AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Diploma Projects
Master of Industrial Design
UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
LINDA BLAASVÆR
Supervisor: Birger Sevaldson
Understanding Cultural Differences
is a Systems Oriented Design (SOD) project that uses GIGA-mapping as the
main tool to achieve a holistic view. The design solution was developed by drawing insights from Service design
and Interaction design into the building of an application for mobile devices called
Cultural Experience
.
The system under study is the Norwegian military, and how they prepare young soldiers for meeting a foreign
culture during International operations (INTOPS). Soldiers in International service do not only meet a war situ-
ation; they also face a foreign country and a foreign culture. The challenges inherent in manoeuvring in a foreign
country - to meet and communicate not only in a foreign language but also in the context of different norms and
values, requires a robust training of the soldiers. The Norwegian military takes this seriously. But discussions
in Norwegian media gives reason to believe that the soldiers are not always as well prepared to meet a foreign
culture as we might hope.
The target audience for the application
Cultural Experience
is the soldier, approximately 20 years old and
travelling on International service for the first time. An application is a useful tool because it is accessible, as the
user group is already accustomed to the medium from using it daily. Also since the soldiers work in shifts, they
would benefit from a device they can use when it is suitable.
Veterans possess vast amounts of experience that inexperienced soldiers can benefit from. In the
Cultural
Experience
application veterans share their experience of encounters with another culture during service abroad.
Inexperienced soldiers could learn from the experience of others with the aim of reducing misunderstandings
and avoiding difficult situations.
Perhaps one can never be prepared well enough for such situations, and it is difficult to predict what awaits
one. But I believe that inexperienced soldiers could benefit from what I have called “lessons learned”, in the
Cultural Experience
application.
GENERAL
academic
PERSONAL
experience
General culture
SocialStructures
Threatgroupings
CountrySpecific
History
Language
Personal knowledge
Interaction/
Social games
Communication/
Language
Personal experience
“Lessons learned”
FRAMING THE TERM CULTURE
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
academic
PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE
experience
INEXPERIENCED
SOLDIER
VETERAN
Transferring experience based
knowledge of cultural understanding
“Lessons learned”
HOW
