Three factors for contextmapping in East Asia: Trust, control and nunchi

Abstract

Contextmapping techniques have been tried and tuned for participants in Western cultures and are known to provide inspiration in the conceptual phase of design. Because these techniques rely heavily on activities such as expressing feelings in public and discussing in groups, they are less attuned to participants from more ‘reserved’ cultures, e.g. East Asia. In this project we adapted the techniques for use with East Asian participants. Our findings indicate that, when conducted in appropriate forms, contextmapping techniques can work in East Asia. However, more than in the West, a well-demarcated script is needed. By ‘script’ we mean a construct that frames the roles of the participants and the researcher, and provides a clear stage on which the participant plays the role of ‘expert of his experience’ and outside of which he/she is free from the burden of expressing him- or herself. The importance of a script in East Asia led us to review the value of scripting and staging as design parameter for the techniques in general.

Keywords:

• Contextmapping
• Cultural differences
• Design research
• Participatory design
• User study

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Remko van der Lugt, Elizabeth Sanders, Froukje Sleeswijk Visser, the international students in TU Delft for sharing their experiences and insights, Uday Dandavate, Ashis Jalote, and Ki Tae Oh for helping us with the many practical problems that arise in setting up a culture-sensitive user study bridging two continents, and of course, the participants who willingly and enthusiastically took part in this new experience.

Notes

¹By ‘tools’ we mean tangible artefacts, such as workbooks, reward coins, and a TV frame; ‘techniques’ are the way in which the tools are employed in the knowledge-generating process.