Ethnographic Research Methodologies for Designers

Since the 1980's design educators have been trying to integrate concepts from other disciplines (literature, rhetorics, semantics, semiotics, sociology, psychology...) to form a design discourse which could push for design to be recognized as a field with a strong theoretic backbone; one that educates students to think of the intrinsic value of design in social context rather than just prepare them for the trade. In those terms, research takes center stage by backing up the design decisions and presenting them on solid ground instead of justifying them purely on a designer's creative intuition and aesthetic taste.


For my master thesis on Design Education in the Middle East, I have decided to base my research on qualitative ethnographic methodologies. Ethnography is an approach developed by the social sciences to aid the study of everyday culture through people, their behavior, and the ways in which they interact with the world. An ethnographer produces knowledge through observation of interactions. Most importantly, ethnography is a qualitative method of research, meaning that it does not rely on quantitative -numerical or statistical- data. 


Some examples of ethnographic techniques are participant observation (e.g. using a video camera in a certain setting), non-participant observation (e.g. using hidden cameras), interviews (preferably semi-structured open-ended questions and based on previous observation), and artefact studies (e.g. cultural probes).


I will employ some of these methods for my research with students and educators involved in design education in the Middle East. This will help assess more clearly where the problems in the system lie and how they could be dealt with. 

Finally, the research proposal published online!

As i have not posted anything since the beginning of writing my research proposal, i thought it is about time my work so far could be viewed. Here you can find the research proposal that i presented to my professors in the Koeln International School of Design. Currently, I am working on my master thesis on this topic, i'll keep you all posted. For those of you who actually do read it, your comments would be most appreciated.

http://issuu.com/doreentoutikian/docs/designedinme

where exactly is the Middle East??

I started writing my research proposal on Design Education in the Middle East and my first task was to define exactly where the borders of the Middle East region lie. I came across an article which caught my sarcasm, and I had to include it as the first paragraph.
In June 2006 at the height of the Anglo-American sponsored Israeli siege of Lebanon, the U.S. Secretary of State and the Israeli Prime Minister heralded the introduction and conceptualization of the term “New Middle East”, which was introduced by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in replacement of the older and more imposing term, the “Greater Middle East” -advocated earlier by the Bush administration. Indeed within the same month, Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters, a retired colonel of the U.S. National War Academy, drew an enlightening picture of this “New Middle East” and had it published in the Armed Forces Journal. The following map is his work, which was complemented with the sub title:

“Blood Borders: How a Better Middle East would Look”.



I think I will stick to the more traditional Eurocentric terminology- ‘the Middle East’, first published in September1902 in the National Review by Alfred Mahan, a United States Navy flag officer.

The Middle East is a territory covering 16 countries and states in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. The countries are: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the West Bank/ Gaza Strip, and Yemen.

I've been ill for the past few days, and haven't been able to do much reading or writing, so i thought of an initial design for a logo, if design education in the middle east were to have one. happy holidays...

Fact: Where does the name 'American University' come from?

I read in Nafas art magazine (a project of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations of Germany (ifa) in cooperation with Universes in Universe http://universes-in-universe.org) an interview conducted with the dean of the faculty of Architecture and Design (2004) of the American University of Sharjah, Dr. Martin Giesen.

He was asked: "Where does the term 'American University' come from?"
I quote Dr. Giesen: "Well, you could almost call it a brand name – but a brand not actually owned by anyone. I call it a brand name since in the Middle East there have existed (and still do) two famous American universities – one in Cairo and another in Beirut. The Beirut institution, founded in 1866 as a Syrian protestant college, has been in existence for more than 140 years. The universities in Cairo and Beirut have so great a reputation among the Arabs, and among Gulf-based Arabs in particular, because in the past no other universities existed here, nor in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar or anywhere else. The majority of gifted students, largely male students, were sent to either AUB or AUC."

I find that fact quite interesting and it really puts in question the reasons behind the reputations of all the 'Amercian univeristy of..' in the Middle East and their respective teaching programs.

http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2004/aus_sa_d

Paper Review: Cultural Identity Crisis in contemporary Graphic Design CASE STUDY: Lebanon

In a recent paper written by Melissa Plourde Khoury & Tarek E. Khoury from The Lebanese American University, some of the same issues I have been researching over the past few months came up. Here is a quick review of all the important points:
Visual Culture
Beyond the obvious historical cultural heritage that Lebanon has accumulated over the years, there is a strong visual culture that depicts Lebanese nightlife, fashion, urban landscapes and modern media. Yet, they claim that this vision of Lebanon is in jeopardy. Quoting Nicholas Mirxoeff The question arises: 'what if everyday life has excessive influence from an outside culture?' Here the influence of westernization plays an important role.
Westernization "Westernization is taking a dominant stance amongst the multitude of influences."
As is the problem with most countries suffering from globalization; lebanon's visual culture is constantly altered as Western fast-food chains, products, movies, magazines, books and advertising are found more abundantly every year all over the country. Obviously, this attracts the youth of Lebanon towards a lifestyle that is no longer Lebanese. Moreover, what is even more alarming is that Western brands are commonly seen as superior, more reliable, of higher quality. This had lead to Lebanese brands and visual communications that mimic Western aesthetics and have nothing that visually identifies them with Lebanon.
Education Most of the Lebanese universities are based on American or French educational systems. Problems arise as the content and structure of Lebanese design programs are based upon Western ideals.
An interesting quote about Qatar's recent design program in the American Virginia Commonwealth University- Doha states: "...the establishment of this design college in Doha was approached with the buy-an-American university-degree-program-bring-it-home-take-it-out-of the-box-and-plug-it-in mentality. The main objective was to have ‘on-site’ an American design curriculum…The result is the teaching of an American design program…” (Bennett
2006).
Another problem in the Lebanese Universities is that many faculty members are not finding means of inspiring and encouraging students to create culturally significant design.
Furthermore, students commonly do not take initiatives to integrate Lebanese culture into their work. Students are typically resistant to working in Arabic typography, finding it far more challenging than either English or French; especially because of the bi- or even tri- lingual nature of most Lebanese students, their Arabic tends to be weak making design work in Arabic
extremely difficult.
The only Middle Eastern country recognized in having culturally significant graphic design is Iran. This is primarily due to their creation of contemporary designs integrating Arabic typography and calligraphy.
Suggested Solutions Both writers have created a list of suggestions to reinforce identity in Lebanese Graphic Design.
• Use the juxtaposition of opposites to spark culturally
creative design solutions
• Inspire students to modernize their culture by combining
influences from East and West
• Encourage the creation of unique culturally significant
design
• Recruit faculty/workshop hosts with specialization in
Arabic calligraphy/typography
• Incorporate culturally specific workshops, lectures and
seminars
• Introduce and teach new design/cultural courses
• Modify existing projects to be culturally specific
• Modify projects to be interactive with the local
community.

Interview: cross-cultural collaboration

During this year's Qatar Icograda Design Week, which had cross cultural collaboration, or "Mousharaka" as a theme; a few interviews were held on issues that concern all those interested in design education in the middle east. I took a few excerpts that I found most crucial to the argument. The 4 interviewees are:


Ibrahim Jaidah, a Qatar native who studied in the United States and is now the Managing Director of the leading architectural design consultancy in Qatar.
Mark Kingwell, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor for Harper's Magazine.
Claudia Meyer-Newman a designer, creative director, fine art photographer, and educator who lives and works in Seattle, USA.
Nic Vanderschantz a lecturer in Computer Graphic Design in the Computer Science Department at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand whose research focuses on children's on-screen reading.

As an educator, what are your thoughts or expectation for Education City and in particular the Virginia Commonwealth University Satellite in Qatar as a predominantly American faculty educating Qatari students? What impact does it have on indigenous culture, and what are the responsibilities of the design faculty at VCU to the local culture?


"I was interested to see how many US universities are expanding into the region, especially having already seen something similar in China. In that case the results have been obviously positive, at least for the middle-class Shanghainese I know who got degrees, and learned English..." Dr. Kingwell continues, "I do wonder about the culture issue - what is the balance between a standard US college curriculum and the local population's interest..."

CM-N: "...I am hopeful that education and practice is a catalyst for change based on knowledge and experience. I think, the more we (educators and students) practice cross-cultural collaboration, without losing our identity and voice, the world can become a better place to live.
The theme for the Design Week in Qatar is Mousharaka, which in Arabic means collaboration. What does collaboration mean to you in a cross-cultural context? What images of successful or unsuccessful collaboration come to mind? What experiences have you had with cross-cultural collaboration? "Collaboration in cross cultural context is successful", Mr. Jaidah says, "when people from different backgrounds are able to work together to find a solution, keeping in mind the culture they are serving, but achieving the most innovative results. A perfect image, which also reflects my experience is [the] Al Sharq hotel. Experts from many different backgrounds and cultures worked to together to achieve a unique result. The award winning Al Sharq hotel reflects local culture in its design."


"It's fascinating to think about the possible benefits of collaboration in, say, coordinated research or crowd-sourcing. My talk, about the city as a collaborative work of art, brings together some of these themes. How is it we manage to create a functional city, day after day? That in itself is a form of cross-cultural collaboration,"says Dr. Kingwell.

What challenges face a designer working in a cross-cultural context? Does collaboration build local knowledge or simply facilitate Westernisation? "The biggest challenge for a designer working in a cross cultural context is," Mr. Jaidah explains, when a member of the design team doesn't have knowledge of the local culture then, "ideas that don't belong are imposed ... collaboration does build local knowledge, and through cross-cultural collaboration we not only learn to appreciate other cultures but also our own."

Dr. Kingwell responds that his work is less about specific cultural difference and more focused on the "the core issue of communication - finding 'third language' opportunities between existing groups ... For example, "I approach [an] artwork, with the hope of understanding it. The work and I occupy separate horizons of meaning. But instead of a model whereby I simply fold the work into my existing understanding [...] the idea is that together we create a new, third language (neither mine nor the work's) in which understanding is possible. [...] Third languages are by definition hybridised and unstable. This model has clear relevance for situations of intercultural exchange, where differences in context may seem to prevent understanding or encourage domination of one partner by the other..." Dr. Kingwell also mentions that in the context of cross cultural collaboration "the specter of 'Westernisation' exists" but that often "what people demonise as Westernisation is really just modernisation."


CM-N: As educators, our role in cross-cultural collaboration is to facilitate. Collaboration is an organic process based on human behavior and cultural background. This is a balancing act. It requires the facilitator to stand back and [allow] the authentic ‘experience' to unfold. Regardless, of working internationally or within your own community, designers need to investigate the cultural background of their audience. Understanding history, politics, religion, economy, and viewpoint, provides the foundation of how unique and diverse our audience can be. This is our responsibility in design practice.

NV: I think cross-cultural collaboration is something that many of us have come to take for granted. I feel that we increasingly live in a very cosmopolitan and multi-cultural society and that borders around the world are being broken down. With technology, including transport and telecommunication, we have the opportunity, if we choose to take it, to work with many different societies, cultures, religions, and personalities in our day-to-day professional and personal lives. Excitingly, as researchers we are at an advantage and often find ourselves collaborating across continents, time zones and cultural barriers.

During the Design week the first ever Design Debate Doha will take place. It is an opportunity for the local community to join the international design community in wrestling with important global issues. The resolution for the debate is: Globalisation harmfully subverts culturally unique sensibilities. Is design a globalising force? How so? Do you agree with this resolution?

Mr. Jaidah says "globalisation does [affect] cultures in a negative way especially in the developing worlds, where we still see cultures dissolving and languages forgotten." Although design is a globalising force, he continues, "it can be a positive way to [globalise]." Design allows us to share in the beauty of other cultures and be influenced by them. This leads to "unique designs based on rich cultures".

Dr. Kingwell: "Globalisation is an ongoing process, and one we still don't understand very well. Rather than the harmful subversion mentioned, I see a lot of potential in hybridising cultures..." CM-N: I believe that literacy and critical thinking can provide the foundation for redefining "globalisation." Supporting economic success based on sustaining culture and uniqueness, respect and ethical practice is the essences of the issue. Perhaps, we need to redefine or invent a new word for globalisation.
http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1425.htm
http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1431.htm