The probes are small packages that can include any sort of artifact (like a map, postcard, camera or diary) along with evocative tasks, which are given to participants to allow them to record specific events, feelings or interactions.
The aim is to elicit inspirational responses from people, in order to understand their culture, thoughts and values better, and thus stimulate designer's imaginations.
[1] The probes were not designed to be analyzed, nor did we summarize what they revealed about the sites as an explicit stage in the process.
As Gaver pointed out , the conceptual concerns and specific techniques of various arts movements also influenced their probes design.
[2] Cultural probes can be used for idea generation, inspiration, values and dreams in a design process.
Over the last 10 years, we have seen the focus shift to more varied forms and formats of making in the front end of the process.
[7] Probing will add strong element of making to the research which is based on literature and practical work.
Although the methodological instructions can in principle be taken to the extreme, the outcome finally depends on the agents, i.e., researchers, designers and even users in the case of probes.
Practical instructions are helpful, but somebody conducting research must personally be tuned-in to receive signals, interpret them and be surprised at them, as well as tolerate the ambiguous nature of the probing process (and design)".