Reading Response – Chipchase, Hidden In Plain Sight: How To Create Extraordinary Products For Tomorrow’s Customers. 2013.
This reading really resonated with me as an exchange student living away from home. Like the author I have noticed many differences between cultures as I face the challenge of settling into a new country. Having some travel experiences I am able to relate and really understand the accuracy in this writing. It is interesting how the author wrote about several different categories and could then describe several different variations of how people behave or processes occur.
I believe that the notion of rapid cultural calibration can be very successful and a beneficial way of experiencing a place or context. Attending the various events at NTU targeted to exchange students provided us with a similar opportunity, to be guided around by locals and to have the chance to participate in and see and try foods or activities we wouldn’t otherwise have or have known about.
The reading described that the morning would be the ideal time to begin an observation of a place. First I thought that this would be a really mundane and boring time but the reading made me realise that this is when people are beginning their daily routines, moving between places, interacting with each other or certain technologies. Therefore this is a great period of time in which to see the realities of daily life.
Although this is an excellent form of data collection and it seems very accurate, I do wonder whether the observers are able to be fully objective when conducting this research? It is very clear that cultures behave differently and value different things so I imagine it’s difficult for the researcher to not allow their own culture to influence how they interpret another.
Another question I have is what can be done with this data now? As I have come into a new culture very different to my own I feel that it would be so beneficial to be able to access information like this in order to gain extra knowledge and perhaps also gain prior knowledge before travelling in order to have better preparation and limit culture shock. Travel, navigation and signage was described and similarly to the conversation in our last class, it can be very confusing for foreigners to understand these new systems. Learning information on common and appropriate behaviors I imagine would help the settling in process for those unfamiliar which their surroundings, such as myself.