Jack Whalen and a Career of Workplace Studies and Design

Jack Whalen's career and work has been extensive in terms of defining how ethnography can influence design. More specifically, workplace studies uses careful and detailed examination of workplace practice, often combined with the researcher engaging as a direct participant in the setting. We discuss the nature of this work, and the trajectory of his professional career from academia to industry and then back to academia again. No matter where he was, Jack always combined research with impact, fusing theory and practice in ways to inform design and advance positive change.