Introduction
We as future designers should be aware of cultures which far and near to us. It is important for us to be sensitive and also be inclusive towards other cultures as well as our own cultures. In order to explore and understand various important elements and crucial aspects of the cultures around is what Essence of Culture has helped us to achieve. We also looked into how we can explore our culture first hand through the people around us and how to effectively collect information using specific methods. All throughout this project we dug deep into certain cultures we were assigned to in groups. This helped us understand how there are different aspects to any culture.
Youtube video: Wancho (AE 1: Commentary Log EoC2) - uploaded by Jennifer
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Tools of inquiry
We were introduced to two methods of inquiry, semi-structured interview and 5W1H method.
For the interview I made a list of open ended questions and chose an item that and interviewed my mother asking her questions to choose that particular brand of soap. I kept in mind to keep the interview spontaneous and flexible. I ended up having a more in depth conversation about what we both like for our skin. It brought me and my mom closer during the home task interview where I asked more specific questions to the interviewee about why she uses the soap by Body Shop. I tried getting detailed answers which would be personal to here. This required for me to be careful with what I said to avoid influencing their answers and avoid asking leading questions and keeping the whole interview unbiased due to the fluid nature of the interview.
5W-1H is a method of inquiry which helped me see where I had collected the most information and what else I could question on. It involved asking off questions that start with why, what, which, who, where, when and how. This tool helped me ask the right questions, expand my enquiry and obtain the right information, which in turn helped me dive deep into the topic and thus helped me explore various aspects of it, some of which were not given in the brief. An advantage that I felt that holds true is that it helps one incase they are stuck as to what questions are supposed to be asked in order to increase their knowledge on the topic. 5W-1H helped me go beyond the brief and discuss the how and the why of certain aspects and make connections between the information which seems pretty plain at first glance. Further, these questions are short, crisp and direct, which means they not only helped me to ask questions but they also helped in framing questions much easily before hand in a sequential manner. This tool is very useful in places where you have to segregate the information. This tool also gives you the freedom to later on carry forward the discussion that you wish to expand your knowledge on.
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Conclusion
My discoveries, realisations and learnings...
- Culture is something which is mostly dependent on the society we live in and its ethics.
Religion has some influence on culture but culture itself is very different from religion. 2 communities following the same religion can have very different culture.
- I learnt a new way to collect information by conducting an interview and also learnt how to conduct one.
- Overall this project helped me understand the role that culture plays in designing as I gathered a lot of knowledge regarding the essence of culture in our everyday lives.
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