S3.2: Intercultural Usability

Learning Outcomes

Understand

  • Culture is a multidimensional construct.
  • Ethnography is a tool for investigating culture

Apply

  • Literature Search Techniques
  • Unstructured Interview Techniques

Preview: Group Assignments

Next week, you will be split into groups for the main group assignment. I will decide who works with whom, using three criteria:

  • Each group should have at least one MA student (this can be the MFA mentor)
  • Each group should have at least one non-Eastern member
  • Each group should be mixed gender

This is designed to help you develop your teamwork abilities.

Activities

  • How can you investigate the culture of a foreign country? What are key indicators you need to know about? How can you research them without going through Wikipedia?
  • What activities might you want to observe if you want to know more about the culture of a country?
  • Go find someone who has a different culture, and start a conversation about their culture with them. We will discuss a starter question in class.

Discussion

  • To what extent do culture, gender, age, and education interact?
  • How static is culture?
  • Do app makers add lots of functions to keep up with the competition,  because users expect it, or because they want to tie you to their own infrastructure?