This chapter emphasizes the role of ethnography for design-related matters. The issue of the relevance and purpose of ethnography is critical to understanding its role in human-computer interaction (HCI). The origins of ethnography lie in a challenge to conventional theoretical thinking about other cultures, of which the best known example is probably Sir James Fraser's, The Golden Bough. Various perspectives have been brought to bear on the ethnographic project in the HCI context, of which the best known are probably grounded theory, activity theory, distributed cognition, interactional analysis, and ethnomethodological "studies of work". An extension of the ethnographic project in HCI has been into behaviors with mobile technology, and the use of public spaces. There is a longstanding debate about the degree to which doing ethnography relies on specific or specialized skills. The ethnographic research is directed toward some kind of research objective.