Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the Humane Design workshop during the International Design Week. I thought that it would be interesting to try something new, that would also give me ideas for my next steps or ideas in general for my topic for the Design & Research class.
Humane Interaction Design’s main focus is on designing for humans in the real world, which aligns with my topic. The goal is to create interfaces that do not sell anything, that don’t try to change your mind, manipulate you, etc. Nowadays many businesses, and companies strive to create products that do not really serve people. Most of them are too capitalized and focus only on getting something out of it, rather than doing something for the user. This results in people losing trust in technology and everything modern.
Humane design focuses on designing with empathy and ethics. To my mind, this is necessary for my topic because, through the design process, it ensures that interfaces are not only usable but also respectful of the user’s diverse culture and background, which I think sometimes is overlooked. We could see and experience this when we were talking about the results of our experiments. Being more empathic helped us connect with people on a deeper level, learn about their life stories and understand their problems more.
During our workshop, I also learned that people actually strive for connecting with someone or something that would appreciate their culture, background, and their differences. No matter what or where they come from, people want to feel seen and understood. I think it would be challenging and interesting at the same time to design an interface that would answer those needs and feel humane during usage.
This workshop experience was really nice because it was completely different from what we are used to doing in everyday life. It reminded us about the values of connecting with people, experiencing emotions in real life, and about the importance of staying human.
When immigrants move to Austria, they often face the challenge of adapting to a new culture and navigating unfamiliar digital interfaces. Cultural adaptation plays a significant role in interface usability, as cultural differences can influence how users perceive, interpret, and interact with digital platforms.
The Impact of Cultural Adaptation on Interface Usability:
Culture and different backgrounds influence people’s expectations, preferences, and their interaction with digital interfaces and adaptation to them. Adapting interfaces to align with people’s cultural backgrounds improves usability and user satisfaction. Research studies have highlighted the impact of cultural adaptation on interface usability.
Our culture, upbringing and background will affect which interfaces (ex: websites) we consider beautiful, convenient in use. For example, the vibrant, busy streets of Seoul are reflected in Naver.com, the most widely used search engine in South Korea, as seen in Fig. 1.
Fig.1
Usually, this would look like too much information for most Westerns, who are more accustomed to using Google. The example of Google and Naver suggests that users across the world have divergent preferences towards the design and functionality of Web sites. [1] This shows how something as “natural” to us as search engines, can differ and provide completely different experiences based on differences in culture.
The website is just an example, but different types of interfaces could help with cultural adaptation. My next step will be researching the main useful features the interface should have and exploring what type of interface I would like to create.
It’s been a few days since we came back from Barcelona, and I am happy that we had this opportunity to be a part of OFFF Barcelona 2023. Besides seeing what other people are working on career-wise, we could also spend time together, reflect on the conference, and share thoughts with each other.
One of the key takeaways from both Joshua Davis and Gavin Strange’s presentations is the importance of being adaptable and continually learning in the field of art and design. Both speakers emphasized the need to be flexible and open to something new as new technologies and design approaches emerge.
Joshua Davis, for example, spoke about the evolution of his own design practice, which began with static graphic design and has since evolved to incorporate interactive installations, motion graphics, and even code-driven generative design. He emphasized the importance of continually exploring new tools and techniques and being willing to collaborate with other designers and developers to create innovative work. He showed that creating great things takes time, even years.
I was really impressed to see that the music video of Phantogram band (Fall in Love) was created with his generative art because this was one of my favorite songs when I was around 15 and I would always think about how cool the animation was and didn’t even suspect about something like generative art.
Gavin Strange similarly emphasized the importance of being open to new experiences and learning opportunities, whether that means attending workshops or conferences, experimenting with new tools, or simply being willing to take on new challenges. He emphasized the importance of being curious and having a desire to learn, as these qualities are essential for staying up-to-date in the rapidly-evolving field of design. He talked a lot about how it is important to not be afraid to be bad at something at the start and just have fun with it because what matters most is the process itself. He also emphasized the importance of being true to yourself, without thinking about what others will think.
Also, I fell in love with his presentation style, mostly because he used a lot of gothic fonts, which are my favourite ones!
We also had the opportunity to visit a workshop by ZetaFonts, a type foundry from Florence. The workshop was a really fun and interesting experience and in the end, we created a Barcelona font from our sketches.
Ultimately, the takeaway for interaction design professionals from these presentations is that staying relevant and successful in this field requires a constant willingness to learn and adapt. Whether it means exploring new tools and techniques, collaborating with other designers, or simply staying curious and open-minded, the most successful designers will be those who are able to embrace change and continue growing and evolving over time.
In their paper “The Mobile Audience as a Digital Musical Persona in Telematic Performance,” Anna Xambó and Visda Goudarzi explore the role of mobile devices in telematic performances. The authors stated that mobile devices can serve as a tool for audience members to actively participate in the performance, rather than simply being observers. They propose the concept of the “digital musical persona” to describe the ways in which audience members can use their mobile devices to engage with the performance and contribute to the overall musical experience. This idea came during the pandemic, when people didn’t have the opportunity to visit concerts and people started to experiment with using live streaming services.
The authors provide several examples of telematic performances in which mobile devices were used in different ways to facilitate audience participation. They used gamification methods for that, such as using smartphones as musical instruments or using mobile apps to create interactive visual displays.
In their research, Xambó and Goudarzi did two case studies to investigate the use of mobile devices in audience participation during live music performances. The first case study involved an experimental music concert in which audience members were invited to use a mobile app to participate in the performance by generating live visualizations of their movements. The researchers found that the use of mobile devices allowed for a more immersive and interactive experience for the audience, and also provided valuable data for the performers to use in future performances. The second case study involved a more traditional music concert, but with the addition of a mobile app that allowed audience members to vote on the songs they wanted to hear next. The researchers found that this use of mobile technology not only increased audience engagement, but also provided valuable feedback for the performers on which songs were most popular.
Overall, Xambó and Goudarzi’s research offers valuable insights into the potential of mobile devices to transform the role of the audience in telematic performances. Their concept of the digital musical persona provides a useful framework for understanding how mobile devices can be used to enhance the musical experience for both performers and audience members.
For a lot of people, the official city website is the point from which they define where they need to go or what they need to do for a certain solution to be achieved. And refugees are no exception.
Government websites serve a variety of helpful functions. It’s crucial to remember that citizens visit government websites for relevant, educational, and, in some cases, urgent information. Today, people expect to find everything online, which means answers to their questions as well. For this, I analyzed and compared the official London city [1] and Vienna city websites. [2]
In 2022 a new London city website was launched. They conducted user interviews (with Londoners) to create a clean, accessible design. [3]
What you instantly see on the main page: – Information about what Mayor and Assembly do – Upcoming events – Priorities – News – Tweets from Mayor
But every piece of information has its own block, which makes it easier to understand what you’re looking at. Compared to the Vienna city website, the first thing we see here is – a lot of information in different places.
For example, it would be more difficult for a Ukrainian refugee to spot the information about help because every font looks almost the same (so there is no recognition of what is the headline, regular text, important news, etc.) and photos chosen for the specific information don’t actually represent them.
London city websiteVienna city website
So, if you need to find a specific answer to your question, you would probably need to go through a lot of text and download a lot of PDFs + the information, that will be available to you depends on the language you choose, which can make a person go through more “work” just to find what they need.
Vienna city website doesn’t seem to have its information regularly updated, whereas the UK government uses the London city website to update about their work, what they do for people, and their plans. It is even possible to watch videos about their strategic plans for the future of the city.
ITIF [4] confirmed that 41% of government websites fail the usability test, meaning that these sites had a substantial number of known problems that might prevent someone with a disability from using the site. This is important because the website stores important information for everyday life, and provides help and if it’s difficult for a person to get from point A to B, then it doesn’t reach its main goal. When people turn to government websites, they need to receive the answer as soon as possible, especially if they are a refugee. So, the answer is – yes, government websites can definitely affect certain aspects of life, how easy or difficult you will find your way into living in the city/country.
To understand more about the possibilities that refugees can get that could make their new life feel easier and in control, I decided to research what is more “out there”.
Where 2 Help
This is an online platform that lets people volunteer, which was created by Vienna-based developers. There are two ways of using the platform: a person can register either as a refugee or someone who wants to help [1]. This software also won at the “Refugee Hack Vienna”[2] event.
The Welcome Card
A lot of refugees face problems while trying to establish a legal identity in a new country. The Welcome Card [3] is a biometric identity management system, which uses Radio-frequency identification technology [4]. It is active in 25 countries, collects fingerprints, iris scans, and photographs, and can link them to citizenship records and dates of birth.
This can also help refugees to check their application status, details about language courses, transport, etc.
Annie Moore
Annie Moore (named after the first immigrant registered at New York’s Ellis Island in 1892) is the AI-powered software [5]. It helps in placing refugees in locations where they are most likely to be successful in gaining employment.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Austrian Government made a point of saying that they would aid Ukrainian refugees, who are trying to flee from the war. Every country has different rules for what you need to do, have, and get in order to stay in the country as a refugee. In some cases, it can affect the decision-making of which country to choose (if there is a possibility to choose or to have time to think about that).
So I decided to do research on how Austria helps refugees, how it provides them with the important/needed information and about the path a refugee takes from the beginning of their arrival in Austria.
What to my mind was done really well is this illustration, which was provided by the Federal Ministry Republic of Austria:
Unfortunately it is only in Ukrainian language but provides a refugee with two types of ways they could take:
The first one (the blue one) is for people who don’t plan to stay in Austria and want to travel further. And the person instantly gets the info that he doesn’t need to register, and the arrows indicate possible needs that may arise (such as accommodation for one or several nights) and where to find the right help for this type of situation.
Another one (the green one) is for people who want to stay in Austria. A refugee gets instant information that they have to find accommodation in order to register, where to do that, and the information about how exactly they will receive their documents in Austria.
Also, there are QR codes with additional information + phone numbers. [1]
The Federal Ministry Republic of Austria also created a PDF document with questions and answers regarding staying in Austria, registration, and finding accommodation [5]. What helps a lot is that in this PDF refugees can find the offices they need for a specific type of problem in different regions of Austria, their addresses, emails, and phone numbers, and most importantly working hours and if a refugee would need to make an appointment for that or not. This is very important because in Ukraine we don’t really have a culture of making appointments, we just find the working hours of a certain office and go whenever suits us. Because of this mentality difference, the culture of making an appointment is unfamiliar and strange to many Ukrainians, especially those who have never been to other countries before. I found this out by going through and analysing some messages in online group chats created by Ukrainian refugees, who are now staying in Austria. A lot of people just get confused and surprised by that information.
In order to have access to the Austrian labor market, one must first register at the place of residence, then register with the police as a temporarily displaced person – and receive a “blue card”(«Ausweis für Vertriebene») about two weeks later. Having such a card, Ukrainians receive the same rights as EU citizens. The card is still valid until March 2023. And as I researched through messages I found out that most people prefer this, instead of registering as a refugee because this will allow them to move between countries, visit people they know in other countries, and work. [2] [3]
Therefore, there are different paths/opportunities for a refugee in Austria. If one is only travelling through Austria to another country, he can receive needed help and doesn’t need to register. But if he wants to stay in Austria, then there are two ways:
Getting a blue “blue card”, which allows a refugee to move between countries, opens the door to the labor market in Austria.
Registering as a refugee, which will require to register at Caritas and allow receiving a minimum support from Caritas in the amount of 200 euros.
The European Union Agency for Asylum created a PDF file as well for Ukrainian refugees about not only refugee protection, entry and staying in Austria, etc but also the general information about Austria itself, its administrative settings, language, population, and emergency contacts [4]. They also added information about the Ukrainian diaspora in Austria. Moreover, refugees are also able to find information about what everyday life in Austria looks like, when most shops are open/closed (by the way, the working hours of the shops completely differ from those in Ukraine), how schools and universities work and overall access to education.
This kind of information is crucial because a lot of things are different in terms of how everything works, cultural and administrative differences, which can make staying as a refugee either easier and smoother or more complicated and stressful. This can also affect how easy it will be for a refugee to integrate into a new environment and start life from scratch.
Digital tools and social networks are becoming more and more crucial in determining how people respond to certain life events. Refugees use electronic devices, such as phones, laptops, and tablets to browse the internet, find reliable information sources, and communicate with family, friends, and also other refugees mostly to seek support and direction from societal organizations that assist asylum seekers. Digital tools can also increase access to educational platforms, health services, and job opportunities.
Based on the research by The GSMA, depending on their environment, refugees get mobile services in different ways, such as by sharing or borrowing phones and using different SIM cards. Most of them use their own phone and their own SIM card, for those who do not have them, borrowing is an important part of connecting with other people.
The most popular mobile service is calling. SMS is the second-most popular cellphone service. Qualitative research across all contexts indicates that the cost of using SMS messaging is one of the biggest barriers for refugees. The research data also indicates that refugees would like to use mobile internet more than they are currently able to.
“I use WhatsApp because it is easier. I have a relative who went to America. It is cheaper to call on WhatsApp and it is easy [to arrange] when they want to send me money.”
(Female, Refugee, Rwanda)
Because of that, online communication is thought to be more affordable and cost-effective than calling, particularly when connecting with individuals abroad. For refugees who are cut off from friends and family, communication (voice and text) on social media is seen to be especially crucial for creating a sense of connectedness and community. Entertainment is the third most frequent usage case, along with monitoring news and information.
Refugees can stay in touch with their family and the outside world thanks to their mobile phones. Their frequent use of phones for basic communication shows the importance of mobile for satisfying a social needs.
When faced with challenges and problems, people tend to use personal or external coping mechanisms as the main strategy for reducing the negative impacts of stress and conquering obstacles. But there isn’t one commonly known theory that would explain how refugees cope and use those mechanisms, outer resources for integrating in their new society.
With the start of the war in Ukraine, I understood how it is difficult for people to start a new life in a new country and take control of their life back. I have acquaintances, who had to leave their families and move to another country, which made me think if there is any way of making that shift easier.
The fundamental issue there is frequently not just a language barrier, but also differences in backgrounds, mentalities, and habits. A lot of refugees end up in a new country without family or friends, and because of that, they may feel like they have no one to ask for help. It affects mental health and adaptation in general as well. Also affects whether the whole family was able to move or the husband remained in the country if they have children or pets, or previous experience in traveling. And when it mixes with a sudden loss of almost everything you knew before, that makes it more difficult to adapt and “find your place” in this new world. The most difficult is when a person has also lost someone as well.
But the promotion of self-esteem, confidence, and a sense of control as well as the provision of knowledge and direction is always that thing social support has to do to encourage adaptive coping responses.
So, this made me think if there is a way of creating something with the help of design, that would solve this. Because of that, researching how individuals respond and behave in challenging circumstances, as well as how they find answers and regain control over their lives – seemed like a good idea to me. This will help in figuring out how to design a product that would have a special connection with refugees from Ukraine, help to ease the stress and feeling of not belonging, and answer the questions.
