# Contextual design and cognitive niche construction

> I thought about contextual design from the perspective of cognitive niche construction in embodied cognition.

I thought about <contextual design> from the perspective of [cognitive niche construction](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Cognitive%20niche%20construction.txt) in [embodied cognition](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Embodied%20cognition.txt).

## Contextual design

There is a concept, or design methodology, called <contextual design>. Its central argument is that rather than bringing users into a lab, designers or researchers should go to where users are and observe their "context" as well.

## Cognitive niche construction

[Embodied cognition](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Embodied%20cognition.txt) and <active externalism> include a concept called cognitive niche construction. Actively modifying the environment to create a favorable ecological setting, as spiders do by building webs or beavers by building dams, is called <niche construction>. Similarly, humans modify their physical/social environment to create cognitively effective settings; this is [cognitive niche construction](https://wiki.g15e.com/en/pages/Cognitive%20niche%20construction.txt).

For example:

- Rearranging the cards in your hand when playing poker to make patterns easier to recognize
- Sorting jigsaw puzzle pieces into similar colors before starting
- Laying out cooking ingredients in the order needed
- Placing related items close together when putting a mass of sticky notes on a wall

All of these are acts of cognitive niche construction. Actions that change the environment to make information easier to perceive are called <epistemic actions>.

## The importance of context from an embodied cognition perspective

Cognitive niche construction can explain why <contextual design> emphasizes context.

Humans construct cognitive niches by modifying their living and working spaces in many ways. For example, they use their surroundings by putting sticky notes beside a work monitor or stacking files in their own particular way ([The intelligent use of space](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/The%20intelligent%20use%20of%20space.txt)).

Context, or the environment, becomes even more important if we extend our thinking beyond artifacts such as sticky notes to social relationships, such as asking colleagues questions or requesting their help.

From an embodied cognition perspective, active interaction with the environment is an indispensable part of the overall <cognitive process>. On this view, <user research> that brings users into a lab is a profoundly misguided method, akin to surgically removing part of someone's brain and then asking them to perform a task, or removing a spider's web before observing its ecology.