my job to develop a database of photographs taken of teen music enthusiasts attending Lollapalooza concerts and contribute to the identification and exploration of innovative interactive products for teens.
Ethnographer

Xerox PARC

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

1993 — 1994 (1 year )
Ethnography Intern

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

May 1993 — March 1994 (11 months)

I did ethnographic work as an intern for the Hardware Lab and the Computer Science Lab. While at Xerox PARC I did a study of hardware engineering collaborative work practices and interviewed and shot video documentary footage with the artists and scientists who were involved in the first season of the Xerox PARC Artist in Residence Program. Both of these projects were organizational change projects directed toward enhancing innovative thought and action and among PARC scientists and the San Francisco Bay area electronic arts community.
Founder, Designer and Artist
Visual World Design (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Design industry)

June 1980 — March 1991 (10 years 10 months)

Visual World Design was a design and fine art production company. It was a sole proprietorship in which I designed, printed and painted fabrics for interior design and clothing, designed a line of clothing, coordinated costumes for Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, painted costumes for a horror movie in LA, made and showed oil paintings, designed costumes for George Coates Performance Works and curated contemporary art shows at Bucci’s Café in Emeryville, CA.
Production Assistant

Lucas Films

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Entertainment industry)

March 1988 — August 1988 (6 months)

Worked as a production assistant to academy award winnig costumer designer Milena Canonero and her esteemed assistants on the movie Tucker.

Cynthia DuVal’s Education

University of California, Santa Cruz

Master of Arts , Cultural Historical Psychology and Educational Research , 1991 — 1994

The focus of my studies was on sociocultural psychology (activity theory), creativity and creative collaboration. My thesis research was conducted with scientists and electronic artists who were participating in the first artist in residence program at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. My thesis was entitled: The Use of Artifacts as Tools for Thinking.
University of Oregon

BS Experimental Psychology , Cognitive Psychology & Chemistry , 1972 — 1977

Studied cognitive psychology, chemistry and writing. Wrote my senior thesis on divided attention under the guidance of Professor Michael Posner.

Additional Information

Cynthia DuVal’s Websites:

Cynthia DuVal’s Interests:

Applied ethnography, Cultural Psychology, visual art, emerging technologies, contemporary culture, thinking, cognitive change, innovation discovery, collective thinking, farming, sustainability, complex social processes, education, advocacy, entrepreneurship.