Research Paper(draft)_Bei Ouyang

Participatory design applied in culture shock research

Research questions:

A significant problem associated with the increasing number of international student is that many Chinese students can’t integrate themselves into the local life because of culture shock.

I am fascinated by the current massive study abroad, and how it affects the way we behave and interact. Also, the associated questions: “how can we achieve empathy about a specific group of Chinese international students by presenting their experience of culture shock through multi-media narrative installation”? My project works on the experience of Chinese international immigration begging to be understood. Also, it focuses on general people who do not understand Chinese international students' culture shock.

Participatory design for me is an active and genuine way to communicate with this rapidly changing society. Through participation projects, platforms for social interaction can be established. The giving and receiving between audience and designer becomes an ongoing conversation in order to achieve mutual understanding.

Research design:

Research method: participatory design

Due to advanced technology such as the social media and digital devices, people are no longer passive recipient of information but able to actively interact with the design work. In other words, audiences play the role of participant rather than just being viewers.

Participatory design seems to foster the creation of an empathic relationship between people and object. ‘Participation can mean having a piece of something in common with others--- sharing the cake; or doing something in common with others--- playing in a game of football. In the first sense ‘design participation’ must imply sharing the design as a product, in all likelihood the artefact or arrangement which the design posits.’ (Stringer cited in Cross1972: 26)

Strange as it may seem, the majority of audiences contribute to participatory projects just for fun. In his seminal book Sur les traces des révolutionnaires de 1789 (Chinese version <追踪1789法国大革命>), scholar Cedric Grimoult (2003) demonstrated and practiced participatory project. Actually, it is not only a history book, but also a Table-top Role Playing Game (RPG). The book invites every reader to participate in it as an influential revolutionary force. In other words, the general public engages in this project because people enjoy the community and creative fulfillment they provide. Nevertheless, compared to other RPG, readers can experience this period of history; you can choose the role of French revolution whoever you want to play in this game. Readers, however, can't change the result like <The Monopoly>. In this case, the author expected that readers could aware that it is easy to remember the boring history because they have personally experienced the stories.

Another example to illustrate the participatory design could be the ‘Green Pedestrian Crossing’ (see image 1-3 in appendices). The China Environmental Protection Foundation wanted to encourage people to walk more and drive less. It used a busy pedestrian crossing where both pedestrians and drivers meet. A giant canvas of a large leafless tree covered the crossing. Sponges and cushions soaked in green, environmentally friendly paint were placed on both sides of the road. As people walked across and stepped onto the sponges, they left green footprints. Each green footprint added to the canvas like leaves growing on a bare tree, which conveyed the message that walking can help creating a greener environment.

In addition, Johannesburg’s project of International Organization for Migration (see image 4-7 in appendices) at the design agency Tbwa\hunt\lascaris provides us another example. This project involved people as part of an outdoor advertising. It created a tunnel with false walls that precisely matched with the real walls behind them, so that when people walked through the tunnel, they appeared disappeared. The purpose of this outdoor advertising is to against human trafficking. It targeted the most vulnerable group like children at school or people living in the streets of townships and impoverished urban slums. This project was a hot topic and received widespread attention from hundreds of blogs and the national papers within just a few days.

Data collection:

International students come to a new environment that is different from their home countries may experience culture shock. Indeed, this experience is quite common. It, however, may take us by surprise to the extent of the change and the effects, especially for Chinese international students.

Culture shock is influenced by two factors: ‘culture surprise’ (Aish 2012) and ‘culture shock’. Some of the elements contribute to culture surprise. At ground level, experiencing different climates, foods, languages and dresses belong to culture surprise. That is to say, the extent of the changes and effects associated with the differences may surprise people. At a deeper level, people encounter different social roles, rules of behaviors and values, which may also cause culture shock. Put it simply, culture surprise is one source of culture shock.

Our experience of culture shock can be illustrated by a model known as the ‘W’ curve (see image 8 in appendices). This model averagely divided into a few stages, but it is not designed to be precise in it. This People may stay in certain stage for a longer or shorter time than in other stages. There could be some back-and-forth between certain stages and move forward until real progress is made. The overall process can be fast or slow. Many people have reported that this model has reflected of their experience of living abroad to a larger or less extent. Therefore, it is a good and useful model to analyzing people’s experience. For the purpose of analysis, the process can be broken down into five stages: (1) the honeymoon stage, (2) the disintegration stage, (3) the re-integration stage, (4) the autonomy stage, and (5) the independence stage.

I have divided my research into two parts. In the first part, I will search for visual works and installations relating to my chosen topic: participatory design. In parallel, some practical experiments to represent sub-projects have been planned with the aim of supporting the main project. My intention is to create an architecture of information to re-define the culture shock beyond difference in cultures and construct my own culture shock model.

The major part of my research will involve data collection. The primary data collection method is interviewing international students by adopting face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. The respondents will be chosen to represent a variety of countries, ages, and time they have been in the UK. The research will track their emotional changes at each of the five stages of culture shock and find the differences between European and Asian students. If it is possible, I will ask for help from the international student office.

To conclude, in the area of contemporary design, designer must not only provide alternative ways of participating, but also cultivate critical perspective that ensures the possibility of individual and collective engagement. Hence, it is intriguing to explore platforms for social interaction by human experience in design. These essays are followed by interviews with leading designers in the field, and practicums that reveal pragmatic applications of participatory ideas and expanded resources for developing my project. Generally, my plan is to design an interactive from of research, and then analyze and discuss collected data with the aim of creating new stories and new technologies. In short, these ideas discussed in this paper do not only provide a frame for my current plans, but also encourage me to move on to a new stage.  

Bibliography

Armstrong, H. and Stojmirovic, Z. (2011) Participate: Designing With User – Generated Content New York: Princeton Architectural Press

Cross, N (1972) Design Participation London, UK: Academy Editions

Ekstrom, A. Julich, S. Lundgren, F. and Wisselgren, P. (2011) History of Participatory Media: Politics and Publics, 1750-2000 New York: Routledge

Frieling, R. Groys, B. Atkins, R. and Manovich, L. (2008) The Art of Participation 1950 to now London: Thames & Hudson

Grimoult, C (2003) Sur les traces des révolutionnaires de 1789 Pairs: Brea

Aish, F who is the course leader of presessional English course at University of the Arts London, interview by the authors, 2012

Appendices

Image 1-3

Adalid, A. (2012) Environmental Campaign | Green Pedestrian Crossing: 1-3. 4th September 2012 8,43 pm, available from < http://www.iamaileen.com/2012/09/

green-pedestrian-crossing-environment-awareness-campaign.html > [19th November 2012]

DDB China Group (2011) Green Pedestrain Crossing- More Walking, Less Driving available from < http://ddbchina.com/en/index.html >[19th November 2012]

Image 4-7
Tbwa\hunt\lascaris, Johannesburg (2010) "ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP" Outdoor Advert for Anti-human Trafficking by Tbwa\hunt\lascaris, Johannesburg available from< http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/outdoor/anti-human-trafficking

-alexandra-township-15368355/ > [19th November 2012]
Image 8

Barker. M, (1990) Orientated for Success: Australian International Development Assistance Bur