Asia plays with hi-tech visions (BBC)

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 15:52:29 -0400
> From: Claudio Gutierrez <cgutierrez () improvement cl>
> Subject: Asia plays with hi-tech visions (BBC)
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
>
> Technology is often seen in the West as a way of making our lives more 
> efficient or as a way of having fun. But researchers have found big 
> cultural differences between East and West when it comes to what people 
> actually do with their computers and mobiles phones.
>
> In many Asian countries, technology has become a tool for learning, 
> religion and politics, says Intel ethnographer Genevieve Bell. She has 
> spent the past two years travelling in Asia, looking at how people are 
> adapting technology to suit their own needs and priorities.
>
> "We see all kinds of local reinventions of technology," says Dr Bell, 
> "whether it is people in China using their mobile phones to get the lunar 
> calendar or people using the digital version of the Times of India 
> newspaper matrimonial section to find a spouse."
>
> She says this kind of research is important in helping technology 
> companies tap into social trends and influence the kind of products they offer.
>
> To get an insight into what people are doing with technology, she has 
> visited 80 homes in 16 cities in countries as diverse as India, Malaysia, 
> South Korea and China. In many of these places, the mobile phone has 
> emerged as the predominant form of new technology. China alone has more 
> than 200 million mobile phone subscribers.
>
>  In Malaysia, about a third of the population of 24 million has a mobile 
> and the percentage is even higher in countries like South Korea.
>
> "We can learn lessons from why the mobile phone has been successful in 
> Asia," Dr Bell told BBC News Online. "It is relatively robust, relatively 
> small, you don't need a desk, you don't need to be a in particular place. 
> "And you don't have to be literate to use them or speak English. These are 
> all constraints when it comes to operating a computer," she explains.
>
> Spiritual life
>
> More importantly, mobile technology has been adapted to reflect the 
> cultural priorities of each nation, such as their religious faith. In 
> Malaysia you can now get mobiles that come with a built-in directional 
> finder to help Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca.
>
>  "This is a wonderful way of imagining technology doing something 
> unexpected," says Dr Bell, "so rather than being a tool for work it 
> becomes a tool for someone's religious devotion."
>
> "Suddenly this device that I use to keep in touch with my family and 
> friends became a way of keeping in touch with your inner spiritual life 
> and your God."
>
> Dr Bell is due to complete her research for the chip maker Intel at the 
> end of the year. But her initial findings suggest that we have only just 
> started to scratch at the surface of what we can do with new technology.
>
> "These devices are really up for grabs and what people are going to do 
> with them is very different and very unexpected," she says.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3177348.stm
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - -
> Claudio Gutiérrez
> Business Improvement Ltd.
> http://www.improvement.cl

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