INTERCULTURAL DESIGN PROJECT 1

Luisa Audrey / 0348741 / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Intercultural Design
Project 1

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LECTURE

For the first class, we had introduction to the module by our supervisors. The lecturers that are going to guide us are Mr. Asrizal, Mr. Vinod, Miss Anis, and Miss Jinchi. They explained to us about the thing that we need to do for the rest of the semester. We are going to have 3 projects, the first one is the proposal, the second one is data collection, and the last project is the finalization of our product.

Aside from the briefing, we also had a lesson with Mr. Charles about Netnography and Ethnography. Ethnography is defined as both a social science research method and its final written product. Netnography is defined as a branch of ethnography that analyzes the free behavior of individuals on the internet using online marketing research techniques to provide useful insights. 

There are 3 types of data collection:

1. Archive, data without researcher's involvement

2. Elicited, co-created by researchers and members

3. Fieldnotes, observational and reflective notes

Here are the advantages of netnography:

- There is a high scope of potential valuable data

- It can overcome geographical limitations

- Data is naturally-occurring

- There is the opportunity to discover unexpected findings

- Data may be available online that wouldn't be unearthed in a face-to-face context

- It is contemporary

Here are the disadvantages of netnography:

- It is largely empirical and not contextual

- Researchers may not be familiar with online platforms or choose irrelevant online platforms

- Data collection and analysis may be time consuming or may have invalid data

After we had the lesson with Mr. Charles, we were asked to pick our group. However Mr. Asrizal said that the members need to be equal. What he meant by equal was having members from other majors and semesters as well. However, I ended up with 5 semester 1 students anyway, so I'm not sure.

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INSTRUCTION

For the first project, we were asked to decide on what culture we would like to choose. After we're done choosing, we should discuss on what concept we would take.

In our first group meeting, we chose Azka as the leader. We then later on assign everyone to think of their own culture and then we would vote on which one is the best afterwards. When I thought of a unique culture, I immediately thought Nyepi. It is cool that we ended up using Nyepi, my idea :)

So after we came up with the culture, we had to immediately think of the concept. At first we were still confused about the definition of concept, however Jinchi helped us a lot and in the end we came up with mystical.

The reason why we chose mystical is because we think that Nyepi is a very traditional celebration. Most of the ceremonies are based on ancient belief.

We then proceed into making the proposal in google docs. We made 200 words rationale explaining why we chose Nyepi. Here is the recap: 

The reason why we chose Nyepi is because of its uniqueness in celebrating New Year. Unlike other holidays, in nyepi the highlighted act is thankfulness in silence. Another interesting fact is that the local people of Bali always treat their celebration with utmost respect by putting a lot of dedication on the preparation.

Some of the ceremonies and rituals that occur during Nyepi days include Melasti, Ogoh ogoh, Omed omedan, etc. This whole celebration is also known as a mystical culture because the ceremonies are mostly based on ancient beliefs and Hindu tradition.

After we're done with the rationale, we then proceed on making the ideas. We agreed on asking each person to make 1 ideas and each person will present their own ideas later on in the presentation.

For my idea, I thought of making a mini handbook. Here is my sketch:

The reason why I think this is a good idea is because I plan on putting everything inside. Starting from the history and background of Nyepi, explanation about each ceremonies, until the guides for tourists.

The idea is to make people respect the beauty of nyepi. I would like to show the history and the hard work to prepare traditional ceremonies and rituals. I would also like to highlight their mystical culture to attract non-Indonesian people.

Not only that, I also wanted people to interact so I had an idea of making mini games at the back of the handbook. The goal is to collect every stamps by completing the games. After they managed to collect the stamps, we will offer a free souvenir gift such as key chain.

I then collected my idea and put it in the presentation together with the other members.

Here is our final presentation:

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FEEDBACK

Jinchi said that we need to understand that the concept is given which is purpose. Miss Jinchi also mentioned that according to our research objectives and research questions, there are some ideas that have potentials such as infographic and animation. Miss Jinchi also mentioned that we shouldn't read from the powerpoint.

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REFLECTION

From our first project, I learnt that I need to think more critical. I realized that there are some ideas that didn't match well with our research objectives and questions. I also learnt that I need to work harder for this group so we can make a better result next time.