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Communication question: How can participatory design raise awareness of culture shock?

WHAT

I am fascinated by the current massive study abroad, and how it affects the way we behave and interact. This project works on the experience of Chinese students in foreign country.

WHO

Chinese students and other people who are interested in Chinese international students' culture shock.

WHY 

Aim----To guide people to deal with culture shock, and improve their living status in foreign country.

So far, app is the most suitable way I found to represent this idea. Because achieving real empathy is to stand in the shoes (or lying on the gurneys) of others. This app divided into 3 steps: gather data, statistics/ analysis and suggestions/ stories you can share with others. It can record your mood every day, and helping you tally your own curve. (Our experience of culture shock can be illustrated by a model known as the 'w' curve. )

What is more, app on iPhone is more personal, and you can check it whenever you want.

Issues:

How to make interface design of this app simpler and more interesting?

I would like to focus on one/ two types like food or language in 'how to help yourself'  page... 

Food----Game function (computer simulations) could be added to the page.

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Key words: share emotion, gather data, test

I would like to design an app.

3 steps---1\ gather data   2\statistics and analysis  3\suggestions and the experience of others.

Selecting 5 colors stand for the mood from happy to unhappy or sad. (rotate the translucent top...)

There are 7elements here that contribute to culture shock.

Suggestions page will be classified.

Test:

Issues:

20 people accept to the test. 80% interviewees express that they are interested in trying it, if this app can work. However, only 25% people will stick do all steps. On the other hand, about two third of interviewee enjoy the second step (suggestions and sharing the stores with others).

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Step1: Recording your mood every day, and take some simple notes.

Key words: gather data, trend analysis method, (trend curve, trend comparison,) empathic design

Define culture shock

Culture surprise belongs to culture shock. It express on the surface level, and I don't think any culture shock are negative. It is passive, but we can learn from it.

Watch diary notebook( by Wonjune Song who is Korea designer.) The Watch Diary is a hardback paper notebook with an analog clock sitting in the middle. It seems like a schedule notebook, which has holes punched in its pages. (This, combined with a clever page design, makes for a rather intuitive scheduling tool.) It is really a useful book for those who always have to deal with various tasks. 

So I selected this form to record international students' mood when they go abroad to study. The setup time is not exactly 'clock' (1 min= 60 seconds, and 1 hour= 60 mins.) On my 'clock', (it stands for the date.) I min= 30 seconds, and 1 hour= 30 mins. The minutes hand take a turn which means 30-31 days. The hour hand indicates the 'month', and the minute hand point to 'date'. When we look back after some time these will be the trend curve.

Step2: Statistics----- To show your own 'w' curve.

The process of culture shock can be showed by a model known as the 'w' curve, but it is not designed to be precise in it. This model may not relate to your experience or only partially.

WORK IN PROGRESS SHOW_7 JAN