Comments on: REDRUM in the rue morgue: collaboration in international communities http://blogs.sxsw.com/interactive_hub/2008/02/27/redrum-in-the-rue-morgue-collaboration-in-international-communities/ Share Your SXSW Interactive Experience Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:33:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: riddle http://blogs.sxsw.com/interactive_hub/2008/02/27/redrum-in-the-rue-morgue-collaboration-in-international-communities/#comment-30 riddle Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:50:07 +0000 http://blogs.sxsw.com/interactive_hub/2008/02/27/redrum-in-the-rue-morgue-collaboration-in-international-communities/#comment-30 (That was supposed to be "ground truth." They don't seem to have comment editing enabled on this blog.) (That was supposed to be “ground truth.” They don’t seem to have comment editing enabled on this blog.)

]]> By: riddle http://blogs.sxsw.com/interactive_hub/2008/02/27/redrum-in-the-rue-morgue-collaboration-in-international-communities/#comment-29 riddle Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:47:31 +0000 http://blogs.sxsw.com/interactive_hub/2008/02/27/redrum-in-the-rue-morgue-collaboration-in-international-communities/#comment-29 Ana has asked me to post a bit about what I plan to cover in my talk. I like to see some give and take on a SXSW panel, so for the sake of discussion I am going to stake out the argument that reliance on cultural models is dangerous. My inclination is to drop the models as quickly and possible and go to actual users and data, and secondarily to informants who have close experience with actual users, in order to focus on d truth” rather than cultural generalities. It’s true that we all approach a user community with preconceptions, and being aware of e models we are using can both expose our hidden assumptions and help us ask the right questions. So if the model (whether a formal one like Hofstede’s cultural dimensions or an formal one like cultural stereotypes) says that we should expect behavior X and Y from a given community, some of my first questions to the users and to the data would be intended to test our expectations for X and Y. It should be fun to see how my fellow panelists respond to that friendly provocation! :-) P.S. If you're lucky, there will be lolcats. See you there. Ana has asked me to post a bit about what I plan to cover in my talk.

I like to see some give and take on a SXSW panel, so for the sake of discussion I am going to stake out the argument that reliance on cultural models is dangerous. My inclination is to drop the models as quickly and possible and go to actual users and data, and secondarily to informants who have close experience with actual users, in order to focus on d truth” rather than cultural generalities.

It’s true that we all approach a user community with preconceptions, and being aware of e models we are using can both expose our hidden assumptions and help us ask the right questions. So if the model (whether a formal one like Hofstede’s cultural dimensions or an formal one like cultural stereotypes) says that we should expect behavior X and Y from a given community, some of my first questions to the users and to the data would be intended to test our expectations for X and Y.

It should be fun to see how my fellow panelists respond to that friendly provocation! :-)

P.S. If you’re lucky, there will be lolcats. See you there.

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