Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 15:52:29 -0400
From: Claudio Gutierrez <cgutierrez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Asia plays with hi-tech visions (BBC)
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
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
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Claudio Gutiérrez
Business Improvement Ltd.
http://www.improvement.cl